September 21, 2017, Covington Alert

Perhaps no industry faces more scrutiny and regulation of its political activities than the financial industry. Even though these rules are often not intuitive, failure to comply with them can result in big penalties, loss of business, and debilitating reputational consequences. This primer describes three sometimes overlooked risk areas for investment firms: ...

September 13, 2017, Covington Alert

The universe of those covered by the SEC’s pay-to-play restrictions is expanding. If a newly proposed SEC rule is adopted as expected, pay-to-play restrictions will now extend to cover the recently created class of broker-dealers called Capital Acquisition Brokers (“CABs”).

August 7, 2017, Covington Alert

Corporate legal and compliance departments are usually well aware of the laws regulating lobbying the federal government. Recent news reports, however, indicate that companies have more trouble with state and local lobbying laws.

February 2, 2017, Inside Political Law

The Federal Election Commission has announced contribution limits for the 2017-2018 election cycle.  The new limits are effective January 1, 2017. The FEC did not change the limit on the amount an individual can contribution to a candidate, leaving the limit at $2700 per election.  Because the primary and general count as separate elections, individuals may...… ...

February 2, 2017, Covington Alert

The Federal Election Commission has announced contribution limits for the 2017-2018 election cycle. The new limits are effective January 1, 2017.

January 31, 2017, Inside Political Law

President Donald Trump this weekend signed his promised “drain the swamp” Executive Order, which imposes ethics restrictions on incoming and outgoing Trump Administration appointees. Incoming appointees would, of course, do well to carefully review the provisions of the Executive Order. But companies that deal with the Administration—whether by lobbying the ...

January 31, 2017, Covington Alert

President Donald Trump this weekend signed his promised “drain the swamp” Executive Order, which imposes ethics restrictions on incoming and outgoing Trump Administration appointees. Incoming appointees would, of course, do well to carefully review the provisions of the Executive Order. But companies that deal with the Administration—whether by lobbying the executive branch, by seeing a former executive take a Presidentially appointed position, or by hiring a former Administration appointee—must also be mindful of these, in some cases, extremely restrictive provisions, lest they unwittingly get caught up in an ethics scandal.

December 13, 2016, Inside Political Law

As the President-elect begins to nominate individuals for Senate-confirmed positions in his administration, one of the major hurdles these individuals face is the statutory requirement that the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (“OGE”) review and certify a public disclosure of each source of income exceeding $200 and each property interest exceeding ...

December 13, 2016, Covington Alert

As the President-elect begins to nominate individuals for Senate-confirmed positions in his administration, one of the major hurdles these individuals face is the statutory requirement that the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (“OGE”) review and certify a public disclosure of each source of income exceeding $200 and each property interest exceeding $1,000 in value. While for many classes of assets, identifying and disclosing the relevant assets is relatively straightforward, it is often much more difficult to file a compliant report for pooled investment fund assets, such as hedge funds, since the details of the underlying assets are often undisclosed to the investor by the fund manager or subject to a confidentiality agreement between the investor and the fund manager. This client alert summarizes the most recent OGE guidance applicable to pooled investment fund holdings.

November 23, 2016, Inside Political Law

Corporations, trade associations, and others who interact with federal executive branch employees should be aware of the Office of Government Ethics’ (OGE) recent amendments to the executive branch gift rules, which go into effect on January 1, 2017. Seeking to encourage transparency and advance public confidence in the integrity of federal officials, OGE ...

November 23, 2016, Covington Alert

Corporations, trade associations, and others who interact with federal executive branch employees should be aware of the Office of Government Ethics’ (OGE) recent amendments to the executive branch gift rules, which go into effect on January 1, 2017. Seeking to encourage transparency and advance public confidence in the integrity of federal officials, OGE redefined some of the gifts executive branch employees can receive from outside sources and suggested when permissible gifts should be declined because they may create an appearance of impropriety. The new amendments include some of the most detailed changes to the executive branch gift rules in many years. This alert outlines the most significant changes.

November 17, 2016, Inside Political Law

With Election Day 2016 in the books, the political world turns to the transition of power and the January 20, 2017 Inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence. With the swearing in of the new President and Vice President will come the traditional balls, parties, and receptions. The inauguration and related events...… Continue ...

November 17, 2016, Covington Alert

With Election Day 2016 in the books, the political world turns to the transition of power and the January 20, 2017 Inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence. With the swearing in of the new President and Vice President will come the traditional balls, parties, and receptions. The inauguration and related events are costly, and paid for largely with private funds. Individuals, businesses, and other organizations donating to the inauguration, hosting related events, or giving out tickets to either should remember that they are operating in a highly regulated space. We profile three common compliance issues below. Persons interested in this alert may also wish to review our alerts on the Presidential Transition and the political appointee vetting process.

November 16, 2016, Inside Political Law

Over the next nine weeks, the Trump Presidential Transition team will formulate policy and staffing recommendations for the new administration. This alert gives a broad overview of the Transition and the laws that regulate interactions with Transition team members on issues related to appointments and policy recommendations. Persons interested in this topic may ...

November 16, 2016, Law360

November 15, 2016, Covington Alert

Over the next nine weeks, the Trump Presidential Transition team will formulate policy and staffing recommendations for the new administration. This alert gives a broad overview of the Transition and the laws that regulate interactions with Transition team members on issues related to appointments and policy recommendations. Persons interested in this topic may also wish to view our client alert on the presidential appointee vetting process.

