Latest Developments:
- Texas Requires Influencers to Disclose Paid Posts: The Texas Ethics Commission unanimously voted to amend a campaign finance rule, requiring influencers to disclose when they are paid to make posts and videos for political advertisement, reports the Texas Tribune. Previously, social media users were only required to label posts as political ads if they spent their own money on advertising within a reporting period, which exempted those paid by outside groups.
- Missouri Ethics Commission cannot hold meetings: The Missouri Independent reports that the commission, which investigates complaints regarding campaign finance and lobbying, cannot hold a meeting or take action on complaints. A new appointment resulted in a quorum, but one commissioner has not been able to attend.
- Arizona Alleged Pay-to-Play: In response to a complaint by a legislator, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced his office will investigate allegations that Governor Katie Hobbs was involved in a “pay-to-play” scheme, according to Axios.com. A report revealed that a group home business received rate increases of nearly 60 percent after donating to Hobbs’s campaign.
- Florida Disclosure Form Enjoined: A federal judge has issued an injunction blocking the Florida Commission on Ethics from enforcing a state law significantly expanding financial disclosure by Florida’s mayors and city council members to include net worth and income from primary jobs. A number of local officials resigned rather than file the new Form 6 and over 170 joined the lawsuit.
In Case You Missed It:
- FEC Rollback or Consensus? As reported by the New York Times, the reform community contends that the FEC has started to loosen restrictions after over a decade of deadlock after a new 4-2 block decided matters involving door-to-door canvassing operations and state-level ballot measure support, among other developments.
- Corruption Indictment in New Jersey: A prominent political powerbroker and others were charged in a 111-page indictment, reports nj.com. Spanning 12 years, the corruption charges include the alleged influence of government officials and the obtaining of property rights and tax incentives.
- Florida Penalizes Political Operative: According to the Tribune News Service, as reported by msn.com, a longtime Central Florida political operative pleaded no contest to multiple counts of campaign finance violations and agreed to serve five years of probation and pay $14,175 toward the cost of the investigation into the matter.
- Louisiana Legislators Decline to Specify if Child Care is a Campaign Expense: The Louisiana Illuminator reports that state legislators declined to have state law specify whether childcare costs are an allowable campaign expense, thus leaving the Louisiana Ethics Board to decide on a case-by-case basis if childcare costs will be allowed.