City Council approved an ordinance requiring additional transparency and disclosures by paid lobbyists and indirect lobbying campaigns.

The vote was 8-1.

This new legislation adds the concept of indirect lobbying to the city’s lobbying regulations, which has been part of Washington state law since 1973.

Indirect lobbying requirements will now apply to lobbyists, those who hire them, or organizations taking out ads to influence members of the public, and encourage members of the public to lobby their elected officials on legislation.

Individuals behind a group will now be required to identify themselves, their contractors, and donors for contributions of $25 or more.

The group will also be required to describe its purpose and record spending in monthly reports.

If approved by the Mayor, the rules will become effective in 180 days.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) voted to require more transparency and disclosure of those who use limited liability companies (LLC’s) to make political contributions.

Aditionally, they would require campaigns to list the name of the actual person who directed the LLC political spending.

The first new regulation requires LLC’s involved in raising and spending money for political activity to name the person making the decisions.

The second new regulation requires campaigns receiving donations from LLC’s to also list the name of the person responsible for the political activity.

A 2019 FPPC Enforcement Division examination of LLC’s found it was relatively easy to find information about the type of business, its address and an agent for service of process.

However, it was extremely difficult to find the identities of the people behind the LLC’s owners or the true source of the political expenditures.

On February 19, Gov. Murphy released a legislative package of Ethics and Transparency Reforms.

The legislative package contains five bills with the aim to strengthen restrictions on lobbying, enhance financial disclosures, and increase public access.

The lobbying bill requires lobbying firms and companies to disclose when a person or firm is hired to provide professional services other than lobbying.

Additionally, the bill reduces the registration threshold from 20 hours of lobbying to one hour per calendar year.

The bill will prohibit legislators and their staff from accepting any gift related to their public duties.

Furthermore, the bill aligns the gift rules to the same standard currently governing executive branch employees.

The legislative package also extends the one-year cooling off period for the governor, cabinet, and legislators to two years before being able to register as lobbyists.

Gov. Murphy also introduced a bill to increase transparency and requires bills or resolutions not to be voted on unless their final form has been publicly available for 72 hours on the Legislature’s website.

The governor is also expected to issue other executive actions regarding requirements for those that do business with the state.

The bill proposals were sent to Senate President Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Coughlin for review.

Gov. Jeff Colyer signed a transparency bill to increase penalties for failing to file timely reports.

Effective July 1, House Bill 2642 imposes late fees for any report over 48 hours late for candidates, political committees, and lobbyists.

Penalties start at $100 for the first day and $50 for each subsequent day the report is late with a maximum up to $1,000.

The bill also requires lobbyist to file employment and expenditure reports electronically with the Office of the Secretary of State.

Boulder City Council has adopted two new ordinances creating a new municipal election code and updating campaign finance rules.

The city will no longer be dependent on the state election code, and city staff will no longer need to continually update the code for local elections based on state legislative changes. Other cities, including, but not limited to, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Fort Collins, have adopted similar local codes.

The changes also clarify campaign finance disclosure requirements; campaigning done without cost, such as the use of social media, need not be disclosed. Critics believe the new provisions were rushed and encourage a lack of transparency.

Lobbying

Rhode Island: “Raimondo Signs Bills on Lobbying, Insurance for Off-Label Drug Use, Teaching of Holocaust” by Jennifer Bogdan for Providence Journal

Campaign Finance

“RNC Fundraisers Hedge on Trump” by Kenneth Vogel and Alex Isenstadt for Politico

Massachusetts: “House Passes Campaign Finance Changes Aimed at Transparency, Special Elections” by Shira Schoenberg for MassLive.com

Ethics

“Justices Disclose Privately Paid Trips and Gifts” by Adam Liptak for New York Times

Arizona: “How Nearly $1 Million Disappeared from Surprise Coffers” by Jessica Boehm for Arizona Republic

California: “Orange County Finally Has an Ethics Commission – Now What?” by Jordan Graham for Orange County Register

Florida: “Audit Finds City Improperly Paid Lobbying Firm More Than $317,000” by Christopher Hong for Florida Times Union

Elections

“Who Does Donald Trump Listen to? Other Trumps.” by Mary Jordan and Jose DelReal for Washington Post

“Will Trump Swallow the GOP Whole?” by Mark Leibovich for New York Times

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has outlined another bill to supplement his ethics reform agenda.

