Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The California Attorney General issued an opinion on April 3, 2018, that a city council member who is also an attorney may not advocate on behalf of a client’s interests that are adverse to the city’s…

Latest Developments: New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics met on March 27, 2018.  Staff demonstrated a new website that will become available to the public next week.  The staff has also issued a new Procurement Lobbying…

Latest Developments: Federal Budget:  House Bill 1625 has been approved by Congress signed by the President.  Buried within the bill are a few provisions that pertain to political activity: Section 125 (page 468) prohibits the IRS from finalizing a regulation that…

Latest Developments: Fair Political Practices Commission meets next Thursday, March 22, 2018.  Among the topics on the agenda for discussion: Regulations 19401(recordkeeping requirements for mass mailing and earmarked funds) and 18450 (definition of “advertisement” for disclosure purposes).  Both of…

Latest Developments: Oklahoma Ethics Commission meets today, Friday, March 9, 2018.  While we generally don’t monitor this commission closely, it’s worth noting that the meeting agenda includes a presentation by a current state legislator who is asking the…

Latest Developments: New York JCOPE met Tuesday (2/27/18).  JCOPE’s only discussion concerned a request for an exemption from disclosure of source of funding from the NY Civil Liberties Union, which was denied.  The still-pending lobby…

Latest Developments: San Francisco Ethics Commission met last Friday (2/16/18).  The commission failed to put an amendment to the city’s ethics ordinance on the June ballot (Item 4).  The proposal was a watered-down version of the…

Latest Developments: Oakland Public Ethics Commission met Monday (2/5/18).  The Lobbyist Registration Subcommittee of the Commission approved a revised Lobbyist Registration Guide for 2018, which is the first update in 10 years.  The guide is…