November 9, 2010 •
Ask the Experts – 2011 Lobbying Registrations
Here is your chance to “Ask the Experts” at State and Federal Communications, Inc.
Q. I am registered in numerous states. What are some of the features I need to know regarding renewing my lobbyist registrations for 2011? Do all my registrations automatically expire at the end of the year? H-E-L-P!
A. These are all very good questions, as January 1, 2011 is quickly approaching. The expirations on December 31 of this year are particularly thorny because they include not only those states having annual expirations, but most biennial expirations occur at the end of an even-numbered year.
As the states begin their 2011 legislative sessions, here are some things to keep in mind:
Annual registrations: The majority of states have a registration term based on a calendar year. If registered in any of the following states, your registration will expire on December 31, 2010.
Alabama Mississippi Alaska Missouri Arkansas Nebraska District of Columbia New Hampshire Florida [legislative and executive] New Mexico Georgia North Carolina Idaho [legislative and executive] Ohio [executive] Illinois Oklahoma Indiana [legislative and executive] Rhode Island [legislative] Iowa [legislative] South Carolina Kansas Tennessee Louisiana [legislative and executive] Texas Massachusetts Biennial registrations: The trick to keeping track of your registration expiration for biennial states is knowing whether the biennium ends on December 31st of an even-numbered or odd-numbered year.
Those states with biennial registrations expiring on December 31, 2010, include:
California Pennsylvania Connecticut Utah Hawaii Vermont Montana Washington New York West Virginia Ohio [legislative] Wisconsin Legislative sessions: In some states, registrations expire at the end of the regular legislative session. These include Nevada [sessions are held in odd-numbered years] and South Dakota. In Iowa, executive branch lobbyist registration is valid until the next regular session of the general assembly.
Non-calendar years: In other states, registrations expire at the end of a year, but that year is defined as other than January 1 to December 31. These states have the following registration terms:
Colorado [July 1 to July 15 of the subsequent year] North Dakota [July 1 to June 30] Kentucky executive [August 1 to July 31] Virginia [May 1 to April 30] Maine [December 1 to November 30] Wyoming [May 1 to April 30] Maryland [November 1 to October 31] On-going registrations: Once you register in the following states, your registration is on-going until you affirmatively terminate. These include:
Delaware
Federal
Michigan
Minnesota
New Jersey [a fee is due annually on November 15]
Rhode Island executiveAnd then there is Arizona: Just to keep you on your toes, Arizona has a biennial registration where lobbyists renew during November of odd-numbered years, and employers renew during November of even-numbered years.
October 20, 2010 •
Baltimore May Expand Lobbying Laws
Bill Introduced to City Council
Baltimore City Council President Bernard Young introduced legislation to expand the city’s rules on lobbying. The Promoting Honesty in Lobbying bill requires individuals paid any dollar amount for lobbying to register as lobbyists. Currently, individuals are only required to register as lobbyists if they earn $2,500 or more.
Registration would also be required of individuals spending 20 percent or more of their time over a six-month period on lobbying. Lobbyists would have to report total expenditures for grassroots lobbying, including those for print, audio, visual, and electronic publications. Among other provisions of the bill is the prohibition of a lobbyist stating he or she can obtain the vote of a councilmember.
Photo by Nfutvol on Wikipedia.
October 13, 2010 •
New Hampshire Lobbyist Registration Requirement Draws Criticism
Legislator’s Complaint Raises Concerns over New Hampshire Lobbyist Registration Requirement
A 2006 New Hampshire ethics reform law requiring any non-public official who meets with a lawmaker to discuss legislation to register as a lobbyist has recently come under fire. The law currently exempts lawyers who are full-time employees of a public body from the registration requirement. Opponents of the law argue small towns and school districts that cannot afford a full-time attorney are put at a disadvantage to larger governmental organizations in efforts to influence legislation.
Citing the law, New Hampshire Rep. Rick Watrous recently asked the attorney general’s office to investigate the actions of attorney John Teague. Teague serves as the Concord School District’s lawyer, but is not a full-time school district employee. Teague participated in a meeting with Senate President Sylvia Larsen, Sen. Betsi DeVries, and the Superintendent of the Concord School District to discuss a House bill dealing with the school district’s charter. The attorney general’s office found that Teague ran afoul of the law by meeting with lawmakers privately and issued a public warning and ordered Teague to register retroactively as a lobbyist and pay the $50 annual filing fee. The finding has raised concerns about the propriety and application of the current registration requirement, including calls for legislative reform of the statute.
Photo of New Hampshire State Capitol Building by Nikopoley on Wikipedia.
September 23, 2010 •
Lobbying News from Guam
Governor signs a new law affecting lobbying registration and reporting.
The governor of Guam has signed legislation replacing its existing lobbying law with new provisions requiring registration for legislative lobbyists and reporting on the 10th day of the month following the end of a quarter.
The legislation also contains a revolving door provision and penalties for violations of the act.
The Office of the Governor of Guam and the 30th Guam Legislature.
September 20, 2010 •
Ask the Experts – Non-Lobbyist Employees
Here is your chance to “Ask the Experts” at State and Federal Communications, Inc.
Q. I am a registered lobbyist, and based on my time, compensation, and expenses, I have crossed the threshold prescribed by state law requiring registration. My company has employees whose contact with state legislators, executive officials, and employees meets the definition of lobbying, but they do not exceed the threshold requiring registration. Am I under any obligation to disclose their lobbying activities even though they are not registered? Is my employer?
