Opportunities for Clients with Our New Washington, D.C. Operations

I am excited about the new opportunities for clients now that we have begun operations in Washington, D.C. Our new capabilities include seminars and presentations for members of your team regarding federal government compliance, federal reporting, and making your reports audit proof.

As many of you already know, Rebecca South has joined us and is working out of Washington. We are pleased to have someone of her talent and experience helping us with federal reports, servicing our clients in the Washington area, and speaking to colleagues and others about the services and consulting we provide to make sure you are compliant with federal laws.

As I reported to many of you in an e-mail last month, Rebecca was most recently the government relations administrator for Blank Rome, where she was responsible for managing standards and procedures to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal laws regarding lobbying, ethics, and campaign finance. She was also involved in business development and database management at Blank Rome.

Before that, she served for a time as a chief clerk and deputy clerk for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. She is a member of Women in Government Relations, Public Affairs Council, and American League of Lobbyists.

Rebecca is working with the State and Federal Communications team to make the process for federal reporting – including worksheet compilation and completion – more efficient. She is available to provide your company or organization on-site presentations, specific to your needs, regarding federal compliance.

If you would like to meet with her, or find out more about these new services provided by State and Federal Communications, Inc., please contact me directly at 330-761-9960, or 888-452-9669, or ebartz@stateandfed.com.

We will continue, over the coming weeks and months, to develop new programs and methods to meet your ever-changing government compliance needs.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz
President and CEO

Municipal Coverage Grows

The number of municipalities and regional governments our research associates track continues to grow. This is part of a continuous effort to better serve the needs of our clients.

This month, we have added eight municipalities for which our customers will find comprehensive, timely, and accurate information that includes: complete calendar of reporting deadlines; critical statutory citations; extensive directories of contact information; summaries of each state law; detailed reference charts on goods and services contributions; highlights of every statute; copies of all required forms; and much more.

The new municipalities are:

Annapolis, Maryland

Augusta, Maine

Frankfort, Kentucky

Jefferson City, Missouri

Montpelier, Vermont

Pierre, South Dakota

Tallahassee, Florida

Trenton, New Jersey

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 the State and Federal Communications’ digital encyclopedias for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying; this information is located on the client portion of the State and Federal Communications website.

Summaries of major bills are also included in monthly e-mail updates sent to all clients. The attached chart shows the number of bills we are tracking in regards to lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying.

Los Angeles:  Evaluating Lobbying and Ethics Laws

by James Warner, Esq.
Research Associate

 The Los Angeles Ethics Commission has performed a comprehensive review of the municipal lobbying ordinance. To date, the commission has reached consensus on a number of proposed changes. At the commission’s June 2009 meeting, the staff provided the commission with draft language reflecting the proposed changes for its consideration.

The commission approved a proposal requiring lobbyists to register if they are paid by a client to influence a city decision and they speak to a policymaker at least once on behalf of a client. Under the current law, lobbyists are not required to register with the city until they have worked 30 hours over a three-month period.

The commission also reworked the rules for in-house lobbyists who work directly for a single client, such as a private company. Those lobbyists will not be required to register unless they have spoken to city officials at least five times in a calendar quarter.

Further, lobbying organizations, currently called lobbyist employers, would now be required to register and pay a fee. Lobbying organizations would also be prohibited from providing gifts to city officials in the same manner as lobbyists and lobbying firms currently are. Finally, the contents of both the registration statement and the quarterly disclosure report have been expanded and modified.

At a special meeting on July 14, 2009, the ethics commission considered the draft versions of the municipal lobbying ordinance and the related amendments to the governmental ethics ordinance. The ethics commission voted to approve revised versions of both ordinances and forward them to city council. The commission still must draft language clarifying which groups would receive an exemption from the lobbying ordinance.

Summary of Changes UPDATE
Note Recent Changes to Compliance Regulations

by John Cozine, Esq.
Research Manager 

Government affairs professionals need to be aware of recent changes – and upcoming changes – in compliance laws for several jurisdictions, including:

FEDERAL: Lobbyists are now permitted to meet and have telephonic discussions with government officials regarding economic recovery projects. New rules allow government personnel to accept meetings and calls from federally registered lobbyists on the implementation of stimulus projects. Lobbyists can make their case at a "widely attended gathering." Government officials have to ask whether the person they are talking to at such events is a federally registered lobbyist speaking on behalf of a client. Agency officials are required to promptly disclose all oral and written communications with lobbyists concerning policy or projects funded under the recovery act. Officials also have to disclose any written communications with lobbyists regarding pending applications for competitive funding. Agency officials have to document any discussion with a lobbyist involving advocacy of stimulus policy or a particular project. Government officials are still banned from talking to lobbyists representing companies that have already applied for grants and are awaiting a competitive decision. In those cases, agency officials are allowed to accept "oral communication" only if the matter is purely logistical.

