AB 621

Currently, with certain exceptions, a principal (person who employs a lobbyist)

must register and file semiannual itemized expense statements with the

Government Accountability Board (GAB). A lobbyist is a person who is retained by

a principal and whose duties include attempting to influence state legislative action

or rule making by oral or written communication, on behalf of the principal, with an

elective state official, agency official, or legislative employee in this state.

Subject to the current exceptions, this bill requires registration and the filing

of expense statements, in addition, by a principal who attempts to influence the

development, drafting, consideration, modification, adoption, rejection, or defeat of

uniform, model, suggested, or recommended legislation for consideration by the

legislatures of this state and other states by oral or written communication with any

person who is a member, employee, or agent of a body that proposes uniform, model,

suggested, or recommended legislation for consideration by the legislatures of this

state and other states. Violators are subject to a forfeiture (civil penalty) of not more

than $5,000 for each violation. A principal filing a statement that the principal does

not believe is true is guilty of a felony and may be fined not more than $10,000 or

imprisoned for not more than six years, or both.

Currently, with certain exceptions, each state public official who is required to

file an annual statement of economic interests with GAB and who receives for a

published work or for the presentation of a talk or participation in a meeting, any

thing of pecuniary value exceeding a total of $50, excluding the value of food or

beverages offered coincidentally with a talk or meeting, must report, on his or her

statement, the identity of every person from whom the official receives the thing of

value, the circumstances under which it is received, and the approximate value

thereof.

The bill specifically extends this reporting requirement to each state public

official who is required to file statements of economic interests and who receives for

attendance at a meeting or conference any thing of pecuniary value for scholarship

purposes and requires statements concerning things of value received to indicate

whether a thing of value was received for scholarship purposes.

The bill also requires each person who provides any thing of value to a member

of the legislature for scholarship purposes to file a report with GAB, in the manner

and form specified by GAB, within 90 days after the thing of value is provided,

disclosing the name of each member who received the thing of value together with

the name of any legislative employee or state agency official who received any thing

of value in connection with the same transaction or occurrence, the date that the

thing of value was provided, and the names of any persons who contributed money

to the person for the purpose of providing the thing of value within the 12-month

period preceding the date on which the thing of value is provided. Currently, there

is no similar requirement.