A federal judge has made his temporary injunction permanent in allowing Arkansas candidates for statewide office to accept campaign contributions more than two years before an election.

U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. reinforced his initial ruling that it is unconstitutional for the state to ban contributions for state office candidates more than two years before an election.

In January, a three-judge panel of the 8^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Moody’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction against the state’s blackout period for accepting campaign contributions.

In the wake of an Oregon Supreme Court ruling last week overturning long standing precedents declaring campaign contribution limits in Oregon elections unconstitutional, Portland will enforce a voter approved $500 per donor limit starting Monday.

The court ruled that contribution limits do not violate free speech.

However, they asked lower courts to decide if $500 per donor limits, approved first by Multnomah County voters and then by Portland voters, are too low.

Portland city election officials say they’ll begin enforcing the contribution limits after the Oregon Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a Multnomah County Circuit judge’s decision declaring campaign contribution limits in city elections unconstitutional.

However, election officials will not retroactively enforce the limits. Candidates who violate the new donation limits will face fines of up to $3,000 per violation.

At the request of Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, and in consultation with the office of the Governor, the Idaho Office of the Secretary of State is extending the February 10 filing deadline for PACs and candidates under the Idaho Sunshine Laws to February 17, 2020.

Being the first report due under the new revisions of the Sunshine Law, various unanticipated issues have made achieving the deadline by midnight unlikely for some candidates and PACs.

The fines stipulated by the new laws will also be pushed back and not be assessed at this time.

Another contributing factor to the delayed deadline is for many in local and special district offices, this report represents their first time ever filing with the Office of the Secretary of State and many were not aware of the steps required to gain access to the state’s campaign finance filing system.

Legislative Document 54, sponsored by Senator Justin Chenette, became law without Gov. Janet Mill’s signature.

The bill extended the current law prohibiting the governor, members of the Legislature, constitutional officers, and their staff from soliciting and accepting contributions from a lobbyist or lobbyist associate to all year-round.

Unless the lobbyist or lobbyist associate is eligible to vote on the day of the election in a district where the candidate will appear on the ballot, the lobbyist and lobbyist associate may not contribute to the governor or member of the Legislature when not in legislative session or to a gubernatorial or legislative candidate at any time during the year.

An intentional violation of the prohibition results in a civil penalty up to $1,000 for each violation and the return of the contribution in violation to the contributor.

The Public Ethics Commission will consider annual adjustments to the contribution limits at their regular meeting next week.

Commission staff will present an updated list of the campaign contribution limits and expenditure ceiling amounts, as adjusted according to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as required by the Oakland Campaign Finance Reform Act.

The limitations on contributions from persons to candidates who adopt the voluntary expenditure ceiling will increase to $900 per election.

If approved, the adjusted limits will be in effect for the 2020 elections.

The Missouri Ethics Commission increased contribution limits for state House and Senate candidates.

The per election limits have increased from $2,000 to $2,046 for House candidates and from $2,500 to $2,559 for Senate candidates.

The inflationary adjustments are the first under a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018.

The $5 lobbyist gift limit for members of the General Assembly remains unchanged.

There are several bills pending in the House and Senate that would lower contribution limits.

Elections Canada has published the federal contribution limits for the 2020 calendar year.

In 2020, individuals may contribute up to $1,625 to independent candidates, leadership candidates, registered parties, and to, In total, all of the registered associations, nomination contestants and candidates of each registered party.

The limits also apply to any unpaid balance of loans made during a contribution period and the amount of any loan guarantees made during a contribution period.

The limits increase annually by $25 on January 1.

In Ontario, individual contribution limits for the period from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, have be increased by $25, to $1,625.

This limit applies to contributions made as both money and goods or services given to a political party, candidate or constituency association to support the election of a candidate to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

The contribution limit is applicable to both party and non-party candidates in a campaign period and applies to a leadership contestant of a party in a year holding a leadership contest or a calendar year during which the contestant is required to be registered.

Campaign contribution limits increased in British Columbia for 2020 to $1,253.15 for contributions to registered political parties, including their candidates, nomination contestants and registered constituency associations.

Additionally, individuals can contribute up to $1,253.15 to independent candidates and leadership contestants, if a leadership contest is called in 2020.

These limits are updated annually.

The previous limits were $1,225.17 in 2019, and $1,200 in 2018.

