Latest Developments:
San Francisco Ethics Commission met last Friday (2/16/18). The commission failed to put an amendment to the city’s ethics ordinance on the June ballot (Item 4). The proposal was a watered-down version of the Commission’s original proposal from last fall, with amendments offered, coupled with a proposal from Supervisor Peskin to add major donor reporting. The measure is not dead; it will continue on a path back to the Board of Supervisors, or may be placed on the November ballot.
Following over 4 hours of debate on the matter, the Chair of the Commission, Peter Keene, resigned in exasperation and walked out of the meeting, as reported by the San Francisco Examiner. The Board was faced with a March 2 deadline to place a measure on the June ballot.
Los Angeles Ethics Commission met Tuesday (2/20/18). The Commission listened to a staff presentation on contributions, matching funds, and campaign disclosure as a part of a new review of the city’s campaign finance laws. The plan is to have changes in place for the 2020 election cycle.
New York JCOPE meets next Tuesday (2/27/18). JCOPE has a scant agenda; the only substantive listing is an application for exemption from disclosure of source of funding from the NY Civil Liberties Union. Noticeably absent from the agenda are the still-pending lobby regulations.
In case you missed it:
Reuters reports that on February 15, 2018, Citizens United lost an appeal in the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York in a case involving disclosure of its donors. In Citizens United v. Schneiderman, the organization argued that the disclosure requirement was unconstitutional as chilling its speech and assembly rights and as a prior restraint on its ability to solicit money from donors. Citizens United is considering an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
US News & World Reports tells us that on February 13, 2018, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a $230,000 charge by the Missouri Ethics Commission for campaign finance violations by a former Missouri State Senator. In Wright Jones v. Missouri Ethics Commission, the court said that while the Missouri Constitution prohibits the Legislature from delegating to a commission the ability to impose fines, the Missouri Ethics Commission properly imposed penalty “fees” for violations.