March 21, 2012 •
South Dakota Bill to Recognize Electronic Filing for Lobbyists
Secretary of State’s online system already up and running
Governor Dennis Daugaard has signed House Bill 1196. The bill amends the lobbyist reporting requirements to reflect the secretary of state’s electronic filing capabilities.
The employer authorization and lobbyist expense report may be submitted in writing or electronically. The completed reports are open to public inspection and will no longer need to be notarized before filing.
Although the bill has an effective date of July 1, 2012, the EZ Lobby system is already accessible at the secretary of state’s website.
The site allows lobbyists and their employers to register, pay fees, update information, and report expenses electronically. Paper forms are still available for lobbyists who chose to register by mail.
March 21, 2012 •
Today’s Lobbying News Roundup
Revolving doors, spending on lobbying in Minnesota, and a new ethics bill in Missouri in the news:
“Revolving Door: Hill Staffers with Retiring Bosses Hit K Street” by Andrew Joseph in National Journal’s Influence Alley.
“Minnesota Capitol the recipient of $59 million lobbying effort” by Megan Boldt in the Grand Forks Herald.
“Business groups spent $14 million lobbying Minn. Legislators” by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
“Democrats propose new Missouri ethics bill” by Elizabeth Crisp in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to the article, “the bill would restrict the amount lawmakers and their immediate family members could accept from lobbyists, prohibit lawmakers from working as paid political consultants while in office and limit the investment of campaign contributions to interest-bearing checking or savings accounts.”
“Utah’s revolving door keeps spinning out lobbyists” by Britny Mortensen in The Salt Lake Tribune.
March 14, 2012 •
Lobbyist Compliance and Other Resources Online
State and Federal Communications, Inc. is your compliance information source for campaign finance, lobbying compliance, procurement, and ethics laws.
Take a tour of our site and click on the “Free Live Online Demo” on the middle of the left column of the home page. You will open a page with three blue links, located in the middle of the page:
•Executive Source Guide on Lobbying Laws
•Executive Source Guide on Political Contributions
•Executive Source Guide on Procurement Lobbying
Click on any one – or all three – to view the state of Alaska compliance information we provide to clients. This comprehensive and vital compliance information is updated continuously.
We have this same online information for all 50 states, the federal government, and 226 municipal and regional governments.
If you would like to view everything we have for online clients, contact us at info@stateandfed.com or 330-761-9960 and ask about our two-week trial. There is no cost for the trial, and you are under no obligation to purchase.
We can think of no better way for you to see the value in our online resources than for you and your team to actually use them for two weeks in your compliance efforts.
March 14, 2012 •
American League of Lobbyists Writes to President Obama
The organization connects the president’s anti-lobbyist position with an increase in unregistered lobbying.
Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists, recently sent a letter to President Obama asking him to change his tone toward lobbyists and the lobbying profession. The organization is making a connection between the administration’s anti-lobbyist rhetoric and the rising number of unregistered lobbyists.
Whether they are calling themselves consultants or advisers, Marlowe points out that these people are lobbying and their activity thus goes on without any oversight:
“Those who are not registered are protected from discovery by the lack of an effective enforcement mechanism. Our primary concern with incentivizing deregistration is that the public loses knowledge of who these people are lobbying, who is paying for their advocacy work, how much they are being paid, and what issues are they being paid to work on.”
For full news coverage, please read “Lobbyists to Obama: Tone down the rhetoric!” by Byron Tau in Politico.
Photo of the White House by UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.
March 13, 2012 •
Miami-Dade to Require Ethics Training for Lobbyists
Course to Cost $100 Every Two Years
The Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners has passed an ordinance requiring registered lobbyists to complete ethics training. The effective date of the ordinance is March 16, 2012.
Registered lobbyists must, within 60 days of registration, submit to the clerk of the board a certificate of completion of an ethics course offered by the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. Lobbyists must also complete a refresher course every two years. The cost of the ethics course will be $100.
Additionally, the requirement is not applicable to any municipal lobbyist in the county unless the municipality has adopted an ordinance requiring ethics training and an agreement with the county authorizes the county ethics commission to provide an ethics training course.
