Introduced Version
House Bill 2328 History
OTHER VERSIONS -
Enrolled Version - Final Version
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2328
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chambers, and Delegates
Rowe and Staton)
(Introduced February 2, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.)
A BILL to amend and reenact sections five, six and ten, article
two, chapter six-b of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact sections one, two and four, article three of
said chapter, all relating to the ethical standards for
elected and appointed officials and public employees;
financial disclosure statements, filing requirements;
definitions; registration of lobbyists; and reporting by
lobbyists.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections five, six and ten, article two, chapter six-
b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that
sections one, two and four, article three of said chapter be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
§6B-2-5.Ethical standards for elected and appointed officials
and public employees.
(a) Persons subject to section. -- The provisions of this
section apply to all elected and appointed public officials and
public employees, whether full or part time, in state, county,
municipal governments and their respective boards, agencies,
departments, and commissions and in any other regional or local
governmental agency, including county school boards.
(b) Use of public office for private gain. -- (1) A public
official or public employee may not knowingly and intentionally
use his or her office or the prestige of his or her office for
his or her private gain or that of another person. The
performance of usual and customary duties associated with the
office or position or the advancement of public policy goals or
constituent services, without compensation, does not constitute
the use of prestige of office for private gain.
(2) The Legislature, in enacting this subsection (b),
relating to the use of public office or public employment for
private gain, recognizes that there may be certain public
officials or public employees who bring to their respective
offices or employment their own unique personal prestige which
is based upon intelligence, education, experience, skills and
abilities, or other personal gifts or traits. In many cases,
these persons bring a personal prestige to their office or employment which inures to the benefit of the state and its
citizens. Such persons may, in fact, be sought by the state to
serve in their office or employment because, through their
unusual gifts or traits, they bring stature and recognition to
their office or employment and to the state itself. While the
office or employment held or to be held by such persons may
have its own inherent prestige, it would be unfair to such
individuals and against the best interests of the citizens of
this state to deny such persons the right to hold public office
or to be publicly employed on the grounds that they would, in
addition to the emoluments of their office or employment, be in
a position to benefit financially from the personal prestige
which otherwise inheres to them. Accordingly, the commission
is directed by legislative rule, to establish categories of
such public officials and public employees, identifying them
generally by the office or employment held, and offering
persons who fit within such categories the opportunity to apply
for an exemption from the application of the provisions of this
subsection. Such exemptions may be granted by the commission,
on a case by case basis, when it is shown that: (A) The public
office held or the public employment engaged in is not such
that it would ordinarily be available or offered to a
substantial number of the citizens of this state; (B) the office held or the employment engaged in is such that it
normally or specifically requires a person who possesses
personal prestige; and (C) the person's employment contract or
letter of appointment provides or anticipates that the person
will gain financially from activities which are not a part of
his or her office or employment.
(c) Gifts. -- (1) A public official or public employee may
not solicit any gift unless the solicitation is for a
charitable purpose with no resulting direct pecuniary benefit
conferred upon the official or employee or his or her immediate
family: Provided, That no public official or public employee
may solicit for a charitable purpose any gift from any person
who is also an official or employee of the state and whose
position as such is subordinate to the soliciting official or
employee: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall
prohibit a candidate for public office from soliciting a lawful
political contribution. No official or employee may knowingly
accept any gift, directly or indirectly, from a lobbyist or
from any person whom the official or employee knows or has
reason to know:
(A) Is doing or seeking to do business of any kind with
his or her agency;
(B) Is engaged in activities which are regulated or controlled by his or her agency; or
(C) Has financial interests which may be substantially and
materially affected, in a manner distinguishable from the
public generally, by the performance or nonperformance of his
official duties.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of
this subsection, a person who is a public official or public
employee may accept a gift described in this subdivision, and
there shall be a presumption that the receipt of such gift does
not impair the impartiality and independent judgment of the
person. This presumption may be rebutted only by direct
objective evidence that the gift did impair the impartiality
and independent judgment of the person or that the person knew
or had reason to know that the gift was offered with the intent
to impair his or her impartiality and independent judgment.
The provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection do not
apply to:
(A) Meals and beverages;
(B) Ceremonial gifts or awards which have insignificant
monetary value;
(C) Unsolicited gifts of nominal value or trivial items of
informational value;
(D) Reasonable expenses for food, travel, and lodging of the official or employee for a meeting at which the official or
employee participates in a panel or speaking engagement at the
meeting;
(E) Gifts of tickets or free admission extended to a
public official or public employee to attend charitable,
cultural or political events, if the purpose of such gift or
admission is a courtesy or ceremony customarily extended to the
office;
(F) Gifts that are purely private and personal in nature;
or
(G) Gifts from relatives by blood or marriage, or a member
of the same household.
(3) The acceptance of an honorarium by an elected public
official is prohibited except that, in the absence of any
showing that the elected public official promised or furnished
an official action quid pro quo, an honorarium or fee for
services actually rendered by a part-time elected public
official may be accepted where such honorarium or fee is in no
way related to the official's public position and is for
services actually rendered in connection with the part-time
elected public official's regular, non-public trade,
profession, occupation, hobby or avocation. The commission
shall, by legislative rule, establish guidelines for the acceptance of reasonable honorariums by all other public
officials and public employees other than elected public
officials.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed so as to
prohibit the giving of a lawful political contribution as
defined by law.
(5) The Governor or his designee may, in the name of the
state of West Virginia, accept and receive gifts from any
public or private source. Any such gift so obtained shall
become the property of the state and shall, within thirty days
of the receipt thereof, be registered with the commission and
the division of culture and history.
(d) Interests in public contracts. -- (1) In addition to the
provisions of section fifteen, article ten, chapter sixty-one
of this code, no elected or appointed public official or public
employee or member of his or her immediate family or business
with which he or she is associated may be a party to or have an
interest in the profits or benefits of a contract which such
official or employee may have direct authority to enter into,
or over which he or she may have control: Provided, That
nothing herein shall be construed to prevent or make unlawful
the employment of any person with any governmental body:
Provided, however, That nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit a member of the Legislature from entering into a
contract with any governmental body, or prohibit a part-time
appointed public official from entering into a contract which
such part-time appointed public official may have direct
authority to enter into or over which he or she may have
control when such official has been recused from deciding or
evaluating and excused from voting on such contract and has
fully disclosed the extent of such interest in the contract.
(2) In the absence of bribery or a purpose to defraud, an
elected or appointed public official or public employee or a
member of his or her immediate family or a business with which
he or she is associated shall not be considered as having an
interest in a public contract when such a person has a limited
interest as an owner, shareholder or creditor of the business
which is the contractor on the public contract involved. A
limited interest for the purposes of this subsection is:
(A) An interest:
(i) Not exceeding ten percent of the partnership or the
outstanding shares of a corporation; or
(ii) Not exceeding thirty thousand dollars interest in the
profits or benefits of the contract; or
(B) An interest as a creditor:
(i) Not exceeding ten percent of the total indebtedness of a business; or
(ii) Not exceeding thirty thousand dollars interest in the
profits or benefits of the contract.
(3) Where the provisions of subdivisions (1) and (2) of
this subsection would result in the loss of a quorum in a
public body or agency, in excessive cost, undue hardship, or
other substantial interference with the operation of a state,
county, municipality, county school board or other governmental
agency, the affected governmental body or agency may make
written application to the ethics commission for an exemption
from subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection.
(e) Confidential information. -- No present or former
public official or public employee may knowingly and improperly
disclose any confidential information acquired by him or her in
the course of his or her official duties nor use such
information to further his or her personal interests or the
interest of another person.
(f) Prohibited representation. -- No present or former
elected or appointed public official or public employee
shall during or after his or her public employment or service
represent a client or act in a representative capacity with or
without compensation on behalf of any person in a contested
case, rate-making proceeding, license or permit application, regulation filing or other specific matter which arose during
his or her period of public service or employment and in which
he or she personally participated in a decision-making,
advisory or staff support capacity, unless the appropriate
government agency, after consultation, consents to such
representation. A staff attorney, accountant, or other
professional employee who has represented a government agency
in a particular matter shall not thereafter represent another
client in the same or substantially related matter in which
that client's interests are materially adverse to the interests
of the government agency, without the consent of the government
agency: Provided, That this prohibition on representation shall
not apply when the client was not directly involved in the
particular matter in which such professional employee
represented the government agency, but was involved only as a
member of a class. The provisions of this subsection shall not
apply to legislators who were in office and legislative staff
who were employed at the time it originally became effective on
the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine
and those who have since become legislators or legislative
staff and those who shall serve hereafter as legislators or
legislative staff.
