The Public Disclosure Commission certified increases in reporting and contribution limits in response to inflation.

The inflationary adjustments touch almost every threshold and limit.

Contribution limits increase from $1,000 to $1,200 for state and county legislative candidates and from $2,000 to $2,400 for other state offices.

Limits for political parties increase from $5,500 to $6,000.

On May 21, 2019, Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5861.

The bill extends respectful workplace code of conduct provisions to all members of the legislative community.

Effective July 28, 2019, Senate Bill 5861 requires The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate to develop a training course based on the legislative code of conduct and any policies adopted by either chamber.

Lobbyists will be required to attest to reading and completing the training course when filing a lobbyist registration statement with the Public Disclosure Commission.

Lobbyists currently registered are required to update registration materials to include the attestation by December 31, 2019.

The Washington Legislature adjourned sine die April 28.

During the 105-day legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1195 amending the definitions of commercial advertiser and independent expenditure.

House Bill 1195 requires independent expenditures to be reported electronically with the Public Disclosure Commission if the aggregate value of similar expenditures from the same source exceeds $1,000.

The Legislature also passed House Bill 1379 raising the threshold for identifying and disclosing the top five contributors of a political advertisement sponsored by a political committee from $700 to $1,000.

House Bill 1379 requires political advertisements to disclose the sponsor’s top five contributors and if any are political committees the sponsor must also disclose the top three donors to those contributors.

The bills have been delivered to the Gov. Jay Inslee to sign, veto part of it, or veto all of it.

Gov. Jay Inslee partially vetoed and signed into law a bill addressing campaign finance reporting and enforcement requirements.

The governor vetoed provisions in House Bill 2938 relating to independent expenditure reporting and special reporting requirements for large contributors.

Signed into law are provisions in the bill limiting the attorney general’s enforcement jurisdiction to matters referred from the Public Disclosure Commission, as well as provisions amending filing procedures for citizen’s enforcement actions.

The law takes effect June 7, 2018.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the DISCLOSE Act, a law requiring certain nonprofit organizations to file organizational statements and periodic disclosure statements with the Public Disclosure Commission.

Under the new law, these organizations will be required to disclose the top 10 donors whose contributions aggregate to $10,000 or more in the calendar year if the nonprofit expects to make contributions or expenditures that aggregate to at least $25,000 in any calendar year in Washington state election campaigns, including ballot initiatives.

The DISCLOSE Act goes into effect on January 1, 2019.

The executive director of Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission, Evelyn Fielding Lopez, announced her plan to leave her position in May.

Lopez was appointed in October 2015 and faced calls for her resignation from Republican leaders in 2016 alleging bias in favor of Democrats.

The Commission appointed Barbara “BG” Sandahl as the agency’s new assistant director.

The appointment of the next executive director is expected to be made soon.

Effective May 31, 2015, the executive director of the Public Disclosure Commission, Andrea McNamara Doyle, is resigning. McNamara Doyle has served as executive director of the PDC since August 2011.

According to an agency spokeswoman, the resignation is voluntary and is likely the result of frustrations stemming from budget constraints and downsizing.

The PDC will meet April 9, 2015, at 1:30 p.m. to begin searching for McNamara Doyle’s replacement.

Andrea McNamara Doyle has been selected to be the new director of the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

Doyle, who has previous experience as a government manager and legislative staff attorney, was chosen from 71 applicants after a several month search.

She will replace interim director Doug Ellis who is retiring from the agency later this year.