Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision and upheld the California Attorney General’s requirement that nonprofit organizations that engage in political spending must disclose their donors to the state, as…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission is touting a campaign safety information program established by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI program, called “Protected Voices,” is intended to raise awareness among campaigns of the risk of…

Latest Developments: Among the recollections of the late Sen. John McCain’s legislative achievements, NPR ran a segment on the Senator’s impact on Campaign Finance, including his essential role in the so-called Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002,…

Latest Developments: The Governor of New York signed SB 4761, which bans the use of placement agents, including registered lobbyists, who seek to obtain investments by the New York State Common Retirement Fund.  The bill takes effect immediately. The…

Latest Developments: A United States District Court Judge in Wyoming found the state’s ban on campaign robocalls to be unconstitutional.  According to Government.com, the ban on political calls was far more restrictive than the limits on commercial robocalls. …

Latest Developments: A federal District Court Judge in Washington, D.C. issued a 113-page opinion invalidating a 38-year old Federal Election Commission regulation that required any person’s federal Independent Expenditure Report to only disclose contributors to the ad addressed by that report….

Latest Developments: The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) met on July 31.  The Commission highlighted its efforts to educate the public on the new lobby regulations that take effect on January 1.  The…

Latest Developments: The Governor of Montana has filed suit against the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service seeking to block the revenue procedure that eliminates the reporting of the identity of contributors to politically active…

Latest Developments: The United States Treasury Department announced that it will no longer require the names and addresses of donors to be included on Schedule B, which is filed with IRS Form 990, for any nonprofit other…

Latest Developments: Sexual Harassment Developments: In Maine, SB 695 was enacted. It requires Legislators, legislative staff and lobbyists to attend and complete a course of in- person education and training regarding harassment, including sexual harassment, at…