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For Immediate
Release: Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
Contact: Jordan
Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State
Senator Liz Krueger Praises Passage of Comprehensive
Lobbying Reform The Lobbying Reform Act of 2005
(S. 5873/A. 9864) includes provisions to expand the definition of lobbying;
to regulate procurement lobbying; to establish an 11-member Advisory Council
on Procurement Lobbying; to protect not-for-profit organizations who have
lobbying operations; and to enact tougher penalties for lobbyists who attempt
to circumvent the process. Lobbyists will now have to publicly report their
attempts to influence state officials on public contracts or Indian gaming
compacts, as well as to secure or block executive orders that would affect
their clients. Currently, only lobbying
intended to influence legislation must be reported to the state Lobbying Commission. Under the legislation, lobbyists
seeking state contracts would be barred from plying their trade once the
contract-letting process officially begins. State officials can still inform
a contractor that the state will soon advertise for bids, and lawmakers will
be able to lobby commissioners and other top administration officials on
behalf of lobbyists and their clients. Initial violations call for fines up
to $10,000, and a second violation within four years would result in a ban
from procurement lobbying for
four years. Any violation of the ban on lobbying during the final contract process could lead to a fine
of up to $50,000, plus the amount of any compensation received by the
lobbyist. More than 20 states already require disclosure of money spent on
contract lobbying. Upon explaining her vote, Senator Krueger praised the bill on
its merits, but called attention to the fact that because of Senate rules,
she was unable to be a co-sponsor.
Furthermore, Senator Krueger suggested that multiple amendments should
be made to the lobbying law in the future, including the banning of gifts,
the regulation of political contributions by companies seeking state business
and the establishment of a one year “cooling-off” period before former
elected officials can lobby. “This
legislation is like many other bills that we deal with in Lobbying reform is an issue that
has been on the agenda for years, but every attempt has resulted in
failure. Senator Krueger recalled when lobbying reform came to the Senate
floor in June of 2003. At the time,
both houses and the Governor had supposedly come to an agreement on a bill
just that day. After the Assembly
passed the bill, the Governor and Senate successfully avoided passage of the
reform legislation by instead passing what the New York Times called a “sham
substitute”, watered down piece of legislation. “It was about 4 AM in the
morning and Senator Bruno was attempting to sneak pretend lobbying ‘reform’
legislation through without anybody noticing.
As soon as I saw this new version of the bill, which would not have
applied to lobbying the Governor and would have superceded stronger local
laws, I stood up to be recognized and asked if there was a sponsor’s memo,
which is a requirement for every piece of legislation. There was no memo and the Republicans
scrambled to put one together - eventually handwriting one. After I debated this bill and urged my
colleagues to vote no on this wee hours ‘bait and switch’ reform legislation,
the Republicans chose to punish me by withdrawing their yes votes one-by-one
from a local bill I sponsored that had passed earlier in the day,” said Senator Krueger. Despite being pleased at the
passage of this legislation, Senator
Krueger expressed that there is much work left to be done. “The fact of the matter is that this
legislation is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg,” said Krueger. “Public authorities are the next
battleground due to the huge amount of debt incurred by their very existence
and the lobbying that takes place on their behalf. In order to truly reform these ill-managed
arms of state government there must be regular and detailed oversight of
items that are ‘on and off’ budget by the State Comptroller, as well as
lobbying limits and controls. Public authorities
have essentially been used for years as a way to spend billions in public
funds without any public scrutiny.” -30- |
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