(g) Limitation on practice before a board, agency, commission or department. -- (1) No elected or appointed public
official and no full-time staff attorney or accountant shall,
during his or her public service or public employment or for a
period of six months after the termination of his or her public
service or public employment with a governmental entity
authorized to hear contested cases or promulgate regulations,
appear in a representative capacity before the governmental
entity in which he or she serves or served or is or was
employed in the following matters:
(A) A contested case involving an administrative sanction,
action or refusal to act;
(B) To support or oppose a proposed regulation;
(C) To support or contest the issuance or denial of a
license or permit;
(D) A rate-making proceeding; and
(E) To influence the expenditure of public funds.
(2) As used in this subsection, "represent" includes any
formal or informal appearance before, or any written or oral
communication with, any public agency on behalf of any person:
Provided, That nothing contained in this subsection shall
prohibit, during any period, a former public official or
employee from being retained by or employed to represent,
assist, or act in a representative capacity on behalf of the public agency by which he or she was employed or in which he or
she served. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
prevent a former public official or employee from representing
another state, county, municipal or other governmental entity
before the governmental entity in which he or she served or was
employed within six months after the termination of his or her
employment or service in the entity.
(3) A present or former public official or employee may
appear at anytime in a representative capacity before the
Legislature, a county commission, city or town council or a
county school board in relation to the consideration of a
statute, budget, ordinance, rule, resolution or enactment.
(4) Members and former members of the Legislature and
professional employees and former professional employees of the
Legislature shall be permitted to appear in a representative
capacity on behalf of clients before any governmental agency of
the state, or of county or municipal governments including
county school boards.
(5) An elected or appointed public official, full-time
staff attorney or accountant who would be adversely affected by
the provisions of this subsection (g) may apply to the ethics
commission for an exemption from the six months prohibition
against appearing in a representative capacity, when the person's education and experience is such that the prohibition
would, for all practical purposes, deprive the person of the
ability to earn a livelihood in this state outside of the
governmental agency. The ethics commission shall by
legislative rule establish general guidelines or standards for
granting an exemption or reducing the time period, but shall
decide each application on a case-by-case basis.
(h) Seeking employment with regulated person prohibited. -
- (1) No full-time public official or full-time public employee
who exercises policymaking, nonministerial or regulatory
authority may seek employment with, or allow himself or herself
to be employed by any person who is or may be regulated by the
governmental body which he or she serves while he or she is
employed or serves in the governmental agency. The term
"employment" within the meaning of this section includes
professional services and other services rendered by the public
official or public employee whether rendered as an employee or
as an independent contractor.
(2) No person regulated by a governmental agency shall
offer employment to a full-time public official or full-time
public employee of the regulating governmental agency during
the period of time the public official or employee works or
serves in such agency.
(3) A full-time public official or full-time public
employee who would be adversely affected by the provisions of
this subsection may apply to the Ethics Commission for an
exemption from the prohibition against seeking employment with
a person who is or may be regulated, when the person's
education and experience is such that the prohibition would,
for all practical purposes, deprive the person of the ability
to earn a livelihood in this state outside of the governmental
agency. The Ethics Commission shall by legislative rule
establish general guidelines or standards for granting an
exemption, but shall decide upon each application on a case-by-
case basis. may seek employment with, or allow himself or
herself to be employed by any person who:
(A) Is subject, on a recurring basis, to his or her
personal regulatory action or the personal regulatory action of
a subordinate; or
(B) Had a matter on which he or she took regulatory action
within the preceding six months; or
(C) Has a matter before the agency on which he or she is
working or a subordinate is known by him or her to be working.
