PAAT Members:
Three major items of interest from today's Ethics Commission meeting:
- The Commission unanimously adopted an Advisory Opinion (click here to download a copy) clarifying that expenditures which are fully prepaid for transportation or lodging are not subject to the ban on transportation or lodging for lobbyists. This opinion further stated that any reasonable method of calculating the “fair market value” of comparable lodging would be satisfactory for setting the basis of the prepayment. While this is the presumption under which most of us have been operating for some time, based on patching together prior opinions and informal advice from the Commission staff, that procedure is now in an advisory opinion on which we may rely as a defense to prosecution or complaint. We will be sending out a more thorough discussion of this opinion, but I wanted you to have the basics of the adoption.
- The Commission put out its latest draft of legislative recommendations that it is considering adopting at the December 15-16th meeting and submitting to the next Legislature (click here to download a copy). There are several recommendations (see #1 on local government lobby reporting, for example) that may be of interest to you. We will have a full discussion of these recommendations in an upcoming legislative session issue brief.
- The Commission has recommended that the legislative per diem be increased to $168 for next year. Based on the statutory formula, this change if adopted early next year, would move the detailed reporting threshold to $100.80. We will keep you informed as to whether this change occurs and when it would then become effective.
Additional information will be forthcoming. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks again for your interest in doing things right.
Jack Gullahorn
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