Corporations, trade associations, non-profits, other organizations, and individuals face significant penalties and reputational harm if they violate state laws governing corporate and personal political activities, the registration of lobbyists, lobbying reporting, or the giving of gifts or items of value to government officials or employees. To help organizations and individuals comply with these rules, Covington
Wisconsin
Covington Releases 400-Page, 50-State Survey of Pay-to-Play Rules (2022 Edition)
Companies doing business with state and local governments or operating in regulated industries are subject to a dizzying array of “pay-to-play” rules. These rules effectively prohibit company executives and employees (and in some cases, their family members) from making certain personal political contributions. Even inadvertent violations can be dangerous: a single political contribution can, for…
Survey of the Pay-to-Play Laws of the United States
By Zachary G. Parks & Kevin Glandon on
Companies doing business with state and local governments or operating in regulated industries are subject to a dizzying array of “pay-to-play” rules. These rules effectively prohibit company executives and employees (and in some cases, their family members) from making certain personal political contributions. Even inadvertent violations can be dangerous: a single political contribution can, for …
State Action, Federal Inaction on Coordination Enforcement Cases
By Andrew Garrahan on
At the federal level, it is generally illegal for an outside group like a Super PAC or a 501(c)(4) organization to coordinate its independent expenditures with the candidate it supports. The same is true in many states. As we recently reported in our 2013 FEC Year in Review, however, the FEC did not act…
Wisconsin Assembly Votes to Permit Corporate Independent Expenditures, Double Contribution Limits
By Angelle Smith Baugh on
Posted in Campaign Finance, State Law
Yesterday, the Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill that would modify Wisconsin’s ban on corporate expenditures and double the state’s political contribution limits. In response to Citizens United, the bill lifts Wisconsin’s blanket prohibition on corporate expenditures. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill would permit corporate independent expenditures and corporate…
Wisconsin Aggregate Contribution Limit Challenged
A Wisconsin resident has brought a federal lawsuit challenging the state law that restricts individual political contributions to candidates and committees to $10,000 in a calendar year. As alleged in the complaint in the case, captioned Young v. Vocke, the aggregate limit is so low that if an individual were to make a maximum…