Changes to city lobbying rules OK’d by Ethics Review Commission

The Ethics Review Commission has given its OK to a series of amendments to the city’s lobbying regulations.

The changes are set to be voted on by City Council on March 23. The city clerk’s office suggested them to clarify requirements and processes regarding lobbyists’ registration and renewal fees and quarterly activity reports, as well as how the city levies the $50 late fees assessed every 10 business days when filings and payments are late.

During the commission’s most recent meeting, commissioners and city staff parsed the finer points of the language that made clear lobbyists have to renew their registration every year on the anniversary of their initial filing, and that quarterly activity reports are considered late if filed after 11:59 pm on the filing due date.

“We thought it would be helpful to reiterate there that a person is required to register and must file (a renewal) annually, just for clarification purposes,” deputy city clerk Erika Brady said. “This is already a process that is followed by lobbyists, but we thought it may be helpful to add to the registration requirements to file annually.”

Brady said a recent late fee for a lobbyist that would have required city notification on the Thanksgiving holiday prompted staff and the legal department to push for revised wording to allow notifications and penalty assessments to take place on the first business day after a weekend or city holiday.

Commissioner Debra Danburg inquired about the city’s language regarding penalties assessed on someone who has suffered a medical catastrophe. “What if they’re either debilitated, deceased or somehow not able to give you all any sort of notice of termination and so they’ll continue to miss that deadline?” she asked.

Brady responded that the Ethics Review Commission approved a language change in 2019 that allows the city to waive the electronic filing requirement or provide other reasonable accommodation related to a disability.

In examining language related to the schedule and practices for levying penalties, Commissioner Nguyen Stanton asked the clerk’s office to revise language that makes it apparent the $50 penalty assessed every 10 days has a $500 cap per quarterly activity report and renewal. That change would make it clear that a lobbyist could conceivably accrue several $500 in fines per year if they missed their renewal and all four quarterly reports.

“That’s an important piece of information because I didn’t understand … when does the clock start over again? Because it reads that it’s $500, but that’s per quarter and that’s definitely significant,” she said. “If it’s per year versus per quarter, that it starts every quarter, that’s an important difference.”

Brady said the 153 lobbyists registered with the city tend to be diligent with their filings and renewals, with only a handful of penalties assessed each year.

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