Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The Hawaii State Ethics Commission announced that its new Lobbying Electronic Filing System is now available.  The new system permits e-filing of lobbyist registrations and expenditure reports. The New York State Senate unanimously passed S 3167, which would ban procurement…

Latest Developments: The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics held its monthly meeting this week.  Among the items on its agenda, was a discussion on the state’s lobby application.  The Commission plans to have its new filing…

Latest Developments: The Governor of Wyoming signed Senate File 18 (Chapter 1, 2019 Statutes) which, among other things, increases the frequency of campaign reporting for PACs and candidates, and requires reporting of independent expenditures and electioneering communications.  The measure takes effect…

Latest Developments: The New Mexico Legislature finally introduced a bill to implement a state ethics commission.  Following adoption at the November election of a state constitutional amendment that required creation of an independent ethics commission, a 49-page…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission announced revised contribution limits for the 2019-2020 election cycle based on changes to the consumer price index.  For example, under the new contribution limits, individuals may contribute up to $2,800 to federal…

Latest Developments: The Governor of New York has signed A 776 and S 1101, which make clear that limited liability companies are subject to the prohibition on corporate contributions and require LLCs to file annual disclosure reports with the…

Latest Developments: The Mayor of Washington, D.C. signed a major campaign finance measure, Bill 22-107 (now C. Act 22-578).  Among other things, the measure enacts pay-to-play restrictions on contractors, prohibits lobbyists from bundling contributions, and moves the Office of…

Latest Developments: The United States Supreme Court denied a petition to hear an appeal from the Ninth Circuit decision in Lair v. Mangan, a case that raised two issues:  (1) whether Montana’s base candidate contribution limits on individual and political…

Latest Developments: The United States District Court for the District of Maryland, in Washington Post v. McManus, found that the state’s Online Electioneering Transparency and Accountability Act, which was intended to curb foreign online/social media activity in domestic…

Latest Developments: President Trump signed the JACK Act (“Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018”; 2896).  That measure requires federal lobbyists to disclose convictions for certain financial crimes on their lobbyist registration and quarterly reports.  Bloomberg has a…