Companion bills seeking to create “revolving door” restrictions for members of the Texas legislature have been introduced during the 2011 session. Senate Bill 128 and House Bill 508 seek to prevent former members of the legislature from lobbying “before the date of final adjournment of the second regular session of the legislature to convene after the date the person ceases to be a member.”

If passed as presently written, a violation would be considered a class A misdemeanor in Texas.

Image of the Texas flag and state courtesy of Shem on Wikipedia.

Senate Bill 37, introduced by Senator Daniel Squadron, proposes to curtail political contributions by lobbyists.   The bill limits lobbyist political contributions to $250 per candidate, per election and contributions may only be made between the first of July and the end of the year.

The bill further bars lobbyists from soliciting or transmitting a contribution or a request for a contribution from any person, including a political committee, for the benefit of a public official or party committee.

Photo of New York State Capitol courtesy of UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

A proposed ethics law would create a “revolving door” restriction for former West Virginia elected officials and senior members of their staff.

Under House Bill 2464, these people would have to wait one year after leaving office before acting as a lobbyist at the state level. A more controversial aspect of this bill would require public officials to disclose their spouse’s source of income in campaign disclosure filings.

A similar bill was proposed last year but stalled in the Senate Finance Committee.

Photo of the West Virginia state capitol building by Analogue Kid on Wikipedia.

State Senator Kathy Stein has introduced legislation to make Kentucky a “no cup of coffee” state. The bill would reduce lobbyist’s annual expenditure ceiling from $100 per year on a state official to absolutely nothing.

Additionally, the proposed ethics law would extend Kentucky’s prohibition on lobbyists making campaign contributions during a legislative session to the lobbyists’ employers and to PACs.

Photo courtesy of Julius Schorzman on Wikipedia.

Senate Bill 75, introduced to the Legislature on the first day of session, seeks to reinstate the state’s campaign contribution limits.  The bill limits contributions to $2,000 for statewide office, $1,000 for state senators, $500 for state representatives, $325 for any other office if the population is under 100,000, $850 if it is between 100,000 and 250,000, and $1,275 if the population is more than 250,000.

The bill also alters the state’s revolving door provision by preventing legislators from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office.

Photo of the Missouri State Capitol by Visitjeffersoncity on Wikipedia.

The American Bar Association’s Task Force on Federal Lobbying Laws has issued a report recommending several changes to existing federal lobbying laws. The Task Force proposes broadening registration requirements for lobbyist by eliminating the current twenty percent rule, the threshold amount of time devoted to lobbying required before triggering registration.

The Task Force also recommends disclosing outside lobbying support by other firms and individuals, including details of compensation, specific identities of those involved, and short narrative summaries of the work performed. Lobbying support would be defined to include monitoring legislative and administrative developments related to lobbying goals, strategic advice, polling, and other activities. Additionally, in some situations, the lobbying support entity would be required to file disclosures.

The report includes other recommendations including strengthening the regulation of lobbyist participation in political fundraising.

The report by the Task Force on Federal Lobbying Laws has not been approved by the Council of the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, the House of Delegates, or the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association.

Photo of the American Bar Association building in Washington, D.C. by AgnosticPreachersKid at enwikipedia.

Ronald DeFilippis, Chairman of the Election Law Enforcement Commission, revealed the upcoming plans for the commission, including the intention to have electronic filing available for quarterly and annual lobbyist reports by 2012. Writing in the latest ELEC-Tronic Newsletter, the monthly informational bulletin from the commission, the chairman noted the “staff is working to create the hardware and software components” to implement the new filing system.

The commission also intends to enhance its candidate and treasurer training, introducing instructional videos and making training available online, and to simplify the language in their lobbying and campaign finance law compliance manuals.

Q. Once I complete my lobbyist registration, what other obligations do I have in my state?

A. Filing lobbyist and/or principal disclosure reports is the bare minimum requirement in many states.  In addition, you may be required to obtain an ID badge.  Some states require mandatory lobbyist training on a regular basis.  Most often, this can be done online.  To date, the states requiring this are: Alaska, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.

Many states have different gift law limitations for lobbyists.  For example, in Texas lobbyists are permitted to give gifts of $500 or less, while public servants may accept non-cash item of less than $50 from non-lobbyists.

In addition to reporting requirements, states may require pre- or post-notification to officials when an expenditure has been made on his/her behalf which is disclosed on a lobbying report.  In Illinois, a lobbyist who makes an expenditure on behalf of an official must inform him/her, in writing, at the time the expenditure.

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.

Amber Fish Linke is the Compliance Manager for State and Federal Communications, Inc.

