We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for Miami, Florida; Pembroke Pines, Florida; and Vancouver, Washington on our website.

The image of North America by Bosonic dressing on Wikipedia.

New ethics regulations have been introduced by the Laurel, Maryland City Council, including provisions related to lobbyists.

Observing Maryland’s state ethics regulations for municipalities, the introduced ordinance requires lobbyists to file reports twice a year for each entity they represent. Lobbyists failing to file timely reports could be assessed a late fee of $10 per day up to a maximum of $250. Further enforcement of violations by lobbyists could include additional fines up to $5,000 per offense and suspension of lobbyist registration.

The bill also includes financial reporting requirements for public officials, hiring practices regulations, and rules regarding conflicts of interest.

Map of Maryland by Arkyan on Wikipedia.

The city attorney for Boynton Beach, Jim Cherof, has proposed ceasing enforcement of the city’s lobbying ordinance and turning over enforcement to the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. The lobbying ordinance, in effect since 2007, has come under fire recently due to a perceived vagueness in the law.

This past May, the city levied the first fines ever under the ordinance and has also taken steps to open an investigation against former city commissioner David Katz, all concerning failure to register as a lobbyist. Each fine is being appealed and Katz maintains he was never required to register under the law because he was performing consulting work and not lobbying.

Federal:

IRS Drops Audits of Political Donors

New Breed of ‘Super PACs,’ Other Independent Groups Could Define 2012 Campaign

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Alabama Democratic Conference Files Lawsuit to Stop New Alabama Law Banning Political Fund Transfers

Arizona

Arizona Conservatives Scramble after Campaign Finance Law’s Defeat

California

Marijuana Lobbyist’s Fundraiser for DA Raises Questions

Veil Drawn on Donors to Latino Caucus-Controlled California Nonprofit

Connecticut

Agent Who Arrested Politicians Now Seeks House Seat

Georgia

Lobby Late Fees Add Up

Illinois

Mayor Rahm Emanuel Proposing New Round of Ethics Reforms

Iowa

Judge Upholds New Iowa Campaign Disclosure Rules

Massachusetts

House Leader Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks

Michigan

Justices Stop Political Gifts Taken at Work

Minnesota

Campaign Board Rejects NOM’s Efforts to Shield Donors in Marriage Battle

Pennsylvania

Lobbying Law on Hold

South Carolina

Lt. Gov. Ard Paying $48,000 Fine

Washington

Ex-Prisons Chief Eldon Vail Says He Resigned Because of an Affair with Subordinate

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

Jim Sedor is editor of News You Can Use.

By Labor Day, our clients will find 36 additional municipalities included on our website. As they are completed, we will update our postings so you can check out the additional resources.

Right now, we have provided information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for Alexandria, Virginia (my former home) and Tacoma, Washington.

In the future look for additional cities in New York, Arizona, and Michigan.

On Wednesday July 6, 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will introduce a new ethics ordinance containing “the most comprehensive lobbyist disclosure database in the nation.”

Key components of the proposed ordinance include the creation of a searchable real-time database, a $50 gift limit per single non-cash gift given by a lobbyist, a $100 aggregate gift limit per calendar year on gifts from lobbyists, a prohibition on city employees, officials, or their businesses receiving loans from lobbyists, an amendment to the semi-annual lobbyist report form requiring lobbyists to disclose campaign contributions, and a codification of an executive order issued by Mayor Emanuel in May which bars employees from lobbying the city after leaving city employment.

Q. I am a lobbyist but am not registered in a jurisdiction because I mainly use outside counsel and do not meet the registration threshold. Should I be concerned with any reporting requirements or other restrictions?

A. Yes, you need to be familiar with the jurisdiction’s reporting requirements. Even if you do not surpass a registration threshold, your activities may require disclosure. In Pennsylvania, a principal/company is required to report pro-rata compensation and expenses paid to non-lobbyists if they engage in lobbying activities, yet remain under the $2,500 per quarter registration threshold. Though you never engage in direct lobbying, preparation, or strategic planning with your lobbying firm, it may be reportable.

Verify the reporting of political contributions in your jurisdiction. If you are not a registered lobbyist, you may still have responsibility for directing how political contributions are distributed. Vermont, for example, requires political contributions to be disclosed on an employer’s report.

Finally, be aware of gift restrictions. You may believe it is permissible to take a public official to lunch or for a cup of coffee because you are not registered in the jurisdiction. In Massachusetts, a person not registered as a lobbyist may only provide gifts valued at less than $50 to a state, county, or municipal employee. If your company is registered as a lobbyist employer in the jurisdiction, gift restrictions may be applicable to all employees. Michigan only allows a lobbyist employer to provide gifts in a month which are valued at $55 or less. Expenditures which are reimbursed are attributable to the company in all instances. Whether these expenses require reporting will vary.

