Latest Developments:
- Minnesota Lobbying Changes: The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board has issued an update on recent legislative changes, which includes no longer requiring grassroots lobbyists to register, raising the compensation threshold for when an organization becomes a lobbyist from $500 to $3,000, increasing the range of late fees and penalties, and other significant changes.
- Sacramento Lobbying Changes: Ordinance 2024-0015 makes multiple changes to the city’s lobbying rules, including lowering the compensation threshold from $3,000 to $1,500, and from 100 hours to 15 hours, plus installing a $10 gift limit, requiring lobbyists to disclose all campaign contributions, and making changes to how expenditures are reported.
- Florida Doubles Fines: Florida Senate Bill 7014 increases the fines for revolving door violations to $20,000.
- New York Lobbying Changes: A memo from the Lobbying Unit to the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying indicates that there will be new regulations designed to codify the Commission’s late fee program and establish criteria and requirements for requesting a waiver of a late filing fee. The proposed amendments also seek to clarify who is responsible for the submission, how a member of a Coalition may be disclosed as a source of funding and require the Responsible Party to submit training compliance information on behalf of themselves, their organization, and/or their organization’s Individual Lobbyists.
- Oakland Rejects Ethics Rules: The Oaklandside reports that, although the Oakland Public Ethics Commission has only two investigators to handle 140 cases, the City Council recently voted against a proposal to strengthen the Commission, citing budgetary concerns. The decision comes amid the recent FBI raid of the Oakland Mayor’s home and ongoing ethics investigations of many current and former Oakland City Council members.
- Nonprofit Lobbying Disclosure in Long Beach: As reported by the Long Beach Post News, the Long Beach Ethics Commission is no longer considering requiring lobbyist registration by nonprofits that regularly seek to influence city decisions; instead, elected leaders and top officials will upload their calendars to the city website on a monthly basis, such that any contacts by nonprofit officials and others will be revealed publicly on these calendars, if not on disclosure forms by lobbyists.
- Location, Location, Location: As explained by Politico, although federal election rules prohibit political activity on government property, there are exceptions within the White House, given that the building serves dual roles as both a government office and the president’s residence.
In Case You Missed It:
- Senator Menendez Convicted: As reported by the Washington Post, Senator Bob Menendez was convicted of taking bribes from three businessmen who showered him and his wife with cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz. The jury found him guilty on all 16 counts, including bribery, extortion, wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt from 2018 to 2022, when Menendez was serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
- Campaign Finance Case Cleared to Proceed in Georgia: The Daily Caller reports that a campaign finance case against Stacey Abrams’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign may proceed because the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an injunction that had been entered by a federal court in 2022.
- Misuse of Donor Funds in Las Vegas: The Daily Indy reports that a federal grand jury has indicted a former Las Vegas councilwoman and current justice of the peace on four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The former councilwoman allegedly defrauded donors of more than $70,000 by promising them that 100% of their contributions would fund a police officer memorial statue, but then allegedly used the funds to pay for political fundraising bills, rent, and her daughter’s wedding.
- Drama at Duck Derby: As reported by the Springfield News Leader, two nonprofits in Kansas are struggling to assert their political neutrality after a candidate deployed a drone display spelling out “VOTE JACKSON” at the end of a nonpartisan duck race designed to benefit local charities.