Finally, the executive director of the Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission may waive the ethics course requirement for a particular lobbyist when it is determined that the lobbyist has taken an initial or refresher ethics course offered by a municipality satisfying the requirements pertaining to the Miami-Dade County ethics course requirements.
The Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission has noted their intent to contact all registered lobbyists in regards to this course once the course is prepared and ready to be offered.
March 12, 2012 •
Today’s Campaign Finance and Lobbying News
Super PACs, the revolving door, and Facebook’s lobbying in the news:
Campaign Finance
“The Super PAC Paradox” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.
“The year’s busiest day of campaign fundraising shows how Springfield really works” by Ray Long and Alissa Groeninger in the Chicago Tribune.
“Group to appeal Iowa campaign finance ruling” by The Associated Press in the Globe Gazette.
Lobbying
“Retiring lawmakers openly eye K Street” by Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman in Politico.
“Lobbying pays off big for business” by Toluse Olorunnipa in the Miami Herald.
“Facebook ‘friends’ a new lobby firm” by Rachel Leven in The Hill.
March 8, 2012 •
Today’s Campaign Finance and Lobbying News Summary
Today we have stories about the FEC, the latest news on the investigation surrounding the D.C. mayor’s 2010 campaign, Super PACs, Super Tuesday, and more:
Campaign Finance
“FEC told to tread carefully with post-Citizens United rule” by Rachel Leven in The Hill.
“FEC moves on outdated rules” by Robin Bravender in Politico.
“DC mayor defends himself amid probe into campaign finance irregularities” by The Associated Press in The Washington Post.
Super PACs
“Super PACs Outspent Candidates in Run-Up to Tuesday” by Brody Mullins and Alicia Mundy in The Wall Street Journal.
“Super PACs Could Drive Total 2012 Election Spending to $9.8B” by Cotton Delo in Ad Age.
Lobbying
“Son of legendary lobbyist starts own firm” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.
Redistricting
“Between the Lines: The Last Two Redistricting Holdouts” by Shira Toeplitz, Abby Livingston, and Joshua Miller in Roll Call.
March 7, 2012 •
How Is the Lobbying Oversight in Your State?
A new report offers ratings.
The State Integrity Investigation, a project by the Center for Public Integrity and other partners, is giving each state a grade in various areas of accountability and transparency. “Keep Government Honest” is their motto.
Lobbying is one of the categories they are measuring. The report considers a state’s definition of lobbying, its registration and reporting requirements, disclosure by lobbyist employers and principals, its citizen access to data, and the monitoring of lobbying requirements. The grades they are giving are “weak,” “fair,” or “strong”.
What is the corruption risk data for your state? It is easy to check by using this interactive map. (Some states’ grades are still being compiled.)
Take a look at “Michigan ‘weak’ in lobbying oversight,” where Peter Luke of Bridge Magazine discusses the mixed grades in Michigan’s report card.
March 7, 2012 •
Lobbying Spending in the News
Spending on lobbying is up in California, Michigan, and New Jersey according to these articles:
California: “Teachers union leads in record year of lobbying lawmakers” by Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times.
Michigan: “Report: As Michigan economy floundered, spending by Michigan lobbyists soared 86%” in the Detroit Free Press.
New Jersey: “N.J. lobbyist spending hits new high at $73M; teachers union tops list again” by Matt Friedman in the Star-Ledger.
New Jersey: “N.J. Teachers Union Spent Record $11.3 Million on Ads Criticizing Christie” by Terrence Dopp in Bloomberg.
March 7, 2012 •
Ask the Experts – Reportable LDA Expenditures
Here is your chance to “Ask the Experts” at State and Federal Communications, Inc.
Q. As an organization employing in-house lobbyists, what expenditures am I required to capture for inclusion in the aggregate dollar amount reported on my quarterly Federal LD-2 report?
