Updates on developments in campaign finance, lobbying & government ethics law
The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) adopted on Thursday higher political contribution limits and public officer gift limits for the 2023-2024 political cycle. The new limits take effect on January 1, 2023.
Contribution Limits
Under the new limits, an individual, business entity, or committee/PAC can contribute $5,500 per election to candidates for state legislature,…
The CPA-Zicklin Index, which ranks companies’ political disclosure practices, has issued a newreport ranking companies in the Russell 1000 Index. This is a significant expansion of the Index,which previously only covered companies from the S&P 500. The expansion will impact manypublic companies that have not previously been subject to scrutiny by political disclosureactivists.
The…
The District of Columbia’s new pay-to-play law will take effect on November 9, 2022. As we blogged about here, the Campaign Finance Reform Amendment Act of 2018 prohibits certain campaign contributions by contractors doing or seeking to do business with the D.C. government. This prohibition applies to entities holding or seeking contracts worth an…
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) last week announced settlements with four investment advisory firms regarding alleged violations of the SEC’s pay-to-play rule, illustrating that federal regulators continue to aggressively pursue such cases. The rule at issue, Rule 206(4)-5 (“the Rule”), prohibits investment advisers from, among other things, receiving compensation from certain government entities…
The newly-established New York Commission on Ethics in Lobbying and Government recently took over as the state’s regulator of lobbying and government ethics, replacing the old Joint Commission on Public Ethics. This change in the enforcer and a new group of commissioners could spell more rigorous enforcement of the state’s lobbying disclosure and ethics rules.…
Trade associations, 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, other outside groups that pay for political advertisements, and their donors now have more answers to long-running questions regarding when donations to these groups are publicly reportable. After postponing consideration of the issue during its previous meeting, the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) approved Wednesday an interim final rule on…
As we previewed in the fall, the Supreme Court today struck down the longstanding statutory prohibition on the use of funds raised after Election Day to repay a candidate loan in Federal Election Commission v. Cruz. Although the outcome of the case—which was brought by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) following his re-election in 2018—was far…
The 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) offers new details on the landscape of Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”) compliance and enforcement. The report is based on random audits of lobbyists’ filings and analysis of enforcement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (“USAO”).
The report included several trends GAO identified…
In the digital age, it has become common to accuse opponents of propping up their online presence through paying influencers, buying followers or likes, or of being supported by bots. A California law new this year is looking to shed light on at least some of that activity.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission recently…
The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing on Tuesday on potential reform of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), the first FARA hearing by the House Judiciary Committee in over 30 years.
FARA is an arcane statute that requires “agents of foreign principals” engaged in certain…
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