If passed, the new bill would create regulations and restrictions for independent expenditure campaigns and improve transparency, with the ultimate goal of preventing candidates from having direct control over Super PACs by selecting friends or political allies to steer them.

The new bill is an effort to coax the Legislature to pass ethical reforms before their session comes to a close next week.

Sen. Patrick Gallivan has introduced a bill to increase transparency when corporations contribute through limited liability companies (LLCs).

Under the current law, corporations may contribute $5,000 per year to a candidate, while LLCs may give up to $60,800. As a result, many corporations set up LLCs in order to contribute in excess of contribution caps, and there is no limit on the number of LLCs a corporation may create.

Senate Bill 8035 would require corporations creating LLCs to identify themselves. Unlike other proposed legislation focused on the “LLC loophole,” this bill would not lower the amount an LLC may contribute.

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.

The City of Rochester Ethical Practices Board has formally requested the City Council and Mayor Ardell Brede review the process for appointing community members to advisory commissions and boards.

The board requests review in the following five areas of the current process: announcing new positions to the public; conducting interviews for open positions; establishing a reasonable time between the mayor selecting a candidate and City Council’s review; putting a concerted effort into gender and ethnic adversity on boards and commissions; and developing a consistent and transparent appointment process.

The request includes recommended changes and comes in response to concerns over appointing former lobbyists to boards directing public funds or steering policy.

Lobbying

Rhode Island: “Do R.I. General Assembly Grants Funnel Back into Lobbying?” by Patrick Anderson for Providence Journal

Campaign Finance

“G.O.P. Donors Shift Focus from Top of Ticket to Senate Races” by Nick Corasaniti and Ashley Parker for New York Times

California: “Tony Strickland Agrees to $40,000 Ethics Fine” by Taryn Luna for Sacramento Bee

New York: “De Blasio’s Elections Strategy, Under Scrutiny, Recalls Predecessor’s” by William Neuman for New York Times

Ethics

Arkansas: “Ark. High Court Rejects Lawsuit over Campaign Finance Ballot Measure” by Andrew DeMillo (Associated Press) for Baxter Bulletin

Hawaii: “Hawaii Ethics Commission Picks Interim Director” by Nathan Eagle for Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii: “Totto Tells Ethics Commission to Scrap ‘Silly’ Time Sheet Rules” by Nick Grube for Honolulu Civil Beat

Michigan: “Panel OKs Added Transparency for Governor, Legislators” by Jonathan Oosting for Detroit News

Elections

“A History of Insurgent Candidates’ Impact On Down-Ballot Races” by Louis Jacobson for Governing

Legislative Issues

“Chaos in House after GOP Votes Down LGBT Measure” by Cristina Marcos and Mike Lillis for The Hill

House Bill 4134, a bill tightening timelines for reporting for lobbyist’s clients and lobbyist registration, has passed both the Oregon House and Senate, and will head to Gov. Brown’s desk for approval. The bill requires lobbyists to register within three business days after meeting the threshold instead of the current 10 day time period.

The bill also requires a client or employer of a lobbyist to sign an authorization for the lobbyist within 10 calendar days after the lobbyist files a registration statement.

The bill will become immediately effective if approved by Gov. Brown.

Gov. Martinez has signed legislation designed to standardize electronic reporting for candidate, lobbyist, and political committee filings. Intended to increase transparency and make it easier to access public records, House Bill 105 creates an electronic database that will be searchable, contain cross-references, and allow the public to download records for their own analysis.

The bill also requires lobbyists to notify the state of amended filings or termination of the lobbyist’s employment within one week of the occurrence. Additionally, the bill changes reporting dates from May 1 to the first Wednesday after the first Monday in May, and adds a reporting date of the first Wednesday after the first Monday in October.

The bill also requires individuals receiving contributions reported by lobbyists to receive automatic electronic notice of the contributions within 24 hours of the lobbyist’s filed report.

Portions of the bill will go into effect on July 1, 2016, with the remaining provisions effective as of December 15, 2017.