A. There are a variety of expenditures that Federal registrants are required to track and report in an effort to provide a good faith estimate of their activity. These expenditures include:
- Compensation, expenses and overhead associated with “registered” lobbyist employee activity. For Federal purposes, a “registered” lobbyist is an individual who meets the statutory definition of a lobbyist and is listed by name on the LD-2 report;
- Compensation, expenses and overhead associated with any non-lobbyist employee who engaged in lobbying activity during the quarter (even though they do not meet the statutory definition of lobbyist). Their names are not listed on the report, but the value of their activity is included;
- Dues paid to an association or membership organization during the quarter that are attributable to lobbying. This amount is typically a percentage of the overall payments made to the membership organization and is ascertained by speaking with the outside entity directly. Importantly, dues payments for lobbying activities should be included in the estimate for the quarter in which they are paid and cannot be apportioned over a longer period of time;
- Retainers/fees incurred during the quarter to outside consultants/firms for lobbying activities. These fees are required to be included during the quarter in which they are incurred regardless of whether billing or payment has been made.
If we can be of assistance in helping to identify reportable expenditures, please let us know.
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.
March 6, 2012 •
Lobbying News Today
Vice President Biden, Jack Abramoff, and other latest lobbying news from around the country:
Federal: “Biden hires former lobbyist” by T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post.
Federal: “Abramoff says his corrupting influence reached into the media” by Jordy Yager in The Hill.
California: “Record $287M paid to Calif. lobbyists in 2010” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Georgia: “Yarbrough: Lawmakers just don’t see need for lobbying reform,” an opinion piece by Dick Yarbrough in the Athens Banner-Herald.
Michigan: “Lobbying in Capitol’s hallways is one business flourishing in Michigan” by Peter Luke in Michigan Live.
March 5, 2012 •
News You Can Use Digest – March 5, 2012
Here are highlights from the latest edition of News You Can Use:
National:
Wealthier People More Likely To Lie or Cheat, Study Says
Federal:
K Street Democrats Warn Clients
Romney and Obama Super-PAC Backers Also Spent Big Dollars on Lobbying
Two Ads Sired Five Years Apart Spark Fight over Election Rules
From the States and Municipalities:
District of Columbia
Elections Board Backs Initiative to Ban Corporate Campaign Giving
Florida
Ethics Commission Votes to Restrict Doling Out of Free Tickets to Politicians
Florida
State Rep. Richard Steinberg Resigns over Stalker-Like Text Messages
Illinois
Relatives of Lobbyists, Campaign Donors Got Lawmakers’ Help to Enter U of I
Maine
Justices Shun Appeal of Group that Fought Maine Gay Marriage
Maryland
Baltimore Co. Public Ethics Law Falls Short of State Standards
Maryland
Garagiola’s Lobbying Work Wasn’t Included on Maryland Ethics Forms from 2001 to 2003
Montana
Judge Blocks More Montana Campaign Finance Laws
New Mexico
Lap-Dance Extortion Details Revealed
Oklahoma
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.
February 24, 2012 •
New York Bill Would Forbid Lobbying by Convicted Lobbyists
JCOPE Would Have Authority to Remove or Extend Suspension after Mandatory Period
New York Senator Gustavo Rivera has introduced Senate Bill 6533 that would forbid lobbyists convicted of class D felonies or more serious offenses from lobbying in the state for three years.
The barred person may seek to re-register as a lobbyist with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics after three years.
The commission may determine if the suspension should be lifted or extended for a maximum of an additional two years.
February 24, 2012 •
Arizona Lobbying Disclosure Bill Passes
Without the ALEC disclosure measure
The Arizona House of Representatives passed House Bill 2642, which will require more disclosure for local governments who lobby the state lawmakers. Two amendments were not added to the bill – one requiring American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) disclosure and another that would remove the one year “revolving door” waiting period for lawmakers to become lobbyists.
To find out more about the details of the new lobbying law (and what did not pass with it), be sure to read:
“Insider: Lobbyist bill passes without extras” by Mary Jo Pitzl in The Arizona Republic.
“Lawmakers OK more disclosure on lobbying” by Howard Fischer in the Arizona Daily Sun.
Photo of the Arizona House of Representatives Chamber by Willem van Bergen on Wikipedia.
State and Federal Communications, Inc. provides research and consulting services for government relations professionals on lobbying laws, procurement lobbying laws, political contribution laws in the United States and Canada. Learn more by visiting stateandfed.com.