§ 1-J — Semi-annual reports

New York § 1-J

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

Text

§ 1-j. Semi-annual reports. (a) Semi-annual reports shall be filed by\nany client retaining, employing or designating a lobbyist or lobbyists,\nwhether or not any such lobbyist was required to file a bi-monthly\nreport, if such client reasonably anticipates that during the year such\nclient will expend or incur an amount in excess of five thousand dollars\nof combined reportable compensation and expenses, as provided in\nparagraph five of subdivision (c) of this section, for the purposes of\nlobbying.\n (b) Such report shall be filed with the commission, on forms supplied\nby the commission, by the fifteenth day of July of the year and by the\nfifteenth day of January next following the year for which such report\nis made and shall contain:\n (1) the name, address and telephone number of the client;\n (2) the name, address and telephone number of each lobbyist retained,\nemployed or designated by such client;\n (3) the following information on which each lobbyist retained,\nemployed or designated by such client has lobbied, and on which such\nclient has lobbied: (i) a description of the general subject or\nsubjects, (ii) the legislative bill numbers of any bills, (iii) the\nnumbers or subject matter (if there are no numbers) of gubernatorial\nexecutive orders or executive orders issued by the chief executive\nofficer of a municipality, (iv) the subject matter of and tribes\ninvolved in tribal-state compacts, memoranda of understanding, or any\nother state-tribal agreements and any state actions related to class III\ngaming as provided in 25 U.S.C. 2701, (v) the rule, regulation, and\nratemaking or municipal resolution or ordinance numbers of any rules,\nregulations, or rates, or municipal resolutions or ordinances 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 such client has lobbied;\n (5) (i) the compensation paid or owed to each such lobbyist, and any\nother expenses paid or incurred by such client for the purpose of\nlobbying.\n (ii) any expenses required to be reported pursuant to subparagraph (i)\nof this paragraph shall be listed in the aggregate if seventy-five\ndollars or less and if more than seventy-five dollars such expenses\nshall be detailed as to amount, to whom paid, and for what purpose; and\nwhere such expenses are more than seventy-five dollars on behalf of any\none person, 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 and client;\n (B) expenses, not in excess of five hundred dollars, directly incurred\nfor the printing or other means of reproduction or mailing of letters,\nmemoranda or other written communications.\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 must be paid by check or\nsubstantiated by receipts and such checks and receipts shall be kept on\nfile by such client for a period of three years.\n (6) (i) the name and public office address of any statewide elected\nofficial, state officer or employee, member of the legislature or\nlegislative employee and entity with whom the client of a lobbyist has a\nreportable business relationship;\n (ii) a description of the general subject or subjects of the\ntransactions between the client of a lobbyist and the statewide elected\nofficial, state officer or employee, member of the legislature or\nlegislative employee and entity; and\n (iii) the compensation, including expenses, to be paid and paid by\nvirtue of the business relationship.\n (c) (1) All such semi-annual reports shall be subject to review by the\ncommission.\n (2) Such semi-annual reports shall be kept on file for a period of\nthree years and shall be open to public inspection during such period.\n (3) Each semi-annual report filed by a client pursuant to this section\nshall be accompanied by a filing fee of fifty dollars. In addition to\nthe filing fees authorized by this article, the commission may impose a\nfee for late filing of a semi-annual report required by this section not\nto exceed twenty-five dollars for each day that the report required to\nbe filed is late, except that if the client making a late filing has not\npreviously been required by statute to file an annual or semi-annual\nreport, the fee for late filing shall not exceed ten dollars for each\nday that the report required to be filed is late.\n (4) Any client of a lobbyist that is required to file a semi-annual\nreport and:\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 semi-annual 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 client or\nlobbyist, may cause harm, threats, harassment, or reprisals to the\nsource or to individuals or property affiliated with the source. The\nreporting lobbyist may appeal the commission's determination and such\nappeal shall be heard by a judicial hearing officer who is independent\nand not affiliated with or employed by the commission, pursuant to\nregulations promulgated by the commission. The reporting lobbyist shall\nnot be required to disclose the sources of funding that are the subject\nof such appeal 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