City and County of San Francisco
Ethics Commission

English

Table of Contents

• Registration
• Quarterly Disclosure
• Termination
• Permit Consultant and Contact Lobbyist Overlap
• Disclosure for Permit Consultants who are also Contact Lobbyists who DO NOT opt in Form 3410A disclose only as a lobbyist
• Disclosure for Permit Consultants who DO opt in Form Form 3410A to disclose only as a lobbyist

Registration

1. Is there a fee associated with qualifying/registering as a Permit Consultant?

No, but Permit Consultants that qualify as Contact Lobbyists will need to pay the lobbyist registration fee of $500.

2. After filing my registration statement 3410A, I have begun providing Permit Consulting Services for additional Major and/or Minor Projects, do I need to file an amendment to 3410A?

No, additional clients with qualifying projects should be disclosed on the quarterly statement 3410B.

3. At the time I registered as a Permit Consultant I did not qualify as a Contact Lobbyists. I have subsequently qualified as a Contact Lobbyist. Do I need to file an amendment to my 3410A?

Yes

Quarterly Disclosure

1. If a registered Permit Consultant did not provide Permit Consulting Services during the period covered in the reportable quarter does the consultant still need to file a 3410B?

Yes, all registered Permit Consultants must file the quarterly report 3410B until they terminate their status as a Permit Consultant with a 3410B filed at any point during the quarter.

2. If a Permit Consultant, Contacts officers and/or employees of DBI, PC or DPW for a client with project(s) estimated to cost $1,000,000 or more (a Major Project), and project(s) for the same client that costs less than $1,000,000. Do they need to disclose contacts made for all projects?

No, Permit Consultants only need to disclose information connected to projects that meet the definition as a Major Project or a Minor Project.

3. Does a Permit Consultant need to disclose contacts with officers and employees who do not work in the DBI, PC, DPW or EC?

No, but Permit Consultants who also qualify as a Contact Lobbyist must disclose Contacts with any Officer of the City and County in their monthly lobbyist report.

4. If a Permit Consultant contacted the same officer or employee multiple times in a quarter regarding the same Major or Minor Projects do they need to disclose each contact?

No, a single disclosure of the contact with an officer or employee is sufficient on a quarterly report as long as the contacts share the same permit and client.

5. If a Permit Consultant is also a Contact Lobbyist, is a single disclosure permissible?

Contact Lobbyists must report every contact with Officers of the City and County in their monthly lobbyist report, but in a quarterly report 3410B A single disclosure of that officer’s or employee’s name, along with the permit at issue and the client, is sufficient.

Termination

1. I am no longer providing Permit Consulting Services. Do I need to terminate my status?

Yes, registered Permit Consultants must terminate their status by filing a final 3410B termination statement.

2. I am registered as both a Permit Consultant and a Contact Lobbyist, and no longer providing either services. Are there any additional steps I must take to terminate my registrations?

Yes, in addition the final 3410B you must file a final Contact Lobbyist monthly statement as a termination report.

Permit Consultant and Contact Lobbyist Overlap

1. What is the difference between permit consultants and lobbyists?

Permit Consultants are any individual who Contact officer(s) or employee(s) of the Department of Building Inspection, the Planning Department, the Department of Public Works, and/or the Entertainment Commission to help a permit applicant obtain a permit; For either

1. A Major Project – located in the city and county with an actual or estimated construction cost exceeding $1,000,000 which requires a permit issued by the Department of Building Inspection or the Planning Department; or
2. A Minor Project – which is any project located in the city and county which requires a permit issued by the Entertainment Commission.

Contact Lobbyists are individuals who do either of the following:

1. Makes one or more Contacts in a calendar month with an officer of the City on behalf of any person who pays or who becomes obligated to pay the individual or the individual’s employer for lobbyist services (i.e., a client),

OR

1. Makes five or more Contact in a calendar month with any officer(s) of the City on behalf of the individual’s employer for lobbyist services (unless the individual owns 20 percent or more of the employing entity).

(For more information visit the Lobbyist page)

2. Who are the City officers at DBI, PC, DPW, and EC?

Department of Building Inspection (DBI):

1. Any member of the Building Inspection Commission
2. Director of DBI

Planning Department (PC):

1. Any member of the Planning Commission
2. Any member of the Historic Preservation Commission
3. The Planning Director
4. The Zoning Administrator

Department of Public Works (DPW):

1. Director of Public Works
2. City Engineer
3. Chief Surveyor
4. Bureau Chief of the DPW Bureau of Street Use and Mapping

Entertainment Commission (EC):

1. Any member of the Entertainment Commission
2. Director of Entertainment Commission.

3. Are there any circumstances where a Permit Consultant could contact an officer of DBI, PC, DPW, or the EC and not qualify as a Contact Lobbyist ?

If there are fewer than five contacts in a month with an officer or officers regarding a permit on behalf of the Permit Consultant’s employer they would not qualify as a Contact Lobbyist. If the permit is on behalf of a client, one contact qualifies the Permit Consultant as a Contact Lobbyist.

4. Are there any circumstances where if a Permit Consultant meets with an employee of DBI, PC, DPW, or the EC that would qualify them as a Contact Lobbyist?

When it is understood or reasonably expected that a staff member will transmit the terms of the communication to an officer of the City and County, that counts as a contact with that officer.

Example from Regulation 2.106-1: Paid representatives of a real estate developer meet with staff at the Planning Department to discuss possible modifications to the draft Environmental Impact Report for the developer’s project. The staff members do not state or otherwise indicate, and the representatives have no reason to believe that they will have the substance of their conversation conveyed to a Commissioner, the Planning Director or the Zoning Administrator. The representatives have not made a lobbying Contact.

Disclosure for Permit Consultants who are also Contact Lobbyists who DO NOT opt in Form 3410A disclose only as a lobbyist

1. What am I required to file?

Form 3410B – A single disclosure of a contact with an officer/employee, their department, the permit number, the client associated with the permit number, made in the three month period covered by the report. Contacts with the same officer(s)/employee(s) regarding a different permit require a separate disclosure.

Monthly Contact Lobbyist Reports – Each individual contact made in the reportable month, with Officers of the City and County.

2. Does that mean the disclosure of contacts with officers will be duplicated?

Yes.

Disclosure for Permit Consultants who DO opt in Form Form 3410A to disclose only as a lobbyist

1. What am I required to file?

Monthly Contact Lobbyist Reports – disclosing all contacts with officers, and a single disclosure of any contacts with an employee even if you contacted the employee multiple times with respect to the same permit and on behalf of the same client.