Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The Commissioner of Canada Elections announced compliance agreements with two corporations that agreed to pay fines of nearly $450,000, a fine that represents three times the amount of illegal contributions made by these corporations in…

Latest Developments: The California Third District Court of Appeal invalidated a measure that purported to allow public financing of elections in California.  In Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Newsom, the court found that Proposition 73, passed in…

Latest Developments: The Mayor of San Diego approved Ordinance 21098, which requires a nexus between a lobbyist’s activity expenses and the city official.  Under the changes made by the ordinance, expenses must be disclosed if the lobbyist lobbied…

Latest Developments: The North Dakota Ethics Commission has been appointed.  The Governor’s Office announced that the selection panel, which included the Governor and the majority and minority leaders of the State Senate, chose the five members for the…

Latest Developments: The Governor of Oregon signed two campaign finance disclosure bills this week: HB 2716, which requires that communications in support or opposition of a candidate disclose the name of the committee and the top five…

Latest Developments: The United States District Court for the District of Montana overturned IRS Revenue Procedure 2018-38, which applied beginning with the 2018 tax year and ended the requirement that certain nonprofit organizations disclose donors of…

Latest Developments: The Chicago City Council unanimously approved the new Mayor’s ethics reform proposal this week. While much of the ordinance is aimed at bolstering the powers of the Inspector General and tightening rules for city officers and employees,…

Latest Developments: The Supreme Court of Washington State upheld the City of Seattle’s taxpayer-funded “Democracy Voucher Program” in which each registered voter receives a voucher that can be given to a qualified candidate to redeem.  Two taxpayers…

Latest Developments: The Oregon Legislature approved Senate Joint Resolution 18, which places a measure on the November 2020 ballot that would permit the state and local governments to enact laws or ordinances to limit campaign contributions, require disclosure…

Latest Developments: The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (NY JCOPE) met on Tuesday.  Commission staff announced that the deadline to file semi-annual lobbyist employer reports is extended to July 31, as a result of changes with the…