As we previously blogged, the District of Columbia’s pay-to-play law will go into effect on November 9, 2022. The law prohibits businesses doing or seeking to do business with the DC government from making certain political contributions if the contracts involved are worth an aggregate value of $250,000 or more. The contribution ban also applies to the company’s senior officers. Violations may result in termination of a contract or disqualification from seeking future contracts (including extensions of existing contracts) for up to four years.

The law applies to contracts sought, entered into, or executed after November 9, 2022.

The District of Columbia joins twenty-eight states and numerous municipalities with laws restricting contributions from government contractors and their principals and imposing special reporting requirements.

Please contact Venable’s Political Law Group if you have questions about establishing a pay-to-play compliance program. For more information on developments in federal and state campaign finance, lobbying, and ethics laws, please visit Venable’s political law blog at PoliticalLawBriefing.com.