City Council has passed the resident-driven Sunshine Ordinance with the intention to make city government more transparent. The ordinance requires builders to hold community meetings in connection with certain developments and calls for online posting of additional information regarding requests for proposals.

Although advocates originally proposed registration requirements for lobbyists, the new law provides only online access to city officials’ scheduled meetings with lobbyists and to information on forms already required to be filed by campaign committees and public officials.

The measure’s effective date will be November 14, 2012, 30 days from Monday’s final vote.

Photo of the Santa Ana City Hall courtesy of Eli Pousson on Wikipedia.

The secretary of state has issued amended rules regarding lobbyist registration.

The substantive changes include:

• Elimination of the requirement that the secretary of state provide notice and an opportunity to respond to lobbyists under investigation for violations of Colorado’s sunshine law;
• Providing that the secretary of state may admonish a lobbyist for failure to pay penalties within 45 days of assessment, as opposed to the previous rule of 90 days;
• Providing that the secretary of state will send a penalty to collections if a lobbyist or lobbyist firm fails to pay the penalty within 90 days;
• Amending the requirement that pertains to reporting of gifts to clarify that lobbyists are prohibited from giving gifts of any kind to covered officials; and
• Establishing definitions of rate and standard as those terms pertain to state agencies with rulemaking authority.

These rules will take effect 20 days after publication in the Colorado Register.

The Palm Beach County School Board is in the process of developing a lobbyist registration policy.

Registration will likely be separate from the county’s lobbyist registration.

There is not yet a firm date by which the policy will be implemented, as the details are still being worked out by the school board.

The secretary of the commonwealth’s office launched a new online lobbyist disclosure system Monday, June 11, 2012. The new system, available here, replaces the previous online filing system.

Lobbyists will use the account they created for the new registration system last month to access the online disclosure system. The new system allows lobbyists to sign their disclosure form electronically, and does not require a hard-copy signature follow-up.

The secretary of the commonwealth’s office strongly encourages lobbyists to file their disclosure statements electronically rather than mailing a hard copy.

Q.  I am not currently registered as a lobbyist and I would like to send a letter to all state legislators in support of pending legislation. Do I need to register as a lobbyist?

A. The act of sending a letter in support of or in opposition to legislation can be enough to trigger the lobbyist registration requirement in a state. Whether or not registration is required is dependent upon the lobbyist registration threshold in any given state.

Some states have thresholds based on the definition of lobbying whereby engaging in a lobbying activity will require lobbyist registration. For example, in a state where registration is required upon receipt of compensation to encourage the passage, defeat, approval, or modification of legislation by members of the legislature, lobbyist registration would be required prior to sending the letter. Iowa is an example of this type of state.

Other states have thresholds based on the amount of time spent lobbying or preparing to lobby. In Maine, an individual is permitted to spend eight hours lobbying before registration is required. In such a state, tracking your time while preparing the letter will be important in determining if registration is required.

Please consult the lobbyist registration threshold in your jurisdiction prior to sending any correspondence to a public official.

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.

The new lobbyist registration ordinance in Palm Beach County took effect April 2, 2012. The expenditure report due date is now November 1 of each year, and continues to cover the period from October 1 – September 30.

Electronic registration is now available in addition to paper registration. Registrations now must also include the phone number of the lobbyist and principal, their signatures where both may be made electronically, and the county or municipalities to be lobbied.

The ordinance specifically excludes from expenditure reporting the salaries of the lobbyist and principal, office overhead expenses, and personal expenses for lodging, meals, and travel.

All registrations on file and in effect with the county prior to the ordinance’s effective date remain in full force and effect.

Quebec’s Lobbying Commissioner, François Casgrain, has proposed a major overhaul of the province’s law on lobbying that would expand the number of people required to register as lobbyists. Currently, only people who spend a “significant part” of their time lobbying must register. The proposed changes would require anyone seeking to influence the decision of a public official to register.

Registration would have to be completed by individual lobbyists, ending the practice of employers registering for them. Casgrain wants to expand the enforcement powers of the commission and increase fines for breaking the law. There also would be a blackout on lobbying between publication of a call for tenders on a public contract and the awarding of the contract.

The call for change follows a finding that some parties failed to register as lobbyists during negotiations of a controversial contract award for the still-unbuilt arena.

On April 30, 2012, the Lobbyists Registration Act came into force in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The act requires lobbyists to file returns using an electronic registry system. Although the act was originally passed in 2008, it came into force only this year upon proclamation, allowing the lobbyist registrar the opportunity to create the system with its online component.