(2) Within the meaning of this section, the term
"employment" includes professional services and other services
rendered by the public official or public employee, whether rendered as an employee or as an independent contractor, as
well as the sale and lease of real and personal property;
"seek employment" includes responding to unsolicited offers of
employment as well as any direct or indirect contact with a
potential employer relating to the availability or conditions
of employment in furtherance of obtaining employment; and
"subordinate" includes only those agency personnel over whom
the public servant has supervisory responsibility.
(3) A full-time public official or full-time public
employee who would be adversely affected by the provisions of
this subsection may apply to the Ethics Commission for an
exemption from the prohibition contained in subsection (1).
The Ethics Commission shall by legislative rule establish
general guidelines or standards for granting an exemption, but
shall decide upon each application on a case-by-case basis.
(4) A full-time public official or full-time public
employee may not take personal regulatory action on a matter
affecting a person by whom he or she is employed or with whom
he or she is seeking employment or has an agreement concerning
future employment.
(5) A full-time public official or full-time public
employee may not receive private compensation for providing
information or services that he or she is required to provide in carrying out his or her public job responsibilities.
(i) Members of the Legislature required to vote. --
Members of the Legislature who have asked to be excused from
voting or who have made inquiry as to whether they should be
excused from voting on a particular matter and who are required
by the presiding officer of the House of Delegates or Senate of
West Virginia to vote under the rules of the particular house
shall not be guilty of any violation of ethics under the
provisions of this section for a vote so cast.
(j) Limitations on participation in licensing and rate-
making proceedings. -- No public official or employee may
participate within the scope of his or her duties as a public
official or employee, except through ministerial functions as
defined in section three, article one of this chapter, in any
license or rate-making proceeding that directly affects the
license or rates of any person, partnership, trust, business
trust, corporation, or association in which the public official
or employee or his or her immediate family owns or controls
more than ten percent. No public official or public employee
may participate within the scope of his or her duties as a
public official or public employee, except through ministerial
functions as defined in section three, article one of this
chapter, in any license or rate-making proceeding that directly affects the license or rates of any person to whom the
public official or public employee or his or her immediate
family, or a partnership, trust, business trust, corporation,
or association of which the public official or employee or his
or her immediate family owns or controls more than ten percent,
has sold goods or services totaling more that one thousand
dollars during the preceding year, unless the public official
or public employee has filed a written statement acknowledging
such sale with the public agency and the statement is entered
in any public record of the agency's proceedings. This
subsection shall not be construed to require the disclosure of
clients of attorneys or of patients or clients of persons
licensed pursuant to articles three, eight, fourteen, fourteen-
a, fifteen, sixteen, twenty, twenty-one or thirty-one, chapter
thirty of this code.
(k) Certain expenses prohibited. -- No public official or
public employee shall knowingly request or accept from any
governmental entity compensation or reimbursement for any
expenses actually paid by a lobbyist and required by the
provisions of this chapter to be reported, or actually paid by
any other person.
(l) Any person who is employed as a member of the faculty
or staff of a public institution of higher education and who is engaged in teaching, research, consulting or publication
activities in his or her field of expertise with public or
private entities and thereby derives private benefits from such
activities shall be exempt from the prohibitions contained in
subsections (b), (c) and (d) of this section when the activity
is approved as part of an employment contract with the
governing board of such institution or has been approved by the
employee's department supervisor or the president of the
institution by which the faculty or staff member is employed.
(m) Business solicitation of subordinates prohibited.
Public officials and public employees may not personally
solicit private business from a person they know to be
subordinate to them in the governmental agency in which they
serve. Prohibited personal solicitations include solicitations
made in person, by phone or personal letter. Prohibited
personal solicitations do not include mail solicitations
directed to the public at large or solicitations at a place of
business maintained by the public official or public employee
to which the subordinate has come on his or her own initiative.
This prohibition shall apply to members of the West Virginia
Legislature only in regard to subordinate legislative
employees.
(m) (n) The commission by legislative rule promulgated in accordance with chapter twenty-nine-a of this code may define
further exemptions from this section as necessary or
appropriate.
§6B-2-6. Financial disclosure statement; filing requirements.
(a) The requirements for filing a financial disclosure
statement shall become initially effective on the first day of
February, one thousand nine hundred ninety, for all persons
holding public office or employment on that date and who are
otherwise required to file such statement under the provisions
of this section. The initial financial disclosure statement
shall cover the period from the first day of July, one thousand
nine hundred eighty-nine, for the period ending the thirty-
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety.
