The Phoenix City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to give final approval to the city’s lobbying ordinance overhaul.

Under the amended rules, lobbyists not filing required registration or disclosure forms can face sanctions, including fines of up to $2,500, suspension from lobbying and jail time.

The ordinance also requires lobbyists to disclose to city officials whom they contact if they are working in a capacity as a lobbyist and expands covered officials that trigger registration.

The ordinance will take effect July 1, 2017.

The Phoenix City Council voted this week to amend the city’s lobbying ordinance to create sanctions for those who don’t comply with the lobbyist registration or expense disclosure rules.

Current city code includes no punishment for those who ignore the rules. The amendments will also include a clarification and expansion of the term lobbying to include city executives, department directors, the city manager and his top staffers, and board and commission members.

The strengthened rules raise fines and increase the amount of time lobbyists could be suspended from contacting city officials. Phoenix’s lobbying rules are currently unenforceable.

City Council will vote in the coming weeks to finalize the changes.

City Council discovered its lobbying regulations have no enforcement mechanism several months ago, but it has yet to agree on whether violations should be treated as civil or criminal matters.

The discovery began following a controversial vote on a request to pay out $1.2 million to a developer for stormwater culverts on a city owned property. The developer’s lobbyists, a former city staffer and a lawyer at the law firm Burch & Cracchiolo, were not registered according to city records.

While the former city staffer’s attorney accused the city of losing or misfiling his registrations, the city contends the documents produced by Burch & Cracchiolo were falsely created and backdated because they use the law firm’s current letterhead, not the letterhead the firm used in 2015.

When the matter was referred to the city prosecutor, he discovered the current ordinance does not explicitly say failure to file proper lobbying documents is unlawful and does not specify the penalty for failing to register. The city prosecutor previously assumed noncompliance could result in a misdemeanor charge.

Any changes to current lobbying regulations will impact the work of more than 300 registered lobbyists in the city.

Photo of Phoenix City Hall by Kevin Dooley

On Tuesday, Phoenix City Council voted unanimously to move forward with creating a bipartisan ethics commission. The commission would screen allegations and recommend penalties for city officials who violate the city’s gift policies and other related rules.

Under a plan laid out by a City Council member, potential commissioners are screened by a city board and ultimately appointed by City Council. Phoenix’s current ethics rules are unenforceable as the city lacks a mechanism for investigating ethics complaints and recommending punishment.

This is not the first time Phoenix has attempted to create an ethics commission; previous attempts have been unsuccessful in part due to concerns about the commission becoming a political attack tool.

City Council will still need to approve a final ordinance in order to establish an ethics commission. A final vote on the matter is expected this spring.