Political Law Compliance Overview

Being involved in government relations activities is often very important to a company, association, or other nonprofit organization. Yet, there are significant pitfalls that can lead to expensive investigations, high fines and penalties, and, often worst of all, serious damage to an organization’s reputation. Political law encompasses all of the rules that apply to interactions with the government from lobbying disclosure, to campaign finance, to gift and ethics rules. This course, presented by Ronald Jacobs, co-chair of Venable’s Political Law Group, introduces political compliance issues and serves as the springboard for the other courses in this series.

Learning Objectives:

I.    Understand the basic campaign finance restrictions that apply to organizations and how they support candidates

II.   Learn about political disclosure law as they apply to political activities at the state and federal levels

III.  Recognize what kinds of activities subject an organization to registration and reporting under lobbying disclosure laws at the state and federal level

IV.   Identify what interactions are viewed as gifts under state and federal law and how to avoid making embarrassing mistakes when entertaining lawmakers

V.   Summarize efforts by shareholders and outside interest groups to restrict or require disclosure of political activities