Thereafter, the financial disclosure statement shall be filed
on the first day of February of each calendar year to cover the
period of the preceding calendar year, except insofar as may be
otherwise provided herein. The following persons must file the
financial disclosure statement required by this section with
the ethics commission:
(1) All elected officials in this state, including, but
not limited to, all persons elected state-wide, all county
elected officials, municipal elected officials in
municipalities which have, by ordinance, opted to be covered by
the disclosure provisions of this section, all members of the several county or district boards of education and all county
or district school board superintendents;
(2) All members of state boards, commissions and agencies
appointed by the governor; and
(3) Secretaries of departments, commissioners, deputy
commissioners, assistant commissioners, directors, deputy
directors, assistant directors, department heads, deputy
department heads and assistant department heads.
A person who is required to file a financial disclosure
statement under this section by virtue of becoming an elected
or appointed public official whose office is described in
subdivisions (1), (2) or (3) of this subsection, and who
assumes the office less than ten days before a filing date
established herein or who assumes the office after the filing
date, shall file a financial disclosure statement for the
previous twelve months no later than thirty days after the date
on which the person assumes the duties of the office, unless
the person has filed a financial disclosure statement with the
commission during the twelve month period before he or she
assumed office.
(b) A candidate for public office shall file a financial
disclosure statement for the previous twelve months calendar
year with the state ethics commission no later than ten days after he or she files a certificate of candidacy, but in all
circumstances, not later than ten days prior to the election,
unless he or she has filed a financial disclosure statement
with the state ethics commission during the previous twelve
months calendar year.
The ethics commission shall file a duplicate copy of the
financial disclosure statement required in this section in the
following offices within ten days of the receipt of the
candidate's statement of disclosure:
(1) Municipal candidates in municipalities which have
opted, by ordinance, to be covered by the disclosure provisions
of this section, in the office of the clerk of the municipality
in which the candidate is seeking office;
(2) Legislative candidates in single county districts and
candidates for a county office or county school board in the
office of the clerk of the county commission of the county in
which the candidate is seeking office;
(3) Legislative candidates from multicounty districts and
congressional candidates in the office of the clerk of the
county commission of the county of the candidate's residence.
After a ninety day period following any election, the clerks
who receive the financial disclosure statements of candidates,
may destroy or dispose of those statements filed by candidates who were unsuccessful in the election.
(c) No candidate for public office may maintain his or her
place on a ballot and no public official may take the oath of
office or enter or continue upon his or her duties or receive
compensation from public funds, unless he or she has filed a
financial disclosure statement with the state ethics commission
as required by the provisions of this section.
(d) The state ethics commission may, upon request of any
person required to file a financial disclosure statement, and
for good cause shown, extend the deadline for filing such
statement for a reasonable period of time: Provided, That no
extension of time shall be granted to a candidate who has not
filed a financial disclosure statement for the preceding filing
period.
(e) No person shall fail to file a statement required by
this section.
(f) No person shall knowingly file a materially false
statement that is required to be filed under this section.
§6B-2-10. Violations and penalties.
(a) If any person violates the provisions of subsections
(e), (f), or (g), (f),(g) or (h), section five of this article,
or violates the provisions of subdivision (1), subsection (f),
section four of this article, such person, upon conviction
thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by confinement in the county jail for a period not to exceed
six months or shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars, or both such confinement and fine. If any person
violating the provisions of subdivision (1), subsection (f),
section four of this article shall be a member of the
commission or an employee thereof, he or she shall, upon
conviction, be subject to immediate removal or discharge.
(b) If any person violates the provisions of subsection
(f), section six of this article by wilfully and knowingly
filing a false financial statement, such person shall, upon
conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of false swearing and
shall be punished as provided in section three, article five,
chapter sixty-one of this code.
(c) If any person knowingly fails or refuses to file a
financial statement required by section six of this article,
such person, upon conviction thereof, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.
(d) If any complainant violates the provisions of
subdivision (2), subsection (f), section four, article two of
this chapter by knowingly and willfully disclosing any
information made confidential by an order of the commission, he
or she shall be subject to administrative sanction by the commission as provided for in subsection (r), section four of
this article.