FEDERAL: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rules restricting money managers from making political contributions in hopes of winning business from pension funds. The pay-to-play proposal would prohibit an investment adviser from providing services to a pension fund for two years if the adviser makes a political contribution to an elected official who can influence the selection of advisers. The proposed rules are subject to a 60-day comment period, after which the SEC will likely schedule a vote on whether to finalize the rules.

ILLINOIS: Electronic registration is now available and mandatory for businesses required to register with the state board of elections because they have state contracts, bids, or proposals exceeding $50,000. The new system is available at:  https://berep.elections.il.gov/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/Default.aspx.

Any registration information received by mail or e-mail will not be processed. Further, all businesses that have registered previously by mail or e-mail must re-register electronically by Sept. 30, 2009. This includes those that are no longer required to update their registrations. For example, a business which registered and bid on a contract valued at more than $50,000 during the first seven months of 2009, but which was not awarded the contract, still must re-register electronically.

LOS ANGELES, Calif.: Responding to investigations into other pension systems, a Los Angeles pension agency has voted to require any company seeking business with its board to disclose campaign contributions it has made to city political candidates. The fire and police pensions board approved a policy demanding quarterly statements spelling out the political donations made by these companies, as well as their paid representatives, their employees, and their employees' family members. The policy went into effect immediately.

LOUISIANA: On July 16, 2009, House Bill 591, which removes the $50 cap a lobbyist can spend on food and beverages for lawmakers at a reception or meal held during the same time period and in the same locale as a meeting related to a national or regional organization or a meeting of a statewide organization of government officials or employees, became law. In accordance with the 10-day rule following bill passage by the legislature, the bill became law without Governor Jindal’s signature.

Landmark Series – Presidential Libraries

This article is one of an ongoing series that focuses on historical and/or significant landmarks. 
The information below was gleaned from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter and http://www.nps.gov/jica/historyculture/carterpresidentialcenter.htm

Jimmy Carter [1924 - ]   39^th President of the United States

Jimmy Carter (born James Earl Carter, Jr.), the 39^th president of the United States, was born October 1, 1924, in the town of Plains, Ga., and served as president from Jan. 20, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. The man who also served as governor of Georgia preferred to be known simply as Jimmy.

As president, Carter had many significant foreign policy accomplishments: the Panama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords, the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and formal establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Even though his reach could be felt internationally, he was equally vested in domestic public policy efforts such as deregulation in energy, transportation, communications, and finance. He also created two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

Throughout his life, Carter has focused his attention on human rights and community outreach. His efforts were noted and finally awarded on Dec. 10, 2002, when he received the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee cited his decades of commitment to finding peaceful solutions to international conflict; the advancement of democracy and human rights; and the promotion of economic and social development.

Today Carter remains very active in world affairs, and also in community outreach efforts. He still teaches Sunday school and is a deacon at the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains, Ga. Carter and his wife and former first lady, Rosalynn, volunteer one week a year to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people renovate and build homes in the United States and several foreign countries.

Carter indicated his interest in a Presidential Library after becoming president. He wanted the library and museum to be located in Atlanta. The library and museum cost $26 million, which was provided by donors around the world; the building opened to the public on Oct. 1, 1986.

The museum has photographs and historical memorabilia from the Carter presidency. It includes an exact replica of the Oval Office and also contains gifts the Carters received while in office. The museum is also home to exhibits of significant events that occurred during Jimmy Carter's life.

The library and museum are currently closed for a major renovation, and will open to the public again on
Oct. 1, 2009. For more information, contact:

Jimmy Carter Library & Museum

441 Freedom Parkway

Atlanta, Georgia   30307-1498

Telephone: 404-865-7100

http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/

State and Federal Communications, Inc. Scrapbook

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John Chames, left, Frank Comunale [Council Member, Summit County, Ohio, District 4 and Ohio State Senate candidate], and Elizabeth Bartz at the Fairlawn, Ohio, Fourth of July parade.

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