FORMS SUBMITTED. Hill. “President Trump’s Agriculture secretary nominee has submitted forms detailing how he will avoid potential ethical conflicts if confirmed, according to multiple reports.”
CA: SUPER PAC HELP. SB. “Last spring, as he laid the groundwork for his gubernatorial run, Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa announced the formation of a super PAC he said would ‘harness the compassion and power’ of Californians to fight back against anti-immigrant policies and then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.”
NM: REFORM GETS OK. NMPR. “The bill would require any independent-expenditure group — such as a corporation, union or dark money group — that spends more than $1,000 campaigning during an election cycle to report expenditures and provide information about certain contributors. Any such group that coordinates with a candidate would be subject to contribution limits.”
NM: DISCLOSURE SOUGHT. USNR. “Independent political groups that spend unlimited amounts of money to influence New Mexico elections would have to report the sources of donations under a bill approved by both chambers of the state Legislature.”
SD: ETHICS CLOSE OUT. BR. “Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard spent part of Friday signing a raft of ethics bills into law before lawmakers closed out the main part of the 2017 session. The replacement measures captured the best of the voter initiative while ‘avoiding the worst,’ said Daugaard, who signed off on killing the overhaul last month.”
VA: BALLOT ACCESS SNAFU. WP. “If two or more candidates file simultaneously, state code says the order is determined by drawing lots. But the code does not define ‘simultaneously.'”
AUSTRALIA: FOREIGN MONEY FIGHT. SMH. “A deal to block foreign donations in Australian politics has broken down over the inclusion of activist groups, with no agreement between the Coalition and Labor expected in a parliamentary report to be issued on Friday.”
CAN: REFORM LATER. GM. “The B.C. Liberal government has opened the door to limits on political donations for the first time, promising to establish an independent panel to shape reform of what has been described as the ‘wild west’ of campaign finance in Canada.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.