Also increased to $370 is the limit of a fee paid to attend a leadership convention or other convention of a political party without counting toward the $1,253.15 limit contribution limit.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to prevent real estate developers who have project applications pending at city hall from making campaign contributions to elected officials or candidates for municipal office.

City Councilman David Ryu introduced the proposal to ban developer donations to prevent interference with the ethical commitments candidates make when running for office.

Under the new ordinance, real estate developers will be barred from giving political contributions to Los Angeles city officials and candidates for council, mayor, or city attorney while the city decides on key approvals for building projects.

These restrictions will be in effect for one year after a final decision on each developer application.

The law does not prohibit developers from hosting fundraisers or raising money from other donors and does not apply to major subcontractors on a development project.

Critics contend the new rules will spur developers to donate more money to independent expenditure committees, which have no limits on how much they can receive and cannot coordinate with their chosen candidates.

The council also voted to have a committee reexamine possible restrictions on behested payments, which are donations solicited by candidates or elected officials for various charities or causes.

The ordinance becomes operative the first day a candidate for elected city office can file a Declaration of Intent to Solicit and Raise Contributions for the 2022 general election.

Mayor Eric Garcetti has until December 16 to act on the ordinance.

The New York Campaign Finance Reform Commission released their report containing recommendations regarding the creation of a public campaign finance system and reforms to the state election laws.

The commission proposes to create a voluntary public campaign finance system for statewide and legislative candidates.

The public campaign finance system establishes reporting requirements for participating candidates and sets initial eligibility requirements for the program.

The commission also proposed lowering campaign contribution limits for candidates seeking statewide office to $18,000.

Contribution limits for candidates seeking the office of state senator and assembly member would also be lowered to $10,000 and $6,000, respectively.

Contribution limits would be divided equally between primary and general elections and applied to both participating and nonparticipating candidates in the proposed public campaign finance system.

The commission’s recommendations become effective December 22, unless the Legislature supersedes the report’s proposals by statute.

At a meeting of the Senate Campaign Finance Committee, Sen. Jeff Golden proposed new regulations that would place ceilings on the amount of money individuals and various types of political committees could give to candidates, campaigns, and one another.

Oregon is currently one of only a few states that has no campaign contribution limits.

Under this new proposal, individual donors would be limited to giving $2,000 per election for statewide races and $750 per election for House and Senate races.

Those same restrictions would apply to candidates contributing to other campaigns and multi-candidate committees, which would be similar to current special-interest PACs.

State political parties and committees associated with party members in the House or Senate could contribute up to $40,000 per election to statewide candidates and $15,000 per election to legislative candidates.

The same limits would also be applied to new small-donor committees. In exchange for being able to donate larger sums, those committees could only support a single candidate for a single election.

The committees could accept no more than $200 per election from individuals and many PACs.

In November 2020, Oregon voters will decide whether to modify the state’s constitution to explicitly allow campaign finance limits.

The Oregon Supreme Court is also considering whether to overturn a two-decade-old decision that struck down the state’s voter-approved campaign finance limits.

The court is considering the constitutionality of a 2016 ordinance passed by Multnomah County voters that places a $500 per person limit on campaign donations.

Given all that, lawmakers hope to have a framework ready should the legal landscape shift.

The former chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board filed suit against the state Executive Ethics Commission.

The commission found that he engaged in unlawful political activity while a board member.

The former chairman argued that state law does not bar contributions by members of state boards and that any such ban on contributions is a violation of the First Amendment.

The investigation began when the chairman contributed to a candidate for state senate and his spouse signed the check.

The Inspector General deemed suspicious 30 other instances of political donations and campaign contributions made while the chairman was on the gaming board.

While acknowledging that spouses of gaming board members are permitted to make contributions, the inspector general looked to the spouse’s history of contributing and to the number of contributions that were to the same committees her husband previously supported.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a campaign finance bill imposing limits on contributions to candidates for elective county and city offices in jurisdictions that have not independently imposed contribution limits.

Currently, a county or a city may, by ordinance or resolution, limit campaign contributions in local elections. However, many counties and cities have not imposed such limits.

Assembly Bill 571 establishes contribution limits of $4,700 per election to a candidate for elective office in a city or county in which the local government has not established a limit.

The bill also allows a local government to establish different limits that are more precisely tailored to the needs of the community.

Assembly Bill 571 becomes effective January 1, 2021.