Corporate legal and compliance departments are usually well aware of the laws regulating lobbying the federal government. Recent news reports, however, indicate that companies have more trouble with state and local lobbying laws. A few features of state and local lobbying make it a tricky blind spot. This increases the risk of failing to properly … Continue Reading
Nonprofits that are active in California politics, already facing one of the most complex regulatory environments in the country, now have another thing to worry about: the state’s Attorney General. In remarks Wednesday, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced his intent to pursue nonprofit organizations that he believes “abuse” their nonprofit status for political purposes. With the … Continue Reading
Corporate political disclosure activists this week launched a new tactic in their fight to pressure companies to publicly disclose information about their political and lobbying activities. For more than a decade, public pension funds and others have aggressively pushed shareholder resolutions that call on public companies to self-disclose information about contributions to trade associations and … Continue Reading
On Friday, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released its tenth annual report on compliance with and enforcement of the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”). The report summarizes the results of GAO’s random audits of lobbyists’ quarterly LD-2 activity reports and semi-annual LD-203 contribution reports, and provides a snapshot of the current enforcement environment. There are a … Continue Reading
A report published today criticizes companies that refuse to disclose information about their political spending on their websites. The non-profit Center for Political Accountability and the Zicklin School at Wharton annually rank all companies in the S&P 500 on their political disclosure practices, based on a 70-point metric. The more information companies disclose on their … Continue Reading
New Jersey is well-known for having strict, comprehensive, and complex pay-to-play laws. Two new changes to an annual pay-to-play filing required of some government contractors will only enhance that reputation. State law requires a company that receives $50,000 annually through government contracts in New Jersey to file a report by March 30 of the following … Continue Reading
California is already home to some of the most complicated and searching political regulations in the country, especially in its efforts to expose “dark money” and other undisclosed political spending. A newly-amended lobbying regulation and proposed campaign finance law will enhance that reputation. The practical effect of each is to invite deeper scrutiny of not … Continue Reading
A major spending bill posted late last night by Congressional leaders contains provisions shooting down two key initiatives of the campaign finance reform community. Stymied by a Federal Election Commission that has increasingly struggled to find consensus, campaign finance activists in recent years have turned their attention to other federal regulators, pressing those regulators to … Continue Reading
The New Year brings with it new laws governing campaign finance, lobbying, and ethics. Below we highlight some of the major state and federal laws that took effect on or around January 1. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, but highlights some of the most significant changes that are new for 2015. … Continue Reading
National Journal reported today that the House Ethics Committee quietly scrapped “decades of precedent” requiring Members of the House of Representatives and certain senior staff to disclose privately funded travel on annual financial disclosure forms. Despite this change, travel costs still must be disclosed. Under the current House travel rules, Members of the House and … Continue Reading
New guidance from the Florida Bureau of Election Records will be useful to federal PACs and other non-Florida political entities that want to participate in Florida politics but were wary of the state’s registration and reporting requirements. Under the new guidance, available on page 34 of the Florida Political Committee Handbook: Out-of-state and federal entities … Continue Reading
The Virginia General Assembly passed new ethics legislation on Wednesday to little fanfare. Legislators voted unanimously to adopt the new law with Governor Terry McAuliffe’s technical amendments. We previously blogged about the law’s major provisions. The law supplements the much stricter executive order limiting gifts to the executive branch, signed by Governor McAuliffe in January. … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court’s latest major campaign finance decision, McCutcheon v. FEC, “does not involve” a challenge to current limits on contributions to political party committees and PACs, which the Court “previously upheld as serving the permissible objective of combatting corruption.” But it nonetheless provides fodder for those who would challenge party and PAC limits. The … Continue Reading
As we predicted in January, the Virginia General Assembly has passed an ethics reform law and sent it to Governor Terry McAuliffe who can sign it into law, veto it, or propose amendments and return it to the General Assembly for further action. If signed into law, it will supplement the executive order limiting gifts … Continue Reading
A coalition of 60 investors, led by the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan and Walden Asset Management, recently announced that they have submitted shareholder proposals seeking additional disclosures regarding political spending and lobbying activities. This announcement reflects a continuing desire among these groups to obtain additional disclosures from public companies regarding lobbying and political spending, and … Continue Reading
Earlier today, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, in his first appearance before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Oversight, stated that final regulations governing political activity by 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations are unlikely to be completed before the November elections. His statement seems to differ from the White House Statement of Administration … Continue Reading
California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is more aggressive than ever and is employing new tactics. The FPPC’s recently-released end-of-year report detailing enforcement activities in 2013 highlights some interesting statistics that should be on the radar of every company doing business in California. Prosecutions of both “serious campaign cases” and lobbying violations were both “at … Continue Reading
This year has not been a great one for activists seeking to force corporations to increase disclosure of their political activities. According to the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, average shareholder support for proposals related to political spending or lobbying declined again this year, from 22 percent to 20 percent for lobbying proposals and … Continue Reading
The Washington State Public Disclosure Commission raised campaign contribution limits last week. Effective January 5, 2014, corporations, PACs, and individuals will be able to donate $950 per election to legislative candidates and $1,900 per election to gubernatorial and other statewide candidates. A primary and general election are considered separate elections for contribution limit purposes. A … Continue Reading
After extensive legislative deliberation over the past year, last week the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously approved a campaign finance reform bill which aims to tighten up rules around LLC contributions and promote fundraising transparency. Notably, the D.C. Council had contemplated inserting pay-to-play restrictions in the campaign finance bill, but ultimately removed any … Continue Reading
The federal shutdown has resulted in the furlough of all FEC employees except the Commissioners. As with most agencies, the greatest impact on the regulated community will appear over time: On-line data will grow stale, advisory opinions will be delayed, enforcement cases will not advance. The FEC has summarized the process here. For political committees, … Continue Reading
The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing this morning to consider the nominations of Ann Miller Ravel and Lee E. Goodman to serve as Members of the Federal Election Commission. It was smooth sailing for the nominees, with Members of Congress and nominees alike lamenting the current state of affairs and agreeing … Continue Reading
As forecasted, a federal court has entered a permanent injunction that permits Super PACs in New Jersey to raise unlimited funds, pursuant to the parties’ agreement. This resolves the suit brought by the Fund for Jobs, Growth & Security after the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission advised the Fund in March that it was powerless … Continue Reading
Twenty House Democrats yesterday introduced proposed legislation that, if enacted in its current form, would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to: Require corporations and labor unions which “submit[] regular, periodic reports” to their shareholders and members to include certain detailed information concerning their political spending. That information must also be reported to the … Continue Reading