ARTICLE 3. LOBBYISTS.
§6B-3-1. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless the context in which used
clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Compensation" means money or any other thing of value
received or to be received by a lobbyist from an employer for
services rendered.
(2) "Employer" or "lobbyist's employer" means any person
who employs or retains a lobbyist.
(3) "Expenditure" means payment, distribution, loan,
advance deposit, reimbursement, or gift of money, real or
personal property or any other thing of value; or a contract,
promise, or agreement, whether or not legally enforceable.
(4) "Government officer or employee" means a member of the
legislature, a legislative employee, the governor and other
members of the board of public works, heads of executive
departments, and any other public officer or public employee
under the legislative or executive branch of state government
who is empowered or authorized to make policy and perform
nonministerial functions. In the case of elected offices
included herein, the term "government officer or employee"
shall include candidates who have been elected but who have not yet assumed office.
(5) "Legislation" means bills, resolutions, motions,
amendments, nominations, and other matters pending or proposed
in either house of the Legislature, and includes any other
matters that may be the subject of action by either house or
any committee of the Legislature and all bills or resolutions
that, having passed both houses, are pending approval or veto
by the governor.
(6) "Lobbying" or "lobbying activity" means the act of
communicating with a government officer or employee to promote,
advocate or oppose or otherwise attempt to influence:
(i) The passage or defeat or the executive approval or
veto of any legislation which may be considered by the
Legislature of this state; or
(ii) The adoption or rejection of any rule, regulation,
legislative rule, standard, rate, fee, or other delegated
legislative or quasi-legislative action to be taken or withheld
by any executive department.
(7)(A) "Lobbyist" means a person who, through
communication with a government officer or employee, promotes,
advocates or opposed or otherwise attempts to influence:
(i) The passage or defeat or the executive approval or
veto of any legislation which may be considered by the Legislature of this state; or
(ii) The adoption or rejection of any rule, regulation,
legislative rule, standard, rate, fee, or other delegated
legislative or quasi-legislative action to be taken or withheld
by any executive department.
(B) The term "lobbyist" shall not include the following
persons, who shall be exempt from the registration and
reporting requirements set forth in this article, unless such
persons engage in activities which would otherwise subject them
to the registration and reporting requirements:
(i) Persons who limit their lobbying activities to
appearing before public sessions of committees of the
Legislature, or public hearings of state agencies, are exempt.
(ii) Persons who limit their lobbying activities to
attending receptions, dinners, parties or other group functions
and make no expenditure for or on behalf of any governmental
official or employee in connection with such lobbying are
exempt.
(ii) (iii)Persons who engage in news or feature reporting
activities and editorial comment as working members of the
press, radio, or television, and persons who publish or
disseminate such news, features or editorial comment through a
newspaper, book, regularly published periodical, radio station, or television station, are exempt.
(iii) (iv) Persons who lobby without compensation or other
consideration for acting as lobbyists, when such persons make
no expenditure for or on behalf of any government officer or
employee in connection with such lobbying and whose total
expenditures for or on behalf of government officers and
employees in connection with such lobbying do not exceed
twenty-five dollars during any calendar year, are exempt. The
exemptions contained in this subparagraph (iii) (iv) is and
subparagraph (ii) are intended to permit and encourage citizens
of this state to exercise their constitutional rights to
assemble in a peaceable manner, consult for the common good,
instruct their representatives, and apply for a redress of
grievances. Accordingly, such persons may lobby without
incurring any registration or reporting obligation under this
article. Any person exempt under this subparagraph (iii) (iv)
or subparagraph (ii) may at his or her option register and
report under this article.
(iv) (v) Persons who lobby on behalf of a non-profit
organization with regard to legislation, without compensation,
and who restrict their lobbying activities to no more than
twenty days or parts thereof during any regular session of the
Legislature, are exempt. The commission may promulgate a legislative rule to require registration and reporting by
persons who would otherwise be exempt under this subparagraph,
if it determines that such rule is necessary to prevent
frustration of the purposes of this article. Any person exempt
under this subparagraph may at his or her option register and
report under this article.
