If you are a registered Lobbyist in New York State, you must file an activity report with the Commission twice a year. You can use JCOPE's Online Lobbying Filing System to complete this process. Every Lobbyist that reasonably anticipates incurring, expending or receiving more than $5,000 in combined reportable Compensation and Expenditures for Lobbying Activity on a State and/or local level in any calendar year during the biennial period is required to register and file.
The Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) requires the registration of any individual who makes or is employed or retained to make lobbying contacts. The Act applies even if the individual's title or job description does not contain the words "lobbyist," "government affairs," or "advocacy."
To register, a registrant must indicate on their registration (LD-1) that the person is a lobbyist. The Lobbyist must also report on its quarterly activity report (LD-2) any lobbying contacts made by the individual during the reporting period.
Likewise, the registrant must disclose on its next quarterly activity report (LD-2) any changes in the Lobbyist's registration information. A registrant must also disclose on its next quarterly activity report (LD-2) the Lobbyist's previous service as a covered executive branch official or a covered legislative branch official within twenty (20) years of first acting as a lobbyist for the new client.
A trade association, which is a Client of a registered Lobbyist, must disclose on its Registration (LD-1) that it has a business relationship with the President of that trade association, who is appointed to an uncompensated position on a State commission.
Expenses are payments, such as employee compensation, office overhead, and vendor payments (including lobbying firms) that an organization incurs in connection with lobbying activities. If the amount of such expenses is $5,000 or more, the registrant must report them in good faith.
A registrant must include on the quarterly activity report (LD-2) any contacts made with the Houses of Congress and Federal agencies during the reporting period, selecting the most specific government entity from the list provided in the online filing system. If no contacts were made, the registrant must mark the "No Agencies Lobbied" box on the report.
A registrant must also register any foreign entities that hold at least 20 percent equity in the client required to be reported or that directly or indirectly, in whole or in major part, plans, supervises, controls, directs, finances, or subsidizes the client's lobbying activities. The registration must also indicate the approximate percentage of ownership in the client held by such foreign entities and the name of the foreign entity.
The Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) requires registrants to report all contributions made by a lobbyist to any client of the registrant or the registrant's employees, agents or representatives that exceed $5,000. This contribution must be listed on the registrant's registration (LD-1) and quarterly activity reports (LD-2).
Under 2 U.S.C. SS 1604(b)(2), a registrant must disclose specific issues upon which a lobbyist employed by the registrant engaged in lobbying activities, including bill numbers. However, some registrants have not included information adequate to inform the public of their client's specific lobbying issues.
Moreover, some registrants have included House and Senate bill numbers on their client's issues page without further indication of the clients' specific lobbying issues. In such cases, the bill number may provide sufficient disclosure of a client's interest in specific subject matters within larger bills but does not indicate a registrant's specific lobbying issues on which the registrant employed a lobbyist.
The Secretary and Clerk require registrants to use due diligence when filling out and submitting registrations (LD-1), quarterly activity reports (LD-2), and semiannual contribution reports (LD-203). Registrants must also ensure that every Lobbyist listed on the registrant's registrations and quarterly activity reports it obtains an individual user identification number and password in order to file the semiannual lobbyist contribution reports electronically with the Secretary and Clerk.
Travel is defined as the Act of moving from one place to another, usually with the aid of a motor vehicle or other means. It may be by foot, bicycle, car, bus, train or aircraft and can be one-way or round trip.
It is not uncommon to see employees and students commuting or on the road for work purposes on a daily basis. It is also common for faculty and staff to spend time visiting colleagues in other parts of the country on a regular basis or for business and academic meetings and conferences to be held out of town. Regardless of the reason, employees should take the opportunity to learn about the laws of the road. In particular, they should know the intricacies of the Lobbying Disclosure Act and what constitutes a reportable business relationship. The LDA is a complex federal regulatory scheme with many facets that must be mastered to the letter of the law. The most important thing to remember is that there are no grey areas in this maze of rules.
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