Redondo Beach City Council will consider adopting an ordinance to reform local campaign finance rules. The proposed ordinance will include new campaign contribution limits and a prohibition on nonelection cycle contributions.

The details of the ordinance, including contribution limit amounts, have yet to be narrowed down and will be a topic of consideration at the July 19, 2016 city council meeting. The city currently does not have any campaign contribution limits.

A bill to double contribution limits died in the Senate as the 2016 legislative session came to a close. The session adjourned Friday, April 15, 2016. House Bill 147 would have raised contribution limits to $2,000 to state candidates and $5,000 to political parties.

The State and Local Government Committee passed an amended version of the bill but the full Senate declined to act on it because of constitutionality concerns. Litigation is currently making its way through federal court to declare Kentucky’s contribution limits unconstitutional.

Lawmakers were successful, however, in passing a budget compromise but, because the session has ended, will not be able to override any items vetoed by the governor.

Signatures are being collected to put a campaign finance initiative on the Arizona state ballot this November.

The initiative, filed on April 12 by Arizonans for Clean and Accountable Elections, is in response to Senate Bill 1516, a recently passed campaign finance bill taking effect in 2017. “Our initiative addresses the most egregious parts of [Senate Bill] 1516,” said Samantha Pstross, the chairperson of committee putting forth the issue, according to the Herald Dispatch.

Senate Bill 1516 allows groups registered with the IRS as social welfare organizations to withhold disclosing donor information, removes spending caps on expenditures for political fundraisers, and allows for candidate-to-candidate transfers of campaign funds. The initiative increases disclosure of political activity, lowers contribution limits, and prevents contributions between candidates. Additionally, lobbyists would be required to disclose all meals purchased for elected officials and would be prohibited from paying travel expenses for them, according to the Herald Dispatch.

State law requires 150,000 valid signatures to have the initiative placed on the November ballot.

A lawsuit seeking to eliminate the “LLC loophole” for political contributions was dismissed this week. The loophole, which allows large contributions by organizations controlling many limited liability companies, treats each limited liability company as a separate entity capable of contributing the maximum amount an individual may give.

Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Democrats support closure of the loophole, and the decision is expected to be appealed to the Appellate Division of the Third Judicial District of New York.

Cleveland City Council voted Monday, February 8, to increase campaign contribution limits for mayoral and council candidates.

After much debate, the Finance Committee agreed on a $5,000 annual limit from individuals and a $7,500 annual limit from political action committees giving to mayoral candidates. Individual contributions to council candidates were capped at $1,500 annually, with PAC contributions limited to $3,000.

The ordinance passed with three council members voting against it.

Photo of the Cleveland skyline by Eric Drost in Wikimedia Commons.

On December 8, 2015, the City Council of Salt Lake City unanimously passed an ordinance reducing campaign contribution limits for city candidates. A proposal to ban corporate contributions failed after Councilmember Erin Mendenhall convinced the council the money would instead enter the campaigns through corporate political action committees (PACs) and super PACs, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

The new law lowers the amount an individual or entity can give to a mayoral candidate from $7,500 to $3,500 and to council candidates from $1,500 to $750. The council also banned contributions from contractors doing business with the city.

Photo of downtown Salt Lake City by NorthernMagnolia on Wikimedia Commons.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley recently released a statement describing a ballot measure to create a publicly funded campaign finance program. The program would allocate monetary credits to voters who could assign them to candidates.

The measure would also lower political contribution limits and create a revolving door provision for certain state officials seeking to become lobbyists. Said officials would be banned from lobbying for two years after leaving office.

Supporters must collect nearly 14,000 signatures to get the measure on the 2016 ballot.

The Legislature adjourned sine die on Friday, March 6, 2015, after passing two campaign finance bills.

House Bill 38 was originally filed to remove all contribution limits for political action committees (PACs), but amendments to the bill keep a $5,000 limit from a PAC to any candidate who is not a statewide candidate.

House Bill 39 repeals the state’s aggregate contribution limits, which conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.

Photo of the Wyoming State Capitol by Matthew Trump on Wikimedia Commons.

Prompted by Secretary of State Kate Brown, a bill in the Oregon Senate would impose campaign contribution limits in a state where contributions are currently unlimited.

Senate Bill 75, now in committee, sets the individual and entity contribution limit at $2,600 per calendar year and the political committee limit at $5,000 per calendar year. These limits are aggregate limits, so total yearly contributions to any state, county, or city candidate or committee cannot exceed the stated limit.

The bill is an amendment to the state constitution, so it would have to be approved by voters before becoming law.

Photo of Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown by Josh.Goldberg on Wikimedia Commons.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has published the 2015-2016 election cycle contribution limits, which have been indexed for inflation. As required by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, the FEC must adjust certain contribution limits every two years.

The individual and nonmulticandidate PAC contribution limit to federal candidates has increased from $2,600 to $2,700 for both primary and general elections, allowing for a total of $5,400 for a federal candidate.

The limits on contributions by individuals to national party committees has increased from $32,400 to $33,400 per calendar year. Individuals may now contribute $100,200 per calendar year to committees of a national political party for presidential nominating conventions, to committees of a national political party for preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings, and to committees of a national political party for the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more buildings for party headquarters.

City Council has cast the first of two required votes to increase contribution limits for officeholder accounts. Ordinance 15-0062 triples total permissible contributions per calendar year to city officeholder accounts to $30,000 for council members and to $75,000 for citywide elected officials.

Individual contributor limits per calendar year will also rise from $500 to $750 for council officeholder accounts and from $500 to $1,000 for citywide officeholder accounts.

The second required vote could take place as early as the next regularly scheduled meeting on February 3, 2015.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has made adjustments to the gift and campaign contribution limits by adopting amendments to state regulations. The adjusted annual gift limit for covered candidates, officers, and employees will increase from $440 to $460.

Contribution limits will increase to $4,200 from $4,100 for candidates to the Legislature, the Board of Administration of the Public Employees Retirement System, and the Teachers’ Retirement Board.

The new limits are based on changes to the consumer price index and effective for the period from January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2016.

The state ethics commission is preparing to amend rules regarding campaign finance and lobbyist reporting. The campaign finance changes include allowing the commission to raise or lower campaign contribution limits at the end of four-year election cycles rather than every calendar year. The rules would also clarify only contributions to candidates can trigger the $25,000 annual registration and reporting threshold for individuals or entities making contributions.

Lobbying amendments would require reporting for gifts to family of officials and permit gift splitting by multiple lobbyists so long as a single lobbyist does not exceed the $75 limits.

A public hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled for September 30, 2014.

A federal judge entered a preliminary injunction in favor of a conservative group challenging the state’s limits on the amount candidates can collect from political action committees. The group argued the limits infringed upon its First Amendment free speech rights.

The judge agreed and issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Government Accountability Board from enforcing the limit.