Whether communications to county officials are governed by chapter 305 of the Government Code. The lobby statute, chapter 305 of the Government Code, governs lobby expenditures made to communicate with members of the executive branch of government and members of the legislative branch.
Counties are administrative arms of the state.
Therefore, we conclude that communications to county officials are not governed by the lobby law. This question refers to chapter 36 of the Penal Code, which prohibits county officials from accepting benefits in certain circumstances. There is an exception to this prohibition for food, lodging, transportation, or entertainment accepted as a guest and reported in accordance with any reporting requirement made applicable by law. In the statutes subject to interpretation by the Ethics Commission, only title 15 of the Election Code, which governs campaign finance, imposes reporting requirements on any county officials. The reporting requirements of title 15 would not be relevant to the question before us.