AB 976

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

must register and file semiannual itemized expense statements with the ethics

commission. 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. The bill also requires registration and the

filing of expense statements by a principal who disseminates uniform, model,

suggested, or recommended legislation to any elected state official or to any state

agency or legislative employee. 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 the ethics commission 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. In addition, a state

public official must include in his or her statement of economic interests the amount

of any reimbursement from a campaign account that the official received for any fees,

lodging, transportation, food, or beverages in connection with attendance at a

meeting or conference.

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 the ethics commission,

in the manner and form specified by the commission, 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,