Political Reform Act of 1974: lobbying: procurement contracts.

Existing provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 regulate the activities of lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers in connection with attempts to influence legislative and administrative action by legislative and other state officials, including requirements that lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers register and file periodic reports with the Secretary of State. For purposes of these provisions, "lobbyist" is defined, in part, as an individual who receives $2,000 or more in economic consideration in a calendar month, or whose principal duties as an employee are, to communicate with specified officials for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action. This bill would revise the definition of "lobbyist" to include specified conduct by an individual acting on behalf of any person other than his or her employer for the purpose of influencing administrative action that is governmental procurement, which is further defined to include various actions regarding a state procurement contract for which the total estimated cost exceeds $250,000, thereby making the above-described lobbying requirements applicable to the specified attempts to influence governmental procurement. This bill would provide that the act's penalty provisions are the exclusive remedy for a violation of the act's requirements concerning governmental procurement lobbying. The bill would makes these provisions operative on January 1, 2017. Because a willful violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.