The San Jose City Council has approved changes to the city’s ethics rules.

Officials have lowered the city’s revolving door prohibition for former employees from two years down to one, removed fees for late lobbying disclosures, and uncapped reimbursement amounts for personal loans candidates made to their campaigns.

The city of San Jose is transitioning to an electronic system for filing weekly lobbyist reports.

To file weekly reports, a lobbyist must register to create an account on the Weekly Lobbyist Reporting Form portal at the city clerk’s website.

The prior weekly reporting form will be available on the clerk’s website until March 12.

Fines for failure to file a weekly report or filing a weekly report late will not be assessed until July 1, 2018.

The San Jose City Council voted unanimously to amend the city’s gift ordinance.

The new law struck the city’s exceptions for allowable gifts and incorporated the exceptions for allowable gifts under the state’s Political Reform Act while maintaining a $50 gift limit.

Under the new ordinance, tickets to certain events are no longer considered an exception to the gift rule. Instead, San Jose will follow a framework similar to the Political Reform Act.

San Jose will consider tickets to civic, cultural, or community functions as permissible gifts, so long as they do not exceed the $50 limit.

The ordinance is effective on December 8, 2017.

On June 27, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously to reject an ordinance changing San Jose’s gift ordinance to increase the gift limit from $50 to $470.

The council approved the measure in its first vote last week, but reversed course after urging from Mayor Sam Liccardo and the public to reject the ordinance.

The $50 gift limit will remain in place; however, the council will consider raising the gift limit to $250 in August.

The council also voted to approve an ordinance to amend lobbying reporting requirements. Effective July 27, 2017, lobbyists will be required to file a report with the city clerk each week they engage in lobbying activity in the city.

Although the ordinance becomes effective 30 days after adoption, fines for failure to file weekly lobbyist reports will be suspended as a grace period until July 1, 2018.

On June 20, the San Jose City Council approved changes to require lobbyists to file online reports every Monday if they met with city officials the week prior.

The council also approved changes to San Jose’s gift ordinance to increase the gift limit from $50 to $470.

The proposed ordinances are scheduled for a final reading on June 27. If approved, the ordinances will become effective 30 days following the adoption date.

The San Jose City Council is set to consider new lobbyist regulations at its meeting on June 20.

As proposed, the changes will require lobbyists to file online reports every Monday if they met with city officials the week prior. The increased reporting frequency is aimed at improving transparency because currently most city decisions are decided before quarterly lobbyist reports are available to the public. The council is also scheduled to consider changing San Jose’s gift ordinance on June 20.

Under the current ordinance, city officials may not accept gifts valued more than $50. The proposed amendment will increase the limit to $470 and require reporting for gifts valued more than $50.

San Jose City Council approved an ordinance amending the definition of “committee” to increase the qualifying threshold for the receipt of contributions from $1,000 to $2,000 to be consistent with the Political Reform Act. The ordinance will go into effect July 28, 2016.

The San Jose City Council approved an ordinance modifying the city’s campaign finance law.

Ordinance No. 29642 allows separate contribution limits for both the special municipal election and the special runoff election. The ordinance also changed the campaign contribution period to end at 11:59 p.m. on the day before the election.

The new law took effect December 14, 2015.

Mayor Sam Liccardo is proposing new lobbyist disclosure rules for the city of San Jose. The rules would require lobbyists to report lobbyist activity weekly in electronic form. Currently, the city of San Jose requires quarterly disclosures be filed on paper.

The new rules also would require lobbyists to specify how they are contacting city officials – in person, by phone, or by email.

The city council will consider the mayor’s proposals at its next meeting, scheduled for December 15, 2015.