Oregon Bolsters Campaign Finance Laws and Requires Lobbyist Training 

Mario Dalessandro. J.D.
Research Associate              

The Oregon Legislature passed amendments to campaign finance and lobbying laws including a joint resolution to change the state constitution and three bills signed by Gov. Kate Brown requiring additional campaign disclosures and annual training for lobbyists.

Campaign Finance Disclosures

Senate Joint Resolution 18 proposes an amendment to the Oregon Constitution authorizing the adoption of state and local laws to impose contribution limits. To become effective, the proposed amendment must be passed by voters on the November 3, 2020 ballot.

House Bill 2716 requires communications supporting or opposing a candidate to disclose donors. Communications made by PACs must disclose the name of the PAC and the top five donors of at least $10,000. A communication made by an individual or for-profit business entity must only state the name of the individual or for-profit business entity. A penalty of 150% of the total cost of the communication may be imposed if the disclosure requirements are not met. House Bill 2716 becomes effective December 3, 2020.

House Bill 2983 requires covered organizations making political communications to file a donor identification list identifying donors making donations of $10,000 or more during that election cycle. Disclosure is required when spending more than $100,000 on communications related to statewide races or races in cities or counties with at least 60,000 residents. The disclosure threshold is $25,000 for legislative races and contests in smaller jurisdictions. A penalty not to exceed the lesser of 10% per day or 150% of the total cost of the communications may be imposed for violations. House Bill 2983 became effective when signed by the governor.

Lobbyist Training

House Bill 3377 requires registered lobbyists to attend annual training beginning in 2021. The bill establishes the Legislative Equity Office and the position of legislative equity officer to conduct the lobbyist training. Lobbyists will be required to certify training attendance to the Oregon Ethics Commission. The commission will be required to submit a report to the legislative equity officer that lists the date each lobbyist registered and the dates and duration of training each lobbyist completed for the prior calendar year. House Bill 3377 becomes effective January 1, 2021.

[The details for this article are updated on our website in the Registration and Reports Required sections of the Political Contribution Compliance Laws and the Registration and Definitions sections of the Lobbying Compliance Laws for Oregon.]

Summary of Changes UPDATE
Note Recent Changes to Compliance Regulations 

Michael Beckett, Esq.,
Research Manager

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: City Council unanimously approved Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s ethics ordinance expanding registration requirements for nonprofits. Ethics Ordinance 2019-5305 includes in the definition of lobbyist a person who seeks to influence legislative or administrative action on behalf of a not-for-profit entity if such person is paid or  undertakes those efforts as a matter of professional engagement, regardless of pay. Registration is not required for providing nonpartisan research, technical advice, or discussion regarding broad social, economic, and similar problems. The lobbying amendments are effective January 2020.

FEDERAL: Guidance limiting IRS disclosure requirements was set aside by a federal judge. In Bullock v. IRS, the U.S. District Court District found the IRS violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not providing notice and allowing a public comment period before the guidance was issued. It predicated this decision by finding the guidance was a legislative rule. On July 16, 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department and the IRS announced certain tax-exempt organizations would no longer be required to report the names and addresses of contributors on their annual reports. These organizations are still required to continue to collect and keep the donor information and to make it available to the IRS upon its request. This change did not affect the information required to be reported by charities primarily receiving tax-deductible contributions, such as 501(c)(3) organizations, certain nonexempt private foundations, or 527 political organizations.

MARYLAND: The Maryland Department of General Services launched the state’s new electronic procurement system, eMaryland Marketplace Advantage (eMMA). The eMMA system is Maryland’s new online platform used to connect the vendor community with contracting opportunities from state, county, and local government entities. Registered vendors will receive notices of bid opportunities, submit bid responses, and obtain bid results online. Accounts from the previous system will not be transferred to eMMA. Vendors will have to register with the new system. The state is currently training over 825 procurement professionals to help during the transition and provide training to users.

NEW YORK: The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) launched new search function capabilities from its lobbying application. JCOPE website users can now choose “Lobbying Focus” to search for recorded lobbying on specific bills, resolutions, and regulations at both the state and municipal levels. The new “Parties Lobbied” tool allows users to see which specific agencies or lawmakers were lobbied and on what subject. The public search is available at https://jcope.ny.gov/lobby-data-demand. 

SAN DIEGO: The City Council passed an ordinance amending lobbying rules based on recommendations from the city Ethics Commission. Ordinance 2019-148 modifies the definition of activity expense to include any payment made by a lobbyist to a city official if during the previous 12 months the lobbyist engaged in lobbying the city official’s department, agency, or city board. The ordinance also changes the disclosure of employment-related activity expenses from specific dollar amounts to one of seven disclosure categories. If signed by the mayor, the ordinance takes effect in 2020 when the first quarter filing is due. 

Legislation We Are Tracking

At any given time, more than 1,000 legislative bills, which can affect how you do business as a government affairs professional, are being discussed in federal, state, and local jurisdictions. These bills are summarized in State and Federal Communications' digital encyclopedias for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying and can be found in the client portion of our website.

Summaries of major bills are also included in monthly email updates sent to all clients. The chart below shows the number of bills we are tracking in regard to lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying.
 

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