A new city ordinance passed by Louisville, Kentucky Metro Council creates registration and disclosure requirements for lobbying.

Beginning in May 2023, Ordinance 058-22 will require lobbyists and employers engaging a city official to influence executive agency decisions or legislation to register with the Ethics Commission within seven days of the communication.

In addition to registration, each lobbyist and employer will be required to disclose expenditures on lobbying.

The final version of the ordinance is expected to be published soon.

The Portland Auditor has announced administrative rule changes to the city’s lobbying regulations.

The revised rules clarify the definition of lobbying to include grassroots lobbying and attempts to gain goodwill.

Fiscal disclosures are required to include expenses related to grassroots lobbying.

The rule changes also provide guidance on governments registering as lobbying entities if certain types of lobbying occur.

Governments will be considered lobbying entities when certain outside individuals lobby on their behalf.

The regulation changes also exclude certain cultural gifts from the city’s lobbying registration and reporting requirements if the market value of the gift cannot be easily determined and declining the gift is likely to cause offense.

Additionally, the revised rules provide guidance on when lobbying groups and city officials may be fined for late filings.

The auditor’s office will issue a warning notice for late filings.

Reports must be filed within 24 hours after the deadline or a late fee will be assessed up to $500 per report.

In T.W Farnam’s aticle, “Revolving door of employment between Congress, lobbying firms, study shows,” the Washington Post reports that LegiStorm has published a new study revealing how many U.S. lawmakers and their staffers have left to become lobbyists.

The published totals are 400 lawmakers and 5,400 staffers in the last ten years. LegiStorm also reveals the reverse process: 605 lobbyists have moved into positions as congressional staffers.

You can find LegiStorm’s announcement on their blog here.

Roll Call reported last night about a new website that will be offering a way for people to have access to lobbying services. By helping people establish an advocacy campaign and start raising funds, YouLobby.com is meant to remove a common barrier people face when seeking lobbying services.

Could this become a game-changer in grassroots and other forms of lobbying?

Find out more about the story in Roll Call’s article, “Website Seeks to  Help Public Hire Lobbyists” by Ambreen Ali.

YouLobby.com has nothing on its website yet, but you can find out about the project on their Facebook and through their Twitter account, @YouLobby.

 Federal:

Bipartisan Bill Would Require Transparency of Super Committee

Facing Voter Discontent, Lawmakers Skip Town Halls

Lobbying Groups Take a Stand

Members of Debt Panel Have Ties to Lobbyists

From the States and Municipalities:

California

Campaign Accountant Held in Theft of Funds

Connecticut

Watchdog Agencies Spared as Malloy Nails Down Budget Cuts

Georgia

Ethics Chief Arrives Amid Makeover

Rhode Island

R.I. Rep. Leo Medina Is Charged with a Felony

Washington

Seattle City Employee to Be Fined for Driving City Car to Casino

Wisconsin

Attorney: New Wisconsin ad rules too broad

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.