The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has adjusted coordinated party expenditure limits for 2020.
The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee (JLEC) recently gave guidance that lobbyists and employers must "affirmatively invite" all members of the General Assembly or all members of the House of Senate to qualify as an "all invited" event for reporting purposes.
With the start of a new decade, our team wants to share an overview of the past year and a look ahead to the coming months. Here is a review of relevant legislation that the General Assembly passed in 2019, a summary of predictions for 2020 legislative priorities and a political preview of the 2020 statewide election.
Recently, the Ohio Ethics Commission, in Advisory Opinion Number 2019-01, provided additional guidance on ceremonial gifts for public officials and employees.
Prisoners awaiting trial “must be given same voting rights as other citizens,” U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson recently found, ruling on a case filed by two men incarcerated in Montgomery County last year, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
A federal judge denied a preliminary injunction sought by Project Veritas “challenging Ohio’s prohibition against individuals going undercover on political campaigns,” The Columbus Dispatch reports.
Introduced on October 26, 2019, House Joint Resolution 2 (HJR 2), titled the “Ohio Critical Infrastructure Protection Amendment,” seeks to place a constitutional amendment before Ohio voters prohibiting foreign businesses and individuals from having a majority ownership interest in critical infrastructure located in Ohio.
We’ve previously covered whether you need to register with the State of Ohio as a lobbyist, but, like many of the topics our team discusses, there is a municipal component as well. Many cities, especially larger ones, have their own lobbying registration and reporting requirements.
On October 4, 2019, the Ohio Supreme Court denied the writ of mandamus by L. Stephen Combs to require the Greene County Board of Elections to count the signatures on Combs’ petition and certify his name for the November 5, 2019, election.
On September 16, 2019, the Ohio Supreme Court found that the Trumbull County Board of Elections abused its discretion when it removed Randy Law from the ballot as an independent candidate for Mayor of Warren and ordered the board to recertify Law’s candidacy to the November ballot.