July 12, 2024
Starting in July, the Public Disclosure Commission will have a new chair – Allen Hayward.
The Commission unanimously voted on June 27 to make Hayward its chair and J. Robert Leach its vice chair for the next year. Nancy Isserlis previously served as chair. Her term on the PDC is up in December.
Agency sets six-month rulemaking agenda
The Public Disclosure Commission approved its six-month Rule Development Agenda – an outline of upcoming rulemaking – at its June 27 meeting.
The Administrative Procedure Act requires state agencies to prepare a biannual rules development agenda to be published with the State Register.
The agenda includes four items related to PDC rulemaking. First, the Commission plans to assess its existing enforcement penalty schedules, which set the recommended ranges for monetary fines for each category of violation, and consider updating those guidelines. The Commission also plans to consider factors used to determine mitigating and aggravating circumstances, and assess alternate penalties, such as warning letters.
Second, the Commission plans to continue rulemaking work regarding sponsor identification requirements on political signs. The Commission recently adopted emergency rulemaking to assist with implementation of House Bill 2032, which removed an exemption for sponsor identification on yard signs 4 feet by 8 feet or smaller.
The Commission enacted rules in an emergency rulemaking process in order to have them in place by the effective date of the new law – June 6. Those rules will expire in October, and can be extended to last through the 2024 election season.
The Commission will need to go through the formal rulemaking process to enact permanent rules.
Third, the agency will work toward implementation of Senate Bill 5857, which recodifies the PDC’s portion of the revised code of Washington into a new statutory title. Currently, public disclosure law in Washington is in RCW 42.17A. The reorganization was approved in the 2024 legislative session but won’t take effect until 2026.
Lastly, the Commission plans to revisit PDC Interpretation 07-04, originally approved in 2007, concerning reporting of online campaign activities, such as digital political advertising. The PDC plans to continue to expand on its past work to include use of social media in political advertising, including influencers and other kinds of digital communication.
Enforcement update: Hundreds of complaints received, resolved in past month
The PDC is continuing to experience a higher-than-normal complaint volume in the past month. Between May 15 and June 14, the PDC received 305 new complaints and opened 305 new cases. Another 317 cases were resolved during that time.
Of the 317 resolved cases, two were dismissed for lack of evidence, 248 cases were resolved with a formal written warning, six with a signed statement of understanding and a monetary penalty, and 61 with violations found by the Commission.
Of the 248 written warnings, 230 cases involved allegations that 2023 general election candidates did not timely file mandatory pre- and post-election expenditure reports. Candidates registered under full reporting owe these reports, also known as C-4s, 21 and 7 days before the general election and on Dec. 10 regardless of campaign activity.
Those 230 cases met the following criteria: They registered their campaign as full-reporting, submitted mandatory reports late, and had minimal campaign activity, falling below $7,000 for the election period.
Candidates who raise and spend $7,000 or less during the election year are eligible for the PDC’s mini reporting option. Had these candidates registered as mini reporters as they were eligible to do, rather than full reporters, they would not have owed the reports in question.
One of the cases resolved through a statement of understanding had been open and under investigation since October 2022.
In that case, Andrew Ashiofu, a first-time candidate for state Representative in the 37th Legislative District in the 2022 election cycle, and his treasurer, Jeanne Legault, each signed statements of understanding agreeing to $500 penalties for violations of several sections of public disclosure law.
Specifically, Ashiofu’s campaign was accused of accepting $2,000 in over-limit contributions, by using contributions meant for the general election for the primary, by failing to return that $2,000 over-limit contribution after losing in the primary, and by filing multiple inaccurate reports of contributions and expenditures.
Commission follows up on governor candidate’s continued use of video made using public resources
Commission members expressed concern at their June 27 meeting that a video made by Dave Reichert’s campaign for governor, for which six sheriffs were issued formal warnings by the PDC for using public resources for campaign purposes, is still online and being used by the campaign.
The PDC initially received complaints earlier this year against eight sheriffs involved in the video, alleging that some of the sheriffs featured in the pro-Reichert video, first posted in February, were wearing their official uniforms or using their office or office equipment, a potential violation of RCW 42.17A.555, which prohibits the use of public facilities for campaign purposes.
While the Reichert campaign created the video, PDC staff reported that they could not open a complaint against the campaign under RCW 42.17A.555 because Reichert is not currently an elected official, and his campaign could not authorize the sheriffs’ use of public facilities in the video.
The PDC has requested that the campaign take the video down, as have some of the sheriffs warned by the PDC, but it is still available online, PDC staff reported this week.
“We’ll continue to track down what authority we have to potentially enforce … (the sheriffs’) failure to insist that it not continue to be used,” said PDC Executive Director Peter Frey Lavallee.
At the June 27 meeting, the Commission asked staff about further enforcement options, either against the sheriffs involved or the Reichert campaign, since video is still being used.
“Particularly when the transgression is by the chief law enforcement officers of the various counties that are appearing in this video, it’s very problematic for me,” said Commission Chair Nancy Isserlis.
“I’d like for it to be absolutely unambiguous that they’re on notice that this behavior does not comply with the requirements of the law,” said Commissioner Jim Oswald.
PDC to debut new lobbyist system dashboard
PDC Chief Information Officer James Gutholm gave the Commission a brief update on the agency’s ongoing work to update its online lobbying filing system.
In July, the PDC is debuting a new dashboard for its lobbying reporting system, which will allow filers to submit lobbyist registrations (L-1), monthly lobbying reports (L-2) and annual reports for lobbyist client/employers (L-3).
The new view also displays filed reports and reports that are or will be due in the future.
The PDC will be launching updates to the new online lobbying filing system through the beginning of 2025.