(v) (vi) The governor, members of the governor's staff,
members of the board of public works, officers and employees of
the executive branch who communicate with a member of the
Legislature on the request of that member, or who communicate
with the Legislature, through the proper official channels,
requests for legislative action or appropriations which are
deemed necessary for the efficient conduct of the public
business or which are made in the proper performance of their
official duties, are exempt.
(vi) (vii) Members of the Legislature are exempt.
(vii) (viii) Persons employed by the Legislature for the
purpose of aiding in the preparation or enactment of
legislation or the performance of legislative duties are
exempt.
(viiiix) Persons rendering professional services in drafting
proposed legislation or in advising or rendering opinions to
clients as to the construction and effect of proposed or pending legislation, are exempt.
(8) "Person means any individual, partnership, trust,
estate, business trust, association, or corporation; any
department, commission, board, publicly supported college or
university, division, institution, bureau, or any other
instrumentality of the state; or any county, municipal
corporation, school district, or any other political
subdivision of the state.
§6B-3-2. Registration of lobbyists.
(a) Before engaging in any lobbying activity, or within
thirty days after being employed as a lobbyist, whichever
occurs first, a lobbyist shall register with the ethics
commission by filing a lobbyist registration statement, signed
under oath or affirmation. The registration statement shall
contain such information and be in such form as the ethics
commission may prescribe by legislative rule, including, but
not limited to, the following information:
(1) The registrant's name, business address, telephone
numbers and any temporary residential and business addresses
and telephone numbers used or to be used by the registrant
while lobbying during a legislative session;
(2) The name, address and occupation or business of the
registrant's employer;
(3) A statement as to whether the registrant is employed or retained by his or her employer solely as a lobbyist or is a
regular employee performing services for the employer which
include but are not limited to lobbying;
(4) A statement as to whether the registrant is employed
or retained by his or her employer under any agreement,
arrangement or understanding according to which the
registrant's compensation, or any portion thereof, is or will
be contingent upon the success of his or her lobbying activity;
(5) The general subject or subjects, if known, on which
the registrant will lobby or employ some other person to lobby
in a manner which requires registration under this article;
(6) An appended written authorization from each of the
lobbyist's employers confirming the lobbyist's employment and
the subjects on which the employer is to be represented.
(b) A registrant who lobbies with regard to matters before
the Legislature must file duplicate copies of the lobbyist's
registration statement required by subsections (a) or (d) of
this section with the Clerk of the Senate and the Clerk of the
House of Delegates contemporaneously with the filing with the
ethics commission before engaging in any lobbying activity.
(c) Any lobbyist who receives or is to receive
compensation from more than one person for services as a
lobbyist shall file a separate notice of representation with respect to each person compensating him or her for services
performed as a lobbyist. When a lobbyist whose fee for
lobbying with respect to the same subject is to be paid or
contributed by more than one person, then such lobbyist may
file a single statement, in which he shall detail the name,
business address and occupation of each person so paying or
contributing.
(d) Whenever a change, modification, or termination of the
lobbyist's employment occurs, the lobbyist shall, within one
week of such change, modification or termination, furnish full
information regarding the same by filing with the commission an
amended registration statement.
(e) Each lobbyist who has registered shall file a new
registration statement, revised as appropriate, on the second
Monday preceding the second Wednesday in January of each odd-
numbered year, and failure to do so shall terminate his
registration. Until such registration is renewed, the person
may not engage in lobbying activities unless he or she is
otherwise exempt under paragraph (B), subdivision (7), section
one of this article.
§6B-3-4. Reporting by lobbyists.
(a) A lobbyist shall file with the commission reports of
his lobbying activities, signed under oath or affirmation by
the lobbyist. Lobbyists who are required under this article to file copies of their registration statements with the clerks of
the respective houses of the Legislature shall also
contemporaneously file copies of all reports required under
this section with the clerks. Such reports shall be filed as
follows:
(1) On or before the second Monday preceding the second
Wednesday in January of each year, a lobbyist shall file an
annual report of all lobbying activities which he or she
engaged in during the preceding calendar year; and
(2) If a lobbyist engages in lobbying with respect to
legislation, then:
(A) Between the fortieth and forty-fifth days of any
regular session of the legislature in which any such lobbying
occurred, the lobbyist shall file a report describing all of
his or her lobbying activities which occurred since the
beginning of the calendar year; and
(B) Within twenty-one days after the adjournment sine die
of any regular or extraordinary session of the Legislature in
which any such lobbying occurred, the lobbyist shall file a
report describing all of his or her lobbying activities which
occurred since the beginning of the calendar year or since the
filing of the last report required by this section, whichever
is later.
