City and County of San Francisco
Ethics Commission

A contact lobbyist is considered registered after they have filed a registration report and paid the registration fee. Lobbyists must register within five business days of qualification. Lobbyists may also register before they qualify. In those circumstances, the start date of representation is the date both the registration report is filed and fee is paid.

Once registered, lobbyists must file monthly reports. Monthly reports must be filed even if the lobbyist has no disclosable activity for that month. Lobbyists remain registered through the calendar year, unless they terminate. If a lobbyist terminates and re-qualifies or re-registers in the same calendar year, a new registration report must be filed and another registration fee must be paid. The Ethics Commission will automatically terminate the registration of a lobbyist who fails to pay the annual registration fee by February 1.  

Steps to Complete

1. File registration report
2. Pay registration fees

Step 1: File a Registration Report

Contact lobbyists must register online with the Ethics Commission through its electronic filing system no later than five business days of qualifying as a contact lobbyist and prior to making any additional contacts with an officer of the City and County of San Francisco. A lobbyist may opt to have a representative or firm register and file the reports on his or her behalf.

To register, lobbyists must file Registration Reports that disclose information about their employers, clients, City agencies that they have lobbied or may lobby, and the lobbying period (date ranges) for each client and City agency. Lobbyists must also provide professional quality digital color photographs to be included in the Ethics Commission’s Lobbyist directory. The photographs must include the full face and shoulders of each lobbyist, squarely facing the camera.

Current and Returning lobbyists must file their Registration Reports from their existing account within five business days of qualifying activity, to remain active in the upcoming year. The registration process will require current lobbyists to provide lobbying period (date ranges) for their active clients as well as the names of City agencies they have lobbied or may lobby. A lobbyist who does not terminate their status by the end of the year and does not pay the Registration Fee by February 1 will be automatically terminated until a new Registration Report is filed and the Registration Fee is paid.

New lobbyists can initiate the registration process through the following link to create a new e-filing account and file a Registration Report.

Step 2: Pay Registration Fees

A lobbyist must pay a $500 fee at the time of initial registration. After initial registration, lobbyists must pay $500 re-registration fee annually by February 1 to remain active. Failure to pay the annual fee by February 1 will automatically terminate a lobbyist’s registration with the Ethics Commission.

Late Fees

Registration reports filed late are subject to a late fee of $50 per day.

Registration Amendments

Any changes to a lobbyist’s registration information including contact information, information about a lobbyist’s employer, the lobbyist’s clients, the agencies lobbied or lobbying date ranges must be reported within five calendar days of any changed circumstances, by filing an amended Registration Report. Lobbyists should not wait until their next monthly disclosure report to submit any changes.

Failure to timely amend a Registration Report may result in late fees of $50 per day.

Re-Registration

If a Contact Lobbyist wants to continue providing lobbyist services in the next calendar year, they must pay an annual re-registration fee of $500 on or before February 1.

Termination

A lobbyist who has ceased all activity requiring registration and reporting may terminate their status as a lobbyist by filing a final monthly disclosure report and indicating on the report that it constitutes the lobbyist’s termination statement. 

The final report should cover all activity through the date of termination. 

Permit Consultants

If an individual qualifies as both a lobbyist and a permit consultant, they must register as a lobbyist and as a permit consultant.

To provide these disclosures:

• File separate disclosure reports as a lobbyist (monthly) and as a permit consultant (quarterly), or
• File only monthly lobbyist disclosure reports so long as the individual discloses all information required with respect to all permit consulting services.

Any individual qualifying as both a lobbyist and a permit consultant who files their disclosure reports exclusively as a lobbyist must file in that manner through the end of the calendar year, or until he or she terminates as both a lobbyist and a permit consultant, whichever is earlier.