November 10, 2016, Covington Alert

With the election over, the process of selecting and vetting individuals to fill the next administration’s key appointed positions is quickly shifting into high gear. For those who are called to serve in such positions, the decision to enter the process may be one of the most important and life-changing decisions they will make. Accordingly, it is critical for anyone considering an appointed position to understand the presidential appointment vetting process from the start.

August 25, 2016, Covington Advisory

This month, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), an obscure, almost 80-year old, statute has rocketed to national headlines. FARA, a sweeping federal criminal statute, requires certain individuals and companies acting on behalf of foreign principals to register with the Department of Justice and file regular detailed reports of their activities. As we face a potential “tipping point” in FARA interest and enforcement, this advisory provides a basic compliance primer for those working for or contracting with foreign companies, governments, political parties, and individuals.

August 15, 2016, Law360

August 12, 2016, Inside Political Law

Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in a rare case that has the potential to contribute significantly to the case law concerning congressional investigations. It is uncommon for a federal court to have an opportunity to rule on a congressional...… Continue ...

August 11, 2016, Inside Political Law

Earlier this afternoon, the House Clerk’s Office sent out emails to a number of registered federal lobbyists and lobbyist organizations alerting them to a missing 2016 Mid-Year LD-203 contribution report (due on August 1, 2016).  It appears that this email was sent in error to a batch of registrants who properly filed their reports on...… Continue Reading The ...

June 9, 2016, Covington Alert

On Friday, three Federal Election Commission (FEC) Commissioners provided a clear description of their understanding of the facts and law that led them to oppose opening an investigation into whether Murray Energy coerced its employees into making political contributions. Statement of Reasons of Chairman Petersen and Commissioners Hunter and Goodman, FEC MUR 6661. While clarity in the law is always to be commended, the standard they use to define when a contribution is coerced is narrow and will certainly allow conduct that many employers now reject as excessive. As with two earlier decisions in which three Commissioners voted not to pursue enforcement actions against employers who compelled employees to attend a candidate’s rally or to waive signs or make calls supporting a candidate, it is clear that the FEC will not be an effective barrier to employers pressuring employees to engage in many kinds of political activity. As Lindsay Burke and I noted in a recent article in Corporate Counsel Magazine, there remain state employment law issues to consider, but the signal from this recent FEC case is unmistakable.

May 24, 2016, Inside Political Law

Covington recently released a high-level primer that provides political consultants with a practical resource for creating and running a federal Super PAC in a legally compliant manner.  The primer, which is available here, explains the history and basic rules that apply to federal Super PACs.  The primer then discusses the following key topics: checklist of...… ...

May 23, 2016, Covington Alert

As we move toward the 2016 general election, campaign activity at the federal, state, and local levels continues to heat up. Super PACs again promise to play a prominent role in federal races, while at the same time impacting a wider range of non-federal races further down the ballot.

April 13, 2016, Covington Alert

Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) regulations permit a corporation to communicate with its “restricted” or “solicitable class” on any subject, including electoral advocacy and political fundraising. See 11 C.F.R. § 114.3(a). This includes solicitations of contributions to the corporation’s PAC. We frequently see questions arising about who falls within the restricted class in one of two contexts: (a) in an effort to ensure the class is not too narrowly defined, depriving the PAC of potential donors; and (b) when a company reads the definition of “professional or administrative personnel” in the statute to only be a question of whether the employee is “salaried” or not, not considering the second prong of the test described below.

Congress has defined a corporation’s restricted class as consisting of the following:

• The corporation’s “executive or administrative personnel.”
• The corporation’s “stockholders,” as defined by FEC regulations.
• Individuals who are members of the restricted class of any subsidiary, branch, division, or “affiliate” of the company (the FEC has a multi-part test for determining which entities count as affiliates”).
• Immediate family members of the above individuals.

April 1, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC — Covington has promoted eight lawyers to of counsel and eight to special counsel, effective April 1, 2016. The new of counsel are as follows: Stefanie Doebler (Washington) focuses her practice on health care compliance matters for pharmaceutical and medical device clients. She provides advice related to advertising and promotion, fraud and abuse, ...

October 26, 2015, Campaigns & Elections

October 16, 2015, Inside Political Law

California has existing regulations that define when expenditures by outside groups, including super PACs, are coordinated with candidates and become illegal contributions to those campaigns.  These rules create a presumption of coordination under certain circumstances.  Yesterday, the Fair Political Practices Commission (“FPPC”) approved revisions to its rules ...

August 13, 2014, Covington E-Alert

April 2, 2014, Covington E-Alert

February 6, 2014, Covington E-Alert

January 7, 2014, Covington Advisory

March 29, 2013, Covington E-Alert

February 11, 2013, Covington E-Alert

April 3, 2012, Covington E-Alert

January 25, 2012, Covington Advisory

November 17, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, November 17, 2011 — Covington & Burling helped secure approval from the Federal Election Commission today for an innovative shopping program that could change the way individuals make campaign contributions by making it easier for small donors to participate in the political process. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., GivingSphere allows ...

October 19, 2011, Covington E-Alert

September 22, 2011, Covington E-Alert

March 8, 2011, Covington E-Alert

February 7, 2011, Covington E-Alert

November 22, 2010, Covington E-Alert