§ 1-H — Bi-monthly reports of certain lobbyists

New York § 1-H

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law LEG: Legislative
• Art. 1-A: Lobbying Act

Text

§ 1-h. Bi-monthly reports of certain lobbyists. (a) Any lobbyist\nrequired to file a statement of registration pursuant to section one-e\nof this article who in any lobbying year reasonably anticipates that\nduring the year such lobbyist will expend, incur or receive combined\nreportable compensation and expenses in an amount in excess of five\nthousand dollars, as provided in paragraph five of subdivision (b) of\nthis section, for the purpose of lobbying, shall file with the\ncommission a bi-monthly written report, on forms supplied by the\ncommission, by the fifteenth day next succeeding the end of the\nreporting period in which the lobbyist was first required to file a\nstatement of registration. Such reporting periods shall be the period of\nJanuary first to the last day of February, March first to April\nthirtieth, May first to June thirtieth, July first to August\nthirty-first, September first to October thirty-first and November first\nto December thirty-first.\n (b) Such bi-monthly report shall contain:\n (1) the name, address and telephone number of the lobbyist;\n (2) the name, address and telephone number of the client by whom or on\nwhose behalf the lobbyist is retained, employed or designated;\n (3) the following information on which the lobbyist has lobbied: (i) a\ndescription of the general subject or subjects, (ii) the legislative\nbill numbers of any bills, (iii) the numbers or subject matter (if there\nare no numbers) of gubernatorial executive orders or executive orders\nissued by the chief executive officer of a municipality, (iv) the\nsubject matter of and tribes involved in tribal-state compacts,\nmemoranda of understanding, or any other state-tribal agreements and any\nstate actions related to class III gaming as provided in 25 U.S.C. §\n2701, (v) the rule, regulation, and ratemaking or municipal ordinance or\nresolution numbers of any rules, regulations, or rates or ordinance or\nproposed rules, regulations, or rates or municipal ordinances or\nresolutions, and (vi) the titles and any identifying numbers of any\nprocurement contracts and other documents disseminated by a state\nagency, either house of the state legislature, the unified court system,\nmunicipal agency or local legislative body in connection with a\ngovernmental procurement;\n (4) the name of the person, organization, or legislative body before\nwhich the lobbyist has lobbied;\n (5) (i) the compensation paid or owed to the lobbyist, and any\nexpenses expended, received or incurred by the lobbyist for the purpose\nof lobbying.\n (ii) expenses required to be reported pursuant to subparagraph (i) of\nthis paragraph shall be listed in the aggregate if seventy-five dollars\nor less and if more than seventy-five dollars such expenses shall be\ndetailed as to amount, to whom paid, and for what purpose; and where\nsuch expense is more than seventy-five dollars on behalf of any one\nperson, the name of such person shall be listed.\n (iii) for the purposes of this paragraph, expenses shall not include:\n (A) personal sustenance, lodging and travel disbursements of such\nlobbyist;\n (B) expenses, not in excess of five hundred dollars in any one\ncalendar year, directly incurred for the printing or other means of\nreproduction or mailing of letters, memoranda or other written\ncommunications.\n (iv) expenses paid or incurred for salaries other than that of the\nlobbyist shall be listed in the aggregate.\n (v) expenses of more than fifty dollars shall be paid by check or\nsubstantiated by receipts and such checks and receipts shall be kept on\nfile by the lobbyist for a period of three years.\n (c) (1) All such bi-monthly reports shall be subject to review by the\ncommission.\n (2) Such bi-monthly reports shall be kept on file for three years and\nshall be open to public inspection during such time.\n (3) In addition to the filing fees authorized by this article, the\ncommission may impose a fee for late filing of a bi-monthly report\nrequired by this section not to exceed twenty-five dollars for each day\nthat the report required to be filed is late, except that if the\nlobbyist making a late filing has not previously been required by\nstatute to file such a report, the fee for late filing shall not exceed\nten dollars for each day that the report required to be filed is late.\n (4) Any lobbyist registered pursuant to section one-e of this article\nwhose lobbying activity is performed on its own behalf and not pursuant\nto retention by a client:\n (i) that has spent over fifteen thousand dollars in the aggregate for\nreportable compensation and expenses for lobbying, either during the\ncalendar year, or during the twelve-month period, prior to the date of\nthis bi-monthly report, and\n (ii) at least three percent of whose total expenditures during the\nsame period were devoted to lobbying in New York shall report to the\ncommission the names of each source of funding that has contributed over\ntwo thousand five hundred dollars from a single source that were used to\nfund the lobbying activities reported and the amount of each\ncontribution received from each identified source of funding; provided,\nhowever, that amounts received from each identified source of funding\nshall not be required to be disclosed if such amounts constitute\nmembership dues, fees, or assessments charged by the reporting entity to\nenable an individual or entity to be a member of the reporting entity.\n This disclosure shall not require disclosure of the sources of funding\nwhose disclosure, in the determination of the commission based upon a\nreview of the relevant facts presented by the reporting lobbyist, may\ncause harm, threats, harassment, or reprisals to the source or to\nindividuals or property affiliated with the source. The reporting\nlobbyist may appeal the commission's determination and such appeal shall\nbe heard by a judicial hearing officer who is independent and not\naffiliated with or employed by the commission, pursuant to regulations\npromulgated by the commission. The reporting lobbyist shall not be\nrequired to disclose the sources of funding that are the subject of such\nappeal pending final judgment on appeal.\n The disclosure shall not apply to:\n (i) any corporation registered pursuant to article seven-A of the\nexecutive law that is qualified as an exempt organization by the United\nStates Department of the Treasury under I.R.C. § 501(c)(3); provided,\nhowever, that this disclosure shall apply to any in-kind donations of\nstaff, staff time, personnel, offices, office supplies, financial\nsupport of any kind or any other resources to any corporation or entity\nthat is qualified as an exempt organization by the United States\nDepartment of the Treasury under I.R.C. 501(c)(4) when such in-kind\ndonations are over two thousand five hundred dollars and from any\ncorporation or entity that is qualified as an exempt organization by the\nUnited States Department of the Treasury under I.R.C. 501(c)(3). In such\ncase the entity receiving such in-kind donations shall disclose the fair\nmarket value and identify the I.R.C. 501(c)(3) entity providing such\nin-kind donations and give notice within a reasonable time to the\n501(c)(3) entity that it shall be required to file a report with the\ndepartment of law pursuant to section one hundred seventy-two-e of the\nexecutive law;\n (ii) any corporation registered pursuant to article seven-A of the\nexecutive law that is qualified as an exempt organization by the United\nStates Department of the Treasury under I.R.C. § 501(c)(4) and whose\nprimary activities concern any area of public concern determined by the\ncommission to create a substantial likelihood that application of this\ndisclosure requirement would lead to harm, threats, harassment, or\nreprisals to a source of funding or to individuals or property\naffiliated with such source, including but not limited to the area of\ncivil rights and civil liberties and any other area of public concern\ndetermined pursuant to regulations promulgated by the commission to form\na proper basis for exemption on this basis from this disclosure\nrequirement; or\n (iii) any governmental entity.\n The commission on ethics and lobbying in government shall promulgate\nregulations to implement these requirements.\n