Press Release – March 10, 2009 – SUMMARY OF ACTIONS TAKEN AT MARCH 9, 2009 MEETING

March 10, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: For release:

John St. Croix March 10, 2009

(415) 252-3100

SUMMARY OF ACTIONS TAKEN AT MARCH 9, 2009 MEETING

At its meeting on March 9, 2009, the San Francisco Ethics Commission took the following actions:

Received public comment on and approved, by separate votes, the following staff proposals to amend the Lobbyist Ordinance, San Francisco Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code section 2.100 et seq.:

To amend the Ordinance so that a communication by a professional engineer licensed to practice in the State of California is not a contact under the Ordinance;
To amend the Ordinance so that providing oral or written information to a City officer in response to a request from that City officer is not contact for the purposes of qualifying as a lobbyist, but is a contact for an individual who already qualifies as a lobbyist;
To amend the Ordinance to provide that making a request for the status of an action is not contact for the purposes of qualifying as a lobbyist, but may be a contact for an individual who already qualifies as a lobbyist;
To amend the Ordinance so that a person providing purely technical data, analysis or expertise in the presence of a registered lobbyist is not making a “contact” under the Ordinance;
To amend the Ordinance so that a person negotiating the terms of a contract after being selected to enter into a contract with the City is not making a “contact” under the Ordinance;
To amend the Ordinance so that a person appearing as a party or a representative of a party in an administrative adjudicatory proceeding before a City agency or department is not making a “contact” under the Ordinance;
To amend the Ordinance to state expressly that a person communicating on behalf of a labor union representing City employees regarding the establishment, amendment, or interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City, or communicating about a management decision regarding the working conditions of employees represented by a CBA or MOU is not making a “contact” under the Ordinance;
To amend the Ordinance to provide that, unless representing a client, a person participating in a public interested persons meeting, workshop or other forum convened by a City department for the purpose of soliciting public input is not making a “contact” under the Ordinance;
To amend the Ordinance so that the term “economic consideration” does not include salary, wages or benefits from a federal, state or local agency;
To amend the Ordinance so that there is a single category of lobbyist such that a lobbyist is defined as any individual who receives or is promised $3,000 or more in economic consideration within three consecutive months for lobbyist services and makes at least one contact with a City officer;
To amend the Ordinance to require any individual who qualifies as a lobbyist to register with the Ethics Commission no later than five (5) business days after qualifying as a lobbyist and, in any event, prior to making any additional contacts with any City officer; and
To amend the Ordinance to dispense with reregistration reports.

Note: The above changes will not go into effect until the Commission completes its discussion of all the proposed changes and the Board of Supervisors has considered and approved them. The Commission will continue its consideration of the remaining staff amendments at its April 13, 2009 meeting.

The Commission’s next meeting will be held on Monday, April 13, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 408 City Hall.

The Ethics Commission, established in November 1993, serves the public, City employees and officials and candidates for public office through education and enforcement of ethics laws. Its duties include: filing and auditing of campaign finance disclosure statements, lobbyist and campaign consultant registration and regulation, administration of the public financing program, whistleblower program, conflict of interest reporting, investigations and enforcement, education and training, advice giving and statistical reporting.