 

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.

Providence, Rhode Island will not have its online portal set up for lobbyist registrations by July 1, the date the new city local lobbying ordinance takes effect. However, the City Clerk will accept e-mail registrations containing the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and lobbyist’s employer’s identification.

No registration fee will be due or accepted until the online portal becomes available. After the online portal becomes available, the City Clerk will contact individuals to complete the registration process.

The registration information can be e-mailed to astetson@providenceri.com.

A new bill introduced into Congress redefines lobbyist and increases lobbyist reporting requirements.

Representative Mike Quigley has introduced the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act, which changes the definition of lobbyist by removing the exception of individuals whose lobbying activities account for less than 20 percent of the time engaged in lobbying over a three month period.

Lobbyists would be required to register online within five days of employment, as opposed to the current 45 day requirement. For each lobbying activity which engaged an official, a lobbyist would be required to report the date of the contact, the specific issue discussed, and identify those covered executive branch officials or Members of Congress contacted about the issue. If lobbying an employee of a Member of Congress, the Member’s name would also have to be reported. Political contributions by lobbyists to candidates would have to be reported quarterly instead of semi-annually.

The bill also creates a special unit for enforcing the lobbying disclosure laws called the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforcement Task Force, whose primary responsibility would be investigating and prosecuting each case referred to the Attorney General.

Massachusetts House Republicans have introduced an outline of ethics reform for members which includes some restrictions on lobbyists. The ethics changes, which have not yet been introduced, would require lobbyists to wear badges identifying themselves as such and prohibit lobbyists from entering the House chamber or the members’ lounge, with some exceptions. Additionally, House members and their staff would be forbidden from contacting public entities regarding pending procurement decisions.

The Republican members have stated the proposed code will not be introduced until next week to allow the House Democrats to co-sponsor the new ethics rules.

Photo of the interior of the Massachusetts State House by Daniel Schwen on Wikipedia.

Only lobbying activities that are associated with a reportable expenditure require the completion of the activity detail report.

The Illinois Secretary of State will be modifying the reporting process in the coming weeks to reflect this change. Activity detail reports for activity not associated with an expenditure that were previously filed do not need to be amended to reflect this change.

The reporting of lobbyist activity associated with a reportable expenditure remains unchanged.

Photo of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White courtesy of the Illinois Secretary of State website.

All lobbyists, for both the legislative and executive branches will file their reports with the legislative branch. Executive branch lobbyists will not have to register with the legislature as legislative branch lobbyists. They will, however, have to register for the online reporting system used by the legislative branch.

The legislative branch will be sending a letter with directions and passwords for the new system to all registered executive branch lobbyists and their clients. The online system will open to executive branch lobbyists on July 1st, 2011.

Lobbyists and lobbyist’s principals can no longer register, reregister, or continue to be registered in South Carolina if they have outstanding late filing penalties.

House Bill 3183, which Governor Nikki Haley recently signed into law, prohibits the State Ethics Commission from allowing delinquent lobbyists and lobbyist’s principals to participate in lobbying until the fines and filing have been remedied.

The bill also delineates what the fines and penalties are for late filing. Persons filing late are first fined $100 if a report is not filed within 10 days of the due date. After receiving notice by certified or registered mail that a required report has not been filed, there is a $10 a day fine for the first 10 days after receiving the notice. The fine increases to $100 a day for each additional day the required report is not filed, capping at $5,000.

If the report is still not filed, the offender faces an additional misdemeanor conviction with imprisonment or fines.

Flag of South Carolina courtesy of mapsof.net.

The New York Governor’s Office has released the ethics bill created by the agreement between legislators announced last Friday.  The bill, which had previously been titled the Clean Up Albany Act of 2011, will be known as the Public Integrity Reform Act.

Chiefly, the bill establishes an independent Joint Commission on Public Ethics and enhances disclosure requirements by requiring state employees to disclose income from outside sources and names of clients. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics will have jurisdiction over all elected state officials and their employees in the executive and legislative branches, as well as lobbyists.

The bill provides the Joint Commission on Public Integrity must create an online ethics training course for registered lobbyists with a specific curriculum regarding the public officers’ law and ethics to be completed every three years. Additionally, the bill requires the disclosure by lobbyists of any reportable business relationship of more than $1,000 with public officials.

The definition of “widely attended” event is altered to include any event where 25 or more people other than legislators, officials, or government employees attend and which is related to the attendee’s duties or which allows the public official to perform a ceremonial function.  The bill also allows officials to accept food or beverage valued at $15 or less.

The bill increases penalties for violations of the filing requirements and contribution limits and provides for a special enforcement proceeding in the Supreme Court.

The bill must age three days after its introduction and then can be voted on by the Legislature. The Legislature will recess today until next Monday, making adoption possible next week.