The San Francisco Ethics Commission voted to adopt amendments to the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code.

The changes include electronic filing, filing of contribution disclosures no later than 14 days following the contribution, and updating filing forms.

The changes provide clarity regarding code sections created by the Anti-Corruption and Accountability Ordinance and update the regulations to match other recent changes to the code.

Additionally, changes provide clarity about various provisions of the Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance.

State Sen. Michael Rulli introduced legislation to promote greater transparency in local elections by allowing local candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically.

Senate Bill 107 would remove the paper-only filing requirements for individuals who file with local boards of elections.

The bill would also require the secretary of state to make the information in those electronic statements available online.

If passed, the bill would take effect on the first day of January that occurs at least 180 days after the act is filed with the secretary of state.

The Hawaii Ethics Commission will launch a new electronic filing system for lobbying registrations and disclosures beginning in January 2019, allowing lobbyists and organizations to register online for the 2019-2020 legislative biennium.

Lobbyists who plan to continue lobbying in 2019 must renew registrations by Monday, January 28, 2019. Commission staff are available to assist lobbyists who have already registered for the 2019-2020 lobbying period via a paper filing.

Lobbying expenditure reports for 2019 may be submitted electronically through the new e-filing system as early as March 2019.

The Connecticut Office of State Ethics will soon transition to a new lobbyist reporting system.

The new system will be installed on March 8 starting at 7am.

Users may experience some difficulty with the system during the installation process.

The city of San Jose is transitioning to an electronic system for filing weekly lobbyist reports.

To file weekly reports, a lobbyist must register to create an account on the Weekly Lobbyist Reporting Form portal at the city clerk’s website.

The prior weekly reporting form will be available on the clerk’s website until March 12.

Fines for failure to file a weekly report or filing a weekly report late will not be assessed until July 1, 2018.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics passed changes to Regulation No. 1, the Board’s campaign finance rules.

Among the changes, the Board added a definition for a former candidate, clarified electronic filing requirements, and now requires political committees to file a report with the Board any time it files a statement with city commissioners or the Secretary of State disclosing debt incurred to influence a covered election.

Other clerical changes and updates to the examples provided were also made. These changes are now in effect.

In California, the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with NetFile Inc. to create a new electronic filing system for campaign finance reporting.

The new system is supposed to be more user friendly, which will increase transparency and allow the public to more easily access campaign finance data.

Electronic filing is not mandatory and the county will still accept paper filings.

Mountain View City Council approved the introduction of new campaign finance rules aimed at increasing transparency.

The ordinance establishes an electronic filing system for campaign finance documents and creates new rules for independent expenditures and disclosures on political advertisements.

The ordinance is set for a second reading on June 14, 2016. If passed, the measure will become effective 30 days after adoption.

On November 24, Montana Political Practices Commissioner Jonathan Motl formally filed new campaign finance rules with the secretary of state. The 50 plus pages of new rules do not take effect until published, which is expected to be in early 2016. The State Administration Committee is conducting a poll among all state legislators to determine whether lawmakers consider the rules consistent with the intent of recent legislation. Motl has agreed to delay the rules until the lawmakers’ poll is concluded.

Among the changes in the new rules, electronic filing of reports will be required and will then be immediately available to the public online. “It’s going to increase transparency in a way that this state has never seen,” Motl said, according to Montana Public Radio.

Gov. Terry Branstad signed Senate File 135 into law on April 24, 2015. The bill increases political expenditures triggering filing requirements for committees to $1,000.

The bill also amends the definition of an independent expenditure to be one or more expenditures in excess of $1,000. It also makes anonymous contributions in excess of $25 illegal.

Beginning January 1, 2016, all committees not already required to file electronically must do so by 4:30 p.m. of the day the filing is due.

Senate File 135 takes effect July 1, 2015.

Gov. Pat McCrory signed Senate Bill 403 into law. The bill requires treasurers of political committees with contributions, expenditures, or loans totaling more than $10,000 in an election cycle to electronically file campaign finance reports.

North Carolina law already requires electronic filing for political committees making contributions in excess of $5,000 to candidates for statewide office or making independent expenditures in excess of $5,000 affecting contests for statewide office. This provision of the bill takes effect January 1, 2017.

Senate Bill 403 further permits counties, municipalities, and special districts to schedule special elections only when a general or primary election is already scheduled or when there is a general election requiring all county precincts to be open. This provision of the bill takes effect January 1, 2015, and applies to all special elections held on or after that date.

Secretary of State Jim Condos announced candidates, parties, and political action committees are now able to file financial reports online.

Use of the online system is currently voluntary but becomes mandatory on January 1, 2015.

Electronic filing is available here.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) released its package of legislative recommendations this week. All eight recommendations were unanimously approved by the commission with the hope Congress will implement the changes.

Some of the changes proposed include requiring electronic filing of electioneering communications reports, making permanent the Administrative Fine Program for the delinquent filing of reports, and increasing and expanding the prohibitions on fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority.

Noting other federal and state agencies receive “donated services and products for information technology projects,” the FEC would also like Congress to authorize the commission to have the ability to accept such gifts for use in continuing “its efforts to facilitate transparency in the federal campaign finance system through a state-of-the-art, web-based public disclosure system.”

Senate Bill 6414, introduced this week by a group of Washington senators led by Senator Joe Fain, requires all reports to be filed electronically. The bill contains several other strictures, including requiring the Public Disclosure Commission to make all filings available on its website, mandating each lobbyist or lobbyist’s employer sharing in an expenditure greater than $25 to report the specific dollar amount of his or her share, and requiring all lobbyist filings to include an itemized list of all payments made to a state official, regardless of dollar amount.

Another section of the bill implores the Ethics Board to define the limits of “infrequent occasions” in the context of the acceptance of gifts of food and beverages by public officials from lobbyists. This section of the bill comes after a widely-read report showing the state’s 50 most active lobbyists pampered legislators with meals totaling more than $65,000 over a four-month period.

A final section of the bill allows lobbyists to avoid reporting expenses for a legislator’s food at a meeting with the lobbyist if such expenses were paid by the legislator.

Photo of the interior of the Washington State Capitol courtesy of Eric Hunt on Wikimedia Commons.