Lobbying Law Amendments to be Sole Focus of CEC October 14 Meeting
After an initial public hearing on September 5th regarding possible changes to the City’s Municipal Lobbying Ordinance, the City Ethics Commission will devote its October meeting exclusively to the issue. The Commission’s discussions are the result of its first comprehensive review of the lobbying ordinance in over a decade. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the law is clear, strong, and internally consistent—and that it continues to provide the public with vital information about compensated lobbying activity that is designed to influence City decisions.
The Commission’s discussion on October 14th will focus first on who is a lobbyist, what activities define “lobbying”, and what level of activity should trigger registration and reporting. Additional topics will include how to register and what to disclose on quarterly reports.
First enacted in July 1967, the City’s lobbying ordinance required “municipal legislative advocates” to register with the City Clerk “before doing anything in furtherance of [attempting to influence action on municipal legislation]” for compensation once registered, legislative advocates had quarterly reporting requirements and were subject to regulations regarding their conduct.
In August 1994, the ordinance was significantly updated and established a compensation test for lobbyists of $4,000 per calendar quarter. More recent changes include a legislative package approved by the voters in 2006 through Measure R, which replaced the compensation test with a 30-hour test for lobbyists, banned gifts and campaign contributions to City officials from lobbyists, and required bidders on City contracts to certify their compliance with the lobbying ordinance. (See the CEC’s policy web page for staff memos).
A threshold test for determining who is a “lobbyist”—whether based on compensation or, as under the current law, on the number of hours of lobbying activity—has been part of City law for over 14 years. These thresholds have existed to ensure the law is reasonable in its breadth by balancing the burdens of regulation with the benefits. By assessing the amount of regulated activity in which a person engages, they ensure that not every person engaged in every compensated act of advocating on behalf of another person is caught within the net of registration and reporting.
The Commission is now considering a proposal to balance these interests differently, by assessing the type of activity in which a person engages. This kind of balancing is proposed as a clearer and more equitable way to determine who qualifies as a lobbyist. While the definition of “lobbyist” would not contain a threshold test, the kinds of activities that would constitute lobbying would be far narrower than under the current law.
For example, the following activities would be excluded:
- Communicating on the record at a publicly noticed meeting that is open to the general public.
- Submitting a document that is a public record in connection with an item on an agenda for a publicly noticed meeting.
- Making a sales call in connection with a purchase that must go through a competitive bid process.
- Submitting a bid to or participating in a bid selection process with the City official or agency specifically designated to receive the information.
- Negotiating the terms of a contract after being selected as the contractor.
- Communicating regarding the administration of an existing City contract.
- Providing information compelled by a subpoena, law, or regulation.
- Requesting advice or the interpretation of a law, regulation, or policy.
- Responding to an enforcement proceeding.
- Communicating with regard to a collective bargaining agreement or a memorandum of understanding with a City employee organization, a management decision regarding working conditions, or a proceeding before the Civil Service Commission or the Employee Relations Board.
- Providing legal representation as a licensed attorney for a party in litigation or an enforcement proceeding.
- Providing purely technical data, analysis, or expertise without advocating a particular result in a municipal decision.
- Communicating regarding a ministerial step in an application for a license, permit, or entitlement for use.
- Communicating under circumstances similar to those identified above, after having received written advice from the Ethics Commission that the communication is exempt.
In addition, the Commission will likely consider permitting a person to communicate with City officials a specified number of times without qualifying as a lobbyist, if that person is the client of an existing lobbyist.
The Commission is also expected to consider categorical exemptions from the lobbying ordinance. The current ordinance exempts three groups of persons from its requirements: public officials and government employees acting in their official capacities; mass media entities and their owners and employees when publishing news, editorials, or advertisements that attempt to influence municipal action; and 501(c)(3) organizations (and their employees while engaged in official duties) that receive government funding and provide free representation services to indigent persons.
Under the proposed amendments, the Commission will consider whether to expand the third exemption to any 501(c)(3) organization that provides human or social services directly to individual clients free of charge, regardless of whether the organizations receive government funding. The exemption would not apply when the organization seeks City funding, property, or permits on its own behalf.
The staff report that was presented at the Commission’s September 5th meeting can be viewed on the Commission’s website at http://ethics.lacity.org/PDF/agenda/2008/September/090508_A9_RegisUnderMLO.pdf. A summary table of key proposals is also available online at http://ethics.lacity.org/pdf/lobbying/Key_Proposals_Aug08.pdf.
Written comments on the proposed lobbying changes are welcome and may be submitted to the Ethics Commission by e-mail at the following: ethics.policy@lacity.org.
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