The act categorizes lobbyists as either consultant lobbyists or in-house lobbyists. Consultant lobbyists are individuals who, for pay or other benefit, undertake to lobby on behalf of a client. An in-house lobbyist is defined as an employee, partner, or sole proprietor of an organization who lobbies, or has a duty to lobby, on behalf of the organization. However, to be designated as an in-house lobbyist, an individual’s lobbying or duty to lobby has to constitute a significant part of his or her activities, which the regulations define as meeting or exceeding 100 hours annually. Additionally, if an individual’s lobbying, together with lobbying by others in the organization, meets or exceeds 100 hours annually, the senior officer of the organization must file a return.

The act defines lobby to mean communicating with a public official in an attempt to influence the development of a legislative proposal; introducing a bill or resolution before the assembly; making or amending a regulation; developing, amending, or terminating a program or policy; or awarding a financial benefit. For consultant lobbyists the definition of lobby also includes arranging a meeting with a public official or communicating with a public official in an attempt to influence the award of a contract.

Consultant lobbyists already lobbying before April 30th have 30 days to begin filing. If lobbying begins after April 30th, consultant lobbyists have 10 days to file. A senior officer filing on behalf of an organization with in-house lobbyists has two months in which to file, regardless of whether lobbying begins before or after April 30th. Additionally, the officer must file returns within two months after the end of each six-month period after filing the previous return.

Following a board meeting, American League of Lobbyists President Howard Marlowe announced the group has approved rules that would require more people to register as lobbyists, as well as other transparency measures.

For full news coverage, be sure to read: “Lobbyists OK Lobbying Reform Proposals”by Andrew Joseph in the National Journal.

According to the National Journal: “The reforms, more than a year in the making, include lowering the registration thresholds, mandating that lobbyists who work for state and local governments or religious organizations register, and shifting enforcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to the Justice Department.

The plan would require a person who spends 10 percent of their time lobbying to register as a lobbyist, down from the current 20 percent threshold. And it lowers the number of paid lobbying contacts a lobbyist can have per quarter before registering from two to one. The proposal also shortens the registration window from 45 days to 20 days and would require all lobbyists to undergo ethics training and attend a refresher course every five years.  The proposal preserves exemptions for citizen lobbyists.”

Here is the American League of Lobbyists press release.

Also read: “American League of Lobbyists suggests new rules” by Abby Phillip in Politico.

“American League of Lobbyists Announces Tougher Lobbying Rules” by Andrew Ramonas in The Blog of Legal Times.

The Kentucky Senate unanimously approved House Bill 300 on Monday. The bill requires “placement agents” to register as lobbyists and follow state ethics laws. Placement agents are individuals or firms who are compensated for the purpose of influencing an executive agency decision regarding the investment of Kentucky Retirement Systems or the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement Systems assets.

The bill is a response to concerns raised by last year’s audit of the state pension system. Now the bill returns to the House following technical changes made by the Senate.

WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN:  County Executive Robert Ficano has issued a new executive ethics policy that contains lobbyist registration provisions, gift restrictions, and conflict of interest disclosure requirements for executive appointees.

The policy requires a lobbyist who lobbies any executive appointee to register with the State of Michigan and bars lobbyists not verified as registered from meeting with executive appointees.

Additionally, the policy prohibits lobbyists from providing executive appointees with food or beverage valued at more than $100 annually and prohibits all other monetary or non-monetary gifts or gratuities.

Governor Jack Markell has announced plans to create an online database which will link registered lobbyists to the specific pieces of legislation they are lobbying for or against.

Photo of Gov. Markell by Stilltim on Wikipedia.

Lobbyists wishing to lobby in any of Palm Beach County, Florida’s 38 cities will soon be subject to a countywide lobbyist registry, as approved by the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners at their most recent meeting.

Lobbyists will be required to pay $25 to register the names of their clients, while also being required to submit annual expense reports. There will also be limits on gifts from lobbyists.

A city may opt out of the countywide registry, but then must create its own registry.

Photo of Palm Beach by Michael Kagdis on Wikipedia.

The City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics has provided interim paper registration forms and instructions for lobbyists, lobbying firms, and principals to be used until an online registration and reporting system is completed.  The registration forms allow filers to fill-in information before printing.

The board reminds filers that registration is not complete until a form is printed, signed, and mailed or delivered to the board of ethics with the registration fee.

Registration must occur within ten days after both the commencement of lobbying and the exceeding of thresholds.  However, no event occurring prior to January 3, 2012 is relevant to determining the thresholds, registration date, or expense reporting.