All of the legislatures, even those that do not meet every year, are in session in 2011.  Thus, it is important to know the registration obligations for your lobbyists in all of the jurisdictions in which they will be active.  The most important pieces of information you need to know are whether they will need to register and when the registration will need to be filed.  Many jurisdictions have a threshold, based on expenditures, salary, or time spent lobbying, that needs to be crossed before registration is required.  Depending on your situation, you may not need to register if your lobbying activities will be minimal.  Many other jurisdictions, however, have no threshold and will require registration before or within a certain amount of time of your lobbyist engaging in lobbying.

This brings up an important point:  it is crucial that you understand what activities comprise lobbying in the jurisdiction.  A lobbyist may meet the definition of “lobbyist” before contact is even made with an official.  And do not forget that once registered, you will have ongoing reporting requirements.  Illinois and Georgia, in particular, will have more frequent reporting than in past years. (more…)

State senator Jim Arnold announced he will introduce legislation to regulate lobbying disclosure rules for all levels of local government in Indiana. In his proposed bill, spending by vendors bidding for contracts of $100,000 or more with a governmental body would trigger mandatory disclosure.

Local governmental officials, including county commissioners and city council members, would be required to report whenever a lobbyist spent money on them over a threshold limit.

The law is not intended to supersede local ordinances but would still establish and necessitate minimum requirements of disclosure.

Photo of State senator Jim Arnold courtesy of the Indiana Senate Web site.

A superior court judge has ruled the Secretary of State cannot refuse to provide procedural information regarding a complaint made against a lobbyist. In NCICL v. North Carolina, Judge Paul G. Gessner found no basis in law for the refusal to grant information regarding a formal complaint previously made about a legislative lobbyist.

The Secretary of State had argued the state public records laws prohibited them from releasing any information, and had refused to reveal any details, including the status of the complaint or even whether any action had been taken.

Q. If I provide a gift to a covered official exceeding the gift limit in that jurisdiction, can the covered official reimburse my employer for the difference?

A. This is a situation you never, ever want to be in, but sometimes it happens. Fortunately, most of the states allow for the covered official to reimburse the donor in order to rectify the situation.

One of the circumstances precluding reimbursement is when too much time has elapsed between providing the excessive gift and reimbursement by the official. If too much time has passed, the state considers the gift to have been “accepted” by the official, and reimbursement is not an option.

Also, even if the official reimburses the overage, sometimes the lobbyist, the official, or both must nonetheless report the total value of the gift. From a disclosure standpoint, this makes a precarious situation even more suspect.

Some examples of these rules include the following:

• In Connecticut, the gift limit is $10. The official may not partially reimburse a more expensive gift to bring the final cost to the lobbyist below $10, because the overall value of the item is still over $10 [Advisory Opinion 1997-15].

• In the state of Washington, an official’s name cannot be removed from a filed lobbying report, regardless of whether the official has fully reimbursed the lobbyist for the reported expenditure. In addition, an official cannot partially reimburse a lobbyist for an expense to bring the total cost below the $50 reporting threshold. Even if a partial reimbursement occurs, both the lobbyist and the official must report the full amount. The only way an expenditure exceeding the threshold does not have to be reported is if the official fully reimburses the lobbyist prior to the lobbyist filing the lobbying report disclosing the expenditure.

• In New York, public officials and employees may completely reimburse the donor of a gift if the reimbursement is not removed or remote in time in order to comply with the gift ban [Advisory Opinion No. 97-03]. If an item, entertainment, or other benefit is received and payment of its market value is made prior to or simultaneously with receipt, there is no gift [Advisory Opinion No. 97-03].

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.

While not as strict as the bills originally proposed by the Governor, the newly passed rules represent a dramatic overhaul to Alabama ethics law. Under the new rules, PACs will be forbidden from making transfers of funds to other PACs with a few exceptions.

State lawmakers will be unable to hold a second public job, and one bill imposes a ban on “pass-through pork” whereby a legislator can appropriate funds to a specific agency or project without legislative approval. In the new year, lobbyists will be required to complete a training program, and the State Ethics Commission will have subpoena power.

Another bill signed by Governor Riley will forbid public employees from donating to political groups via payroll deduction. This law has been criticized as politically motivated by state Democrats.

The Alabama legislature concluded its special session late Thursday. The lawmakers passed versions of all seven bills proposed by Governor Bob Riley.

The new laws modify and strengthen state lobbying, campaign finance, and ethics rules. Among the highlights of the laws heading to the Governor’s desk is a requirement for those seeking a state grant or contract with the executive branch to register as lobbyists.

Under another pending bill, a lobbyist will be forbidden from giving an official a “thing of value” with certain exceptions, such as a meal costing $25 with a total limit of $125 per year. Governor Riley’s office has indicated each of the seven passed bills will be signed into law unless the staff reviewing them discovers mistakes or errors.

Photo of Alabama State Capitol by Jim Bowen on Wikipedia.