PAAT Members
You should have received, or will be receiving, a card from the Ethics Commission that talks about the new entity rules that have recently been adopted and went into effect on September 8, 2008. These rules impact reporting on behalf of entities and the splitting of expenditures with entities and nonregistrants.
As we pointed out in our earlier notification, the new rules are focused on entity registration and reporting issues, and do not change life much for individual lobbyists.
When reporting on behalf of an entity, however, there are several changes in the adopted rules that impact individual lobbyists. For example, you now have to report the exact amount of the expenditure made by the entity in the same place as the rest of the information; you cannot report for an entity that you are not registered to represent; and you have to report the expenditure by the deadline that the entity would have had to report it if it were a registrant, even if you are an annual filer.
The entity rules also clarified several important points, such as the application of the penal code exception to the bribery statutes for entities that have a registrant report an expenditure on its behalf. However, the exception doesn’t apply if the expenditure is a joint (split) expenditure.
We recommend that you consider the following guidelines when dealing with splitting expenditures and reporting on behalf of an entity:
- Do not split expenditures with a non-registrant.
- Entities should not split an expenditure period.
- Entities must satisfy the presence requirement.
Note: When the person who makes a lobby expenditure is an entity other than an individual, the presence requirement is satisfied if an individual registrant who represents the entity is present, or if an individual who has management or supervisory authority for the event is present. 1 T.A.C. § 34.17.
- Entities should only have one person report an expenditure on their behalf.
- Pay careful attention to the maximum limits for the entity as well as for the individual. Remember the cap for entertainment is $500 per year. The cap for gifts is $500 per year. The cap for awards and mementos is $500 per award or memento. See § 305.024.
- An entity must use their own registrant to report any expenditures made on its behalf.
Let us know if you have any questions or need further clarification on any of these issues.
Click here to read this e-mail online. |
