The Philadelphia Board of Ethics revised a regulation governing coordinated campaign expenditures.

Regulation 1 considers expenditures to be coordinated if they are made based on instructions received from a campaign.

A public communication from a campaign may constitute instructions if the communication includes a suggestion the electorate should be made aware of the information and the manner in which the information should be presented (e.g., “voters need to hear”).

The presumption of coordination can be refuted by demonstrating there was an independent basis for the expenditure.

The revised regulation took effect October 3.

Two special elections have been scheduled for November 8 to fill the vacant Philadelphia City Council seats in Districts 7 and 9.

Both seats were vacated when councilors Maria Quinones Sanchez and Cherelle Parker resigned last week to run for mayor.

The winners of the special elections will serve the remainder of the terms set to expire at the end of 2023.

A special election for the vacant District 6 council seat is scheduled for May 17 in Philadelphia.

The seat is vacant after Bobby Henon resigned following his conviction on conspiracy and fraud charges.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the term set to expire in January 2024.

Councilmember Bobby Henon resigned from the Philadelphia City Council following his conviction on conspiracy and fraud charges.

The council president is expected to call a special election to fill the vacant District 6 seat for the remainder of the term ending in December 2023.

On April 9, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics announced the 2021 lobbying training schedule.

The virtual lobbyist training covers the basic requirements of the city’s lobbying law for lobbyists, lobbying firms, and principals.

The training will also cover the process of registering and filing expense reports with the Board of Ethics through the Philadelphia Lobbying Information System (PLIS).

Currently, it is not mandatory to attend one of the 2021 lobbying trainings.

Registration for the lobbying training may be accomplished at http://bit.ly/BOELobbyTraining.

All trainings will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. via Zoom on April 20, July 9, and October 14.

More dates may be added at a later time and dates are subject to change.

Questions regarding the schedule or training may be directed to the Board of Ethics at Lobbying@phila.gov or BOE.Training@phila.gov.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics announced the 2020 lobbying training schedule.

The virtual training will cover ethics rules, registering, and filing expense reports with the Board of Ethics.

At this time, it is not mandatory to attend one of the 2020 lobbying trainings.

However, attendance at a training will be credited when the mandatory training provision takes effect for registered entities.

Registration for the lobbying training can be accomplished at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEqd-6srj0tHdGweXo4WfNtm4z9H7yiRooO.

Questions regarding the schedule or training may be directed to the Board of Ethics at Lobbying@phila.gov or BOE.Training@phila.gov

On May 1, Mayor Jim Kenney signed Ordinance No. 190083 amending the city’s provisions regarding campaign contributions, transition and inauguration committees, and campaign finance disclosures.

Ordinance No. 190083, increased contribution limits for persons other than individuals from $11,900 to $12,000 per calendar year.

Candidates may now establish a separate committee to raise money for transition or inauguration into office.

Additionally, a candidate may accept contributions to the transition or inauguration committee in addition to the contributions for their candidate committee.

The ordinance also requires enhanced disclosure of expenditures for publicly-distributed electioneering communications of $5,000 or more based on the date of the expenditure or date of its dissemination.

The provisions of the ordinance are effective immediately.

State Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown resigned on December 12 under protest.

In October, she was convicted of bribery, conflict of interest, and failure to properly file a financial disclosure report. The state constitution prevents her from continuing to serve in the Legislature.

Lowery Brown plans to appeal her conviction.

A special election could be set as early as March to fill the western Philadelphia seat.

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.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics has voted to approve, for public comment, proposed amendments to the city’s lobbying regulation.

The proposed changes to Regulation 9 include a substantial reorganization as well as more substantive changes such as increasing the lobbyist registration fee from $100 to $200 and clarification on what must be disclosed on quarterly reports.

A public hearing for the proposed amendments is set for November 16, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. at the Board of Ethics.

The city Ethics Board released new contribution limits for city candidates on January 11.

Candidates for city offices may accept up to $3,000 in a calendar year from an individual contributor, an increase from the previous limit of $2,900. Groups and businesses may contribute up to $11,900 to a candidate per year, an increase of $400.

Contribution limits are adjusted every four years based on the consumer price index.

A ban on contributions from lobbyists and PACs will be lifted for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. The ban was imposed by the party in 2008.

According to the New York Times, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will accept these once banned contributions for both the convention and for joint fundraising with presidential campaigns. Holly Shulman, a DNC spokeswoman, said the party will “not [be] accepting donations from political action committees and lobbyists for its general fundraising operations.”

Photo of the Philadelphia skyline by Massimo Catarinella on Wikimedia.

City Council President Darrell Clarke introduced a measure to increase the transparency of money donated to city elections. With the mayoral race hitting its stride, independent expenditure PACs are making their presence known, donating millions to support their candidate of choice.

The bill, while unable to limit these contributions, seeks to increase disclosure of the source of PAC funds by moving the first report from 11 days before a primary election to six weeks before the primary and every two weeks thereafter. This requirement would apply to donations of $5,000 or more on communications mentioning a candidate in any way.

Though the bill was introduced too late to apply to the primary on May 19, Clarke is hoping the changes will be in effect prior to the general election in November.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics approved amendments to the city’s campaign finance rules this week. Included in the amendments is a more expansive definition of third party support of a candidate.

Campaign materials produced by a candidate and subsequently used by an individual or PAC, independent of the candidate, now constitutes an in-kind contribution subject to the city’s contribution limits. The new rule is intended to curb a growing trend among candidates of posting videos on the internet, allowing third parties to take the material and independently create political advertisements.

The board unanimously approved the changes in an expedited manner to ensure the new rules would cover the impending 2015 mayoral race.