(b)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, each
report filed by a lobbyist shall show the total amount of all
expenditures for lobbying made or incurred by such lobbyist, or
on behalf of such lobbyist by the lobbyist's employer, during
the period covered by the report. The report shall also show
subtotals segregated according to financial category, including
meals and beverages; living accommodations; advertising;
travel; contributions; gifts to public officials or employees
or to members of the immediate family of such persons; and
other expenses or services.
(2) Lobbyists are not required to report the following:
(A) Unreimbursed personal living and travel expenses not
incurred directly for lobbying;
(B) Any expenses incurred for his or her own living
accommodations;
(C) Any expenses incurred for his or her own travel to and
from public meetings or hearings of the legislative and
executive branches;
(D) Any expenses incurred for telephone, and any office
expenses, including rent and salaries and wages paid for staff
and secretarial assistance; and
(E) Separate expenditures to or on behalf of a public
official or employee in an amount of less than five dollars.
(c) If a lobbyist is employed by more than one employer,
the report shall show the proportionate amount of such
expenditures in each category incurred on behalf of each of his
employers.
(d) The report shall describe the subject matter of the
lobbying activities in which the lobbyist has been engaged
during the reporting period.
(e) If, during the period covered by the report, the
lobbyist made expenditures in the reporting categories of meals
and beverages, living accommodations, travel, gifts or other
expenditures, other than for those expenditures governed by
subsection (f) of this section, which expenditures in any such
reporting category total more than twenty-five dollars to or on
behalf of any particular public official or employee, the
lobbyist shall report the name of the public official or
employee to whom or on whose behalf the expenditures were made,
the total amount of the expenditures, and the subject matter of
the lobbying activity, if any. Under this subsection (e), no
portion of the amount of an expenditure for a dinner, party, or
other function sponsored by a lobbyist or a lobbyist's employer
need be attributed to or counted toward the reporting amount of
twenty five dollars for a particular public official or
employee who attends such function if the sponsor has invited to the function all the members of (1) the Legislature, (2)
either house of the Legislature, (3) a standing or select
committee of either house, or (4) a joint committee of the two
houses of the Legislature. However, the amount spent for such
function shall be added to other expenditures for the purpose
of determining the total amount of expenditures reported under
subsection (b) of this section.
(f) If, during the period covered by the report, the
lobbyist made expenditures in the reporting categories of meals
and beverages, lodging, travel, gifts, and scheduled
entertainment, which reporting expenditures in any such
reporting category total more than twenty-five dollars for or
on behalf of a particular public official or public employee in
return for the participation of the public official or employee
in a panel or speaking engagement at the meeting, the lobbyist
shall report the name of the public official or employee to
whom or on whose behalf the expenditures were made and the
total amount of the expenditures.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to amend the ban on
receiving honorariums so that elected officials may receive
honorariums if they are not related to their public office. It
also amends the prohibition on full-time public servants
seeking employment with regulated persons by limiting the ban
to those persons subject to personal regulatory action on a
recurring basis or within the preceding six months and those
persons who have a matter before the agency the public servant
or a subordinate is working on.
The bill adds a prohibition against public servants
soliciting private business from subordinates unless the
subordinate initiates the communication or the solicitation is
part of an offer of services aimed to the public at large.
The bill provides for minor adjustment in the period
covered by the financial disclosure statements so that all
statements cover the same time period.
The bill creates two new categories for exemption from the
lobbyist registration and reporting requirements: (1) those who
limit their lobbying activities to attending dinners and other
group functions and make no lobbying expenditures and (2) those
who spend no more than twenty-five dollars on lobbying
activities in a calendar year. The bill also adjusts the dates
for lobbyist registration and annual reporting to ensure that
such information is available prior to the start of the regular
session.