As required by Act 70 of 2021, Pennsylvania lobbyists and lobbying firms must file their initial equity reports by October 7, 2021. The reports disclose either the total value or percentage of equity held by a lobbyist or...more
The next quarterly update required under the Illinois pay-to-play law is due August 14, 2021. As described in earlier mailings, the Illinois pay-to-play law requires many companies with aggregate annual state bids, proposals...more
The annual filing for state and local contractors required under New Jersey Chapter 271 (Form BE) is due March 30, 2021. As we have described in previous mailings, this report must be filed if a business entity received...more
The following summarizes the periodic reporting requirements under Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Rhode Island laws for certain corporate entities to file reports regarding their business...more
On February 2, 2021, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced new federal campaign contribution limits in accordance with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which requires the FEC to adjust certain federal...more
On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order, “Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel,” requiring certain appointees to sign an ethics pledge (Biden Pledge). Similar to presidential ethics...more
2/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Ethics ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Gifts ,
Golden Parachutes ,
Lobbying ,
Lobbying Disclosure Act ,
OMB ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Trump Administration
In light of the events at the Capitol on January 6, many companies have been reevaluating their political giving and the use of political action committees. The nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics has been tracking the...more
The next quarterly update required under the Illinois pay-to-play law is due August 14, 2020. As described in earlier mailings, this law requires many companies with aggregate annual state bids, proposals and contracts...more
On June 25, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Jack Abramoff intends to plead guilty to criminal violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), in what is the first known criminal prosecution under...more
7/1/2020
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Ethics ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Lobbying ,
Lobbying Disclosure Act ,
Lobbyists ,
Marijuana ,
Political Campaigns ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Transparency
In an attempt to further curb foreign influence in U.S. elections, there is a recent trend among states and localities to propose legislation restricting political spending by corporations with foreign owners. Existing...more
5/6/2020
/ Corporate Contributions ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Local Ordinance ,
PACs ,
Political Contributions ,
Presidential Elections ,
Proposed Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Bans ,
State Legislatures
Below we summarize findings from a recent report on Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) compliance and remind you of an upcoming LDA deadline....more
In light of recent news reports on stock trades made by certain senators after they received intelligence briefings on the COVID-19 crisis, we want to remind you of the provisions of the Stop Trading on Congressional...more
As federal, state and local governments grapple with the COVID-19 outbreak, a number of jurisdictions have modified certain ethics, lobbying and campaign finance requirements in response to the crisis. Below, we describe...more
3/27/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Donations ,
Electronic Filing ,
Ethics ,
Executive Orders ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Election Commission (FEC) ,
Gifts ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Late Fees ,
Lobbying ,
PACs ,
Political Contributions ,
Public Officials ,
Relief Measures ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State of Emergency
Below, please find a summary of notable political law developments in New York, Texas and the city of Los Angeles.
New York State Reduces Contribution Limits Beginning in November 2022 -
Late last year, the New York...more
2/27/2020
/ Campaign Contributions ,
Campaign Finance Reform ,
City of Los Angeles ,
City Planning Departments ,
Contribution Limits ,
Ethics Commission ,
General Elections ,
Land Developers ,
Lobbying ,
Local Ordinance ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Contributions ,
Primary Elections ,
Public Officials ,
State and Local Government ,
State Elections ,
State Legislatures
The following describes periodic pay-to-play reporting requirements under Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island laws. Certain corporate entities must file reports regarding their business relationships...more
2/12/2020
/ Affiliates ,
Campaign Finance Reform ,
Corporate Entities ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Filing Requirements ,
PACs ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Campaigns ,
Political Contributions ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
Now that the calendar has flipped to 2020, planning and fundraising efforts are intensifying in advance of this summer’s national party conventions. ...more
Effective January 1, 2020, the earnings threshold for an employee to qualify as an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is rising to $684 per week (or $35,568 per...more
Below please find updates on recent lobbying law developments in Texas and Puerto Rico.
Texas Requires FARA Disclosure by Lobbying Registrants
Texas House Bill 1785, effective September 1, 2019, requires lobbying...more
The next quarterly update for state contractors that is required under the Illinois pay-to-play law is due August 14, 2019. As described in earlier mailings, the state’s pay-to-play law requires a company with aggregate...more
On June 25, the Preventing Adversaries Internationally from Disbursing Advertising Dollars Act (the bill) was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bill proposes expansions of existing prohibitions on political activities of...more
As discussed in our November 29, 2018 mailing, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) rolled out changes to its Electronic Filing Password Assignment System, requiring PACs and other committees’ passwords to have two-factor...more
On June 18, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the court) dismissed a challenge to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) pay-to-play Rule 2030 (the rule) brought by the New York...more
6/28/2019
/ Administrative Authority ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Campaign Contributions ,
Corruption ,
Dismissals ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Election Campaign Act ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
First Amendment ,
Government Entities ,
Important Governmental Objectives ,
Investment Adviser ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Contributions ,
Political Parties ,
Preemption ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Solicitation ,
Standing
In a recent mailing we noted that the following Democratic presidential candidates are covered under federal pay-to-play rules (i.e., SEC 206(4)-5, MSRB G-37, CFTC 23.451 and FINRA 2030) because they are currently elected...more
Financial institutions and their employees may be subject to the following federal pay-to-play rules: SEC Rule 206(4)-5 for investment advisers; CFTC Rule 23.451 for commodities-backed swap dealers; FINRA Rule 2030 for...more
5/2/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Commodities-Backed Swap ,
De Minimus Doctrine ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Investment Adviser ,
MSRB ,
Municipal Advisers ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Political Contributions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers
The Office of the Clerk of the House and the Senate Office of Public Records recently amended the online federal Lobby Disclosure Act (LDA) filing system to provide fields for the new disclosures required by the Justice...more