No later than March 30, 2010, business entities that received payments of $50,000 or more through New Jersey government contracts in calendar year 2009 are required to file a Business Entity Annual Disclosure Form with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. Read more »
Contribution and pay-to-play restrictions often allow for refunds to “correct” an over-the-limit contribution. The power of a refund varies by statute. Here are a few examples. Read more »
Today, in a 5-4 ruling, the United States Supreme Court changed the Constitutional landscape for campaign finance reform. In Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the Court lifted the long-standing ban on corporate and union independent expenditures in federal elections, but upheld Federal Election Commission disclosure and disclaimer requirements on those ads. Read more »
Governor Christie’s Executive Order No. 7 modifies prior executive orders (implicitly Executive Orders 117 and 118 signed by Governor Corzine in 2008) by amending the term “business entity” to include labor unions and labor organizations, and political committees formed by such organizations. The Governor explained that EO 7 would bring unions within the “pay-to-play” regulatory regime in order “to level the playing field.” Read more »
On his first day in office, Governor Christie signed eight executive orders, including one on pay-to-play. Here is Executive Order No. 7.
We’ve reached our final installment on our series on gift-giving. This post will cover gift-giving to federal officials and employees. Read more »
We are continuing our series on giving gifts to public officials.
As a general rule of thumb, a New Jersey public official and/or employee may not accept any gift, which is intended to influence the performance of his or her official duties. Exceptions may exist if you are a relative or close personal friend of an elected official, and depending on the branch or level of government served by the potential recipient.
Executive Branch officials and employees are governed by the Uniform Ethics Code, which prohibits Executive Branch officials or employees from accepting any gift, favor, service or other thing of value related in any way to their public duties. The New Jersey Department of Treasury recently issued guidance to state vendors, which asks all vendors to “refrain from sending any gifts or inviting state employees to any functions.”
Legislative Branch officials and employees are governed by the Legislative Code of Ethics, which prohibits a member of the New Jersey Legislature from receiving any gift or other thing of value from any source other than the State of New Jersey in relation to the member’s official duties. If you are a governmental affairs agent, you may not give a member of the Legislature gifts totaling more than $250 in the aggregate during a calendar year or any gift of lesser value intended to influence a legislator’s official duties. Not sure whether you are up to speed on the Legislative Code of Ethics? You can take the New Jersey Legislature’s Ethics Tutorial here.
Local government officials and employees are governed by the Local Government Ethics Law, which requires a local government official to annually disclose each source of gifts, reimbursements or prepaid expenses having an aggregate value exceeding $400 in a calendar year. Although local government officials may accept gifts under certain circumstances, no local government official may accept any gift given or offered for the purpose of influencing him/her, directly or indirectly, in the discharge of his/her official duties.
The Uniform Ethics Code, the Legislative Code of Ethics and the Local Government Ethics Law provide general guidance on gift-giving to Executive, Legislative and local government officials and employees. State agencies and localities may additionally have their own Codes of Ethics in effect.
The holidays are upon us and so are the various gifts that companies send out annually during this time. Whether it’s a small calendar or an expensive bottle of wine, it is important to be aware of the various gift restrictions that apply when the gifts are made to public officials. The restrictions change depending on the jurisdiction, who is giving the gift and the recipient of the gift.
This article is the first in a series that will examine gift laws under New York, New Jersey and Federal law. First up: New York. Read more »
We have previously discussed public pension fund reform laws and regulations in place in New Jersey (SIC Rules), New York (Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s Pension Fund Code of Conduct and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s Executive Order) as well as a proposed SEC rule. The wave of reform now reaches California.
On October 11, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law Assembly Bill 1584 (“AB 1584”), which became effective immediately. AB 1584 requires that the boards of all public employees’ pension or retirement systems in California implement a disclosure policy detailing payments made to placement agents in connection with system investments in or through asset management firms. Additionally, the required disclosure policy must include a five year solicitation ban on external asset managers and placement agents who violate the disclosure policy. The required disclosure policy must be adopted by June 30, 2010.
AB 1584 also:
Now that the 2009 gubernatorial election is over, companies that do business with the State of New Jersey and/or wish to remain eligible for contracts with the State need to take inventory of contributions that covered persons and/or entities made during the 2009 gubernatorial election cycle.
New Jersey statewide pay-to-play restrictions cover contributions greater than $300 by certain persons and entities associated with a business entity. Under Executive Order 117, contributions by officers, shareholders, partners and their spouses, resident children and civil union partners may affect a company’s eligibility for a contract with the State for a period ranging from 18 months up to 5 ½ years from the date on which a covered contribution was made.
The applicable period of ineligibility is calculated by looking at the candidate or committee to which a contribution greater than $300 was made. As the New Jersey Department of Treasury explains in response to Question No. 118 on its website, a contribution to the successful candidate (or party committee supporting that candidate) will have a longer term impact on a business entity’s eligibility for a state government contract than a contribution to an unsuccessful candidate (or party committee supporting that candidate).