A. This is a good example of something we advise our clients all the time: know your state! Here are examples of jurisdictions where you need to know the nuances of non-lobbyist reporting requirements.
CALIFORNIA: You are only required to register as a lobbyist if you spend at least one-third of your time lobbying in a calendar month. However, other employees at your company might need to report their pro-rata share of compensation if they spend 10 percent or more of their time lobbying in any one calendar month.
This includes time spent involved in grassroots activity, providing research services, and preparing materials to be used for lobbying. This information is disclosed on the lobbyist employer report Form 635 as “Other Payments to Influence Legislative or Administrative Action,” Part III, Section D. Luckily, clerical staff are never considered non-lobbyist employees.
NEW JERSEY: If you are a lobbyist, you must register if you spend more than 20 hours in a calendar year attempting to influence legislation, regulations, or governmental processes by communicating with a state official. Registered governmental affairs agents must disclose their operational costs, including compensation paid to support personnel, including legal, technical, and clerical staff. Now for the big exception. The compensation of an employee working less than 450 hours per calendar year in support of a governmental affairs agent is not reportable. (TIP: We advise you have support personnel track their time to ensure they do not exceed the 450-hour threshold.)
TEXAS: In this state, you are either a lobbyist or not – there is no in-between. In addition, individuals registered in Texas only report their own expenditures. Compensation is not reportable. Ever.
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.
September 2, 2010 •
Lobbying News: Nevada
Nevada to Increase Lobbying Registration Fees for 2011.
The Nevada Legislative Ethics Commission has announced it will increase lobbyist registration fees for 2011. The fee has been set at $300 for paid lobbyists, triple the current amount. The fee for unpaid lobbyists will remain at $20.
According to the Lobbyist Registration Overview:
“The penalty for failure to file any monthly expenditure report(s) or to file late is $10 per day until the report(s) is submitted.”
If you have any questions, the Registration Office contact is (775) 684-6800.
Here is the overview from the Nevada Legislative Web site.
Photo by Ryan Jerz in Wikipedia.
August 27, 2010 •
New Ethics Ordinance for Broward County
The Broward County Board of Commissioners has passed a new ethics ordinance.
Commissioners, their family members, and their staff will no longer be permitted to accept gifts from lobbyists registered with the county, employers of registered lobbyists, or vendors or contractors of the county. Commissioners will not be permitted to be employed as lobbyists or engage in lobbying activities before municipalities or other local government entities within the county.
Further, family members and office staff of a commissioner will not be permitted to lobby before the Board of County Commissioners or other local government entities within Broward County.
August 18, 2010 •
Oklahoma Lobbyists Contribute to State Campaigns
Registered lobbyists in Oklahoma have given more than $360,000 to campaigns for the fall elections, with statewide candidates picking up the biggest share of the contributions.
According to public filings, more than 130 registered lobbyists gave contributions toward 2010 campaigns. Republicans, who control the House and Senate, received about $190,000, while Democrats got almost $155,000. Another $13,000 went to nonpartisan judicial candidates.
Five statewide candidates each have received more than $20,000 in contributions from registered lobbyists, with Lt. Gov. Jari Askins leading the way at more than $36,000. Askins won a narrow victory over Attorney General Drew Edmonds in the Democratic primary for governor. Edmondson received more than $28,000 from registered lobbyists. The contributions from lobbyists, however, are a small share of overall fundraising for those candidates; the Askins and Edmondson campaigns have each raised more than $2 million.
August 13, 2010 •
A Lobbying Heads up from Illinois
Straight from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office:
The Illinois Secretary of State has mailed invoices for the revised lobbyist registration fee.
According to the Index Department, the invoices were sent on August 10, 2010 and the $300 fee is due on September 9, 2010. This invoice must accompany the payment.
July 29, 2010 •
Illinois Governor Signs Bill
Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1526 into law into law late Wednesday.
This bill changes several provisions of the lobbying laws. The registration fee is lowered to $300 in response to the previous fee of $1,000 having been enjoined. Under this new law, lobbyists must notify officials in writing of reportable expenditures at the time the expenditures are made.
Effective January 1, 2011, lobbyist reports are due on a semi-monthly basis. For 2010, a report covering the second half of the year is due January 15, 2011; the Secretary of State will issue instructions for reporting lobbyist expenditures incurred during the first half of the year.
July 19, 2010 •
Wisconsin G.A.B. to Meet
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) will convene a two-day meeting beginning July 21, 2010 at 9:30 A.M.
The two-day session will continue on July 22, 2010 beginning at 8:30 A.M. There will be open and closed door sessions on both days. The G.A.B. is expected to discuss a request to extend G.A.B. Emergency Rule 1.91 relating to organizations making independent disbursements.
Among the other proposed campaign finance issues on the agenda are guidelines concerning charitable contributions, campaign fundraising, campaign contributions by lobbyists and principals, candidates and the lobby law, and campaign finance registration and reporting. Day One of the two-day meeting will be held in the Joint Committee on Finance Hearing Room located at 412 East in the State Capitol. Day Two will convene in the G.A.B. board room located at 212 East Washington Avenue, third floor in Madison.
Here are some great resources from the GAB Web site!
Photograph taken by Dori
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.