Lobbying: Registering & Reporting

Organizations that conduct lobbying activities — attempts to influence certain decisions of government agencies and officials, including those regarding legislation, procurement and regulations — should be aware of some changes in the New York City Lobbying Act that became effective in December 2006, and should make sure they are registered with and file required reports with both the City and the State (which also amended its laws in 2006).

First, you need to determine whether or not your organization’s efforts in fact constitute “lobbying.” This is not always a clear-cut matter. For guidance, check out Worry-Free Lobbying for Nonprofits and other free publications from Alliance for Justice at www.afj.org/research_publications/publications/index.html. An organization may need to consult with counsel versed in lobbying to determine whether its activities qualify as lobbying. Also, the definitions of lobbying vary for federal, state and New York City reporting purposes.

If you determine your organization is involved with lobbying, there are four areas of law that affect your registration and reporting requirements:

1. Internal Revenue Code. (This is the only place where you will find a dollar limit imposed on the amount you can spend on lobbying.) The federal laws don’t require registration or reporting, other than on IRS Form 990. Organizations that engage in lobbying should file the 501(h) election. To read more about that, go to www.npccny.org/info/adv1.htm.

2. Federal Lobbying Disclosure Act. To read about this, go to www.npaction.org/article/articleview/620/1/248.

3. New York State Lobbying Act. If you spend more than $5,000 on state and/or local lobbying or procurement lobbying, you are required to register and file bi-monthly reports on your activities. If your lobbying is done by your employees, you should register as a “lobbyist” in addition to registering as a “client.” Lawyers Alliance for New York has a memo explaining the changes at www.lawyersalliance.org/pdfs/news_legal/ClientMemoLobbyingActAmends.pdf. The compensation of employees, determined on a per hour basis, counts towards the $5,000 threshold (as it does for City and federal reporting purposes).

4. New York City Lobbying Act. Organizations that anticipate spending more than $2,000 on city-related lobbying or procurement activities must register as a “client” and as a “lobbyist” if the lobbying is done by their employees, and file periodic reports on lobbying activities.

In 2006, New York City amended its lobbying act. Although the definitions and reporting thresholds have not changed, the amendments include stepped-up enforcement, increased penalties, and electronic filing requirements.

Lawyers Alliance for New York has a memo outlining the changes in New York City’s lobbying law at www.lawyersalliance.org/pdfs/news_legal/Updated_Memo_Lobbying_Act_Requirements.pdf.

Lawyers Alliance also has a memo describing the enrollment steps for registering with the City at www.lawyersalliance.org/pdfs/news_legal/NYCRegistrationMemo2007.pdf.

The City Clerk’s site has a 36-page user guide at www.nyc.gov/elobbyist (or go directly to www.nyc.gov/html/misc/pdf/elobbyist_user_guide.pdf) explaining the enrollment and registration process.

At a training session for nonprofits sponsored by Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, Lawyers Alliance for New York and Human Services Council, counsel representing the City, Noran Camp and Patrick Synmoie, discussed some of the changes being proposed to the City law. (The changes are in the City Council’s Proposed Int. No. 502-B.) First, a provision included in the original amendment requiring a lobbyist to register the names of any unemancipated children has been proposed for removal from the law. Another proposed change is that the home address of the lobbyist would not be made public, but the requirement of registering the name of spouses or domestic partners would remain. Camp and Synmoie assured the group that this information will not be accessible to the public. (The logic for these disclosures is to ensure that lobbyists do not side-step campaign finance rules and make contributions to elected officials in the names of their children or spouse.)

Noran Camp explained that the reason the laws were changed was to protect against having an Abramoff-type scandal at the city level. However, he noted that he did not perceive the nonprofit community to be a focus of the City Council’s concerns, compared with the for-profit sector. Patrick Synmoie noted that 2007 is a transitional year for the City to get systems in place and to get those who should be registering and filing reports into compliance. It was noted that the cost of the required filings was not great but that the fines for noncompliance are significant — and could be as high as $30,000.

Sunita Subramanian of Lawyers Alliance for New York said, of those nonprofits that are registered and reporting, “There’s no harm in over-reporting; there is risk in underreporting.” Allison Sesso of the Human Services Council noted, “The laws aren’t meant to inhibit communication between agencies and elected officials, as regular discussions between nonprofits and policy-makers are necessary.”

NPCC members who need guidance should consult with Lawyers Alliance for New York at 212-219-1800. Lawyers Alliance alerts can be found at www.lawyersalliance.org/news_legal_alerts.php.

This article originally appeared in the April 2007 issue of New York Nonprofits, the monthly newsletter of The Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, Inc. www.npccny.org