Navigating State and City Lobbying Laws: Why Ensuring Compliance With the Federal Regime Is Not Enough

While federal ethics reforms contained in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 have received prominent billing and have been heavily publicized, companies with a nationwide reach must also be aware of how business activities can trigger registration and reporting requirements under state and city lobbying laws and regulations.

All states, and many municipalities, including New York City, have lobbying laws and requirements that differ not only from the federal regime, but from each other.

“Lobbying” is generally thought of as including communications with state level legislators and staff regarding bills and other legislative activity. A significant majority of states include a wide range of executive branch contacts within the ambit of lobbying.

In addition, an increasing number of states include certain, if not all, procurement activities under these laws and regulations. Certain other states regulate political giving in connection with procurement and other lobbying activities, via what are known as ​“pay-to-play” statutes. A mis-step, even an inadvertent one, can put a contract at risk in a state, such as New Jersey or Connecticut, with those types of laws.

Join attorney David Frulla from Kelley Drye’s Campaign Finance and Political Law Practice Group as he discusses these rules and explains how companies can develop strategies for synthesizing conduct and disclosure requirements into a coherent compliance program. Additionally, professionals from MultiState Associates, a full service state and local government relations consulting firm that offers lobbying registration and reporting services in all fifty states, will be on hand to discuss practical elements of multi-jurisdictional lobbying registration and reporting.

In accordance with the requirements of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board, this non-transitional continuing legal education program is not approved for the newly admitted attorney within the first two years of admission to the Bar.