Q. As a company, we would like to organize site visits for agency officials, so they can better understand our company and industry.  Can we cover expenditures for these visits?

A. State and local gift restrictions will apply to company expenditures associated with a site visit by a government official or employee, especially if your company is a lobbyist employer or state contractor.  Food, beverage, entertainment, travel, lodging, or other promotional/welcome gifts could be restricted or banned.  However, many jurisdictions have specific gift exceptions allowing expenditures in conjunction with site visits.  Each jurisdiction has its own requirements for gift law compliance…

Read the full article here

For more information, be sure to check out the Gift Law and Reports Required sections of the Lobbying Compliance Laws online publication for any  jurisdiction. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Click here to read ALL Ask the Experts articles in full

Q. Our company is active and registered as a lobbyist employer in several states. What are best practices for record-keeping? What will we need to access and keep in the event of a state audit?

A. Each state takes a different approach to auditing, requiring registered companies and lobbyists to keep substantiating records for varying periods of time.  As a conservative rule of thumb, it’s generally advisable to keep substantiating records for seven years.  However, for each state where your company has an active registration, you should determine if there is a set document retention policy.  While some states have no set period of time for lobbyists/employers to retain records, a majority of states require retention for a set period of time, usually within a three to five year range.

Click here to read the full article

You must have a subscription to
 www.stateandfed.com and be logged on!

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: experts@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.

We would like to take this opportunity offer our best wishes to the graduates of the inaugural class of SGAC’s State Government Affairs Professional Certificate Program.

State and Federal Communications had two people in the program. President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz and Client Specialist Myra Cottrill received their certificates at the SGAC Annual Business Meeting and Lunch on August 8.

According to SGAC, “The SGAC Professional Certificate Program requires the participants, of which there are more than 100 including the recent 25 honorees, to complete a minimum of 12 courses focusing on:  Ethics/Ethical Leadership; Complying with State Lobbying Laws; Building and Managing Coalitions; Legislative Trends; Lobbying and the Legislative Process; Media and Communications Training; Understanding National State Government Organizations and others.”

Myra Cottrill said, “It is an honor to join 24 colleagues from across the country that completed the program’s rigorous requirements during the past three years.”

We send our congratulations to Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, and Client Specialist Myra Cottrill, who recently completed the State Government Affairs Professional Certificate Program!

A formal graduation ceremony for those who have completed the certificate program will take place on August 8, 2012 at the SGAC luncheon in Chicago during NCSL’s Legislative Summit.