Voters in San Francisco overwhelmingly passed a city ballot initiative restricting lobbyist gifts and campaign contributions.

Local Ballot Measure T, passed with over 87 percent support, prohibits lobbyists from making any gift to a city officer, regardless of value, prohibits lobbyists from using a third-party to circumvent this restriction, and prohibits city officers from accepting or soliciting such gifts. The gift restriction specifically includes any gift of travel. The measure defines “Gift of travel” as payment, advance, or reimbursement for travel, including transportation, lodging, and food and refreshments connected with the travel.

The measure also requires lobbyists to identify which city agencies they intend to influence and imposes a duty on local lobbyists to amend and update their registration information and monthly reports within five days of any changed circumstances.

The initiative also prohibits a lobbyist from making contributions to or bundling contributions for city elected officials or candidates for city elective offices if the lobbyist had been registered to lobby the officials’ agencies within 90 days of the date any contribution is made.

The changes to the city’s lobbying laws becomes effective January 1, 2018.

At any given time, more than 1,000 legislative bills, which can affect how you do business as a government affairs professional, are being discussed in federal, state, and local jurisdictions. These bills are summarized in the State and Federal Communications’ digital encyclopedias for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying, and can be found in the client portion of the State and Federal Communications’ website.

Summaries of major bills are also included in monthly e-mail updates sent to all clients. The chart below shows the number of bills we are tracking in regards to lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying.