New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 19 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE › Chapter XX - Commission on ethics and lobbying in Government › Part 943 - LOBBYING › Section 943.14 - Reportable Business Relationships

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) Purpose. Disclosure of business
				relationships between Lobbyists or Clients of Lobbyists and State Persons will
				increase transparency in government.
(b) Definitions.
1)
Client
includes every
				person or organization that retains, employs or designates any person or
				organization to carry on Lobbying Activities on behalf of such Client. With
				respect to an organization, the term Client also includes High-Level
				Individuals of the organization. Client includes Contractual Clients and
				Beneficial Clients.
2)
Compensation
means any salary, fee, gift, payment, benefit,
				loan, advance or any other thing of value. It does
not
include
				commercially available consumer and business loans or lines of credit as
				available to the general public, goods and services and discounts available to
				the general public, dividends or payments related to stock purchases, or
				contributions reportable under Article 14 of the New York State Election
				Law.
3)
High-Level
				Individual
means a proprietor, partner, director, trustee or person
				within the executive management of a Client organization.
(i) When a college, as defined under Section 2  of the Education Law, is a Client organization, the members of the college's
				governing board, the president or chief executive, and the provost or chief
				academic officer are High-Level Individuals.
4)
Intended to be performed or
				provided
means the goods, services or anything of value have not yet
				been performed or provided, but the Lobbyist or Client, as applicable,
				reasonably anticipates such goods, services, or value to be performed or
				provided in the future.
5)
Lobbyist
includes the lobbying firm or organization (the
				Principal Lobbyist for filing purposes) and every person identified on a
				Statement of Registration, as well as any equity partners, officers, or
				directors of the organization who operate out of the same geographic office as
				any person identified on a Statement of Registration.
6)
Performed or provided
means that a State Person or an entity in which the State Person has the
				Requisite Involvement either actually performed or provided the goods,
				services, or anything of value, or had a significant, but not necessarily
				exclusive or primary role, in performing or providing the goods, services or
				anything of value.
7)
Reason to know
means a Lobbyist or Client has reason to know
				that an individual is a State Person or that a State Person has the Requisite
				Involvement with an entity because a reasonable person, based on the totality
				of the facts and circumstances, would conclude that the Lobbyist or Client
				should know such fact. The following factors may be considered to determine
				whether a Lobbyist or Client had reason to know:
(i) Origins of the relationship between the
				parties;
(ii) Length of such
				relationship;
(iii) The type and
				actual value of the goods, services or items provided; and/or
(iv) Whether the fact that the individual is
				a State Person or the Requisite Involvement of the State Person with the entity
				at issue is generally known to the public.
A Lobbyist or Client will be deemed to have had reason to
				  know if such lack of knowledge results from willfully ignoring information that
				  would lead a reasonable person to (i) conclude that the individual was a State
				  Person, or that a State Person had the Requisite Involvement, or, (ii)
				  undertake further research to determine whether either fact exists.
8)
Reportable
				Business Relationship
means a relationship that meets all the criteria
				listed in Part 943.14(c)(1).
9)
Reportable Business Relationship Form
means the form so
				entitled available on the Commission's website.
10)
Requisite Involvement
in
				an entity means when a State Person is a proprietor, partner, director,
				officer, or manager of a non-governmental entity, or owns or controls 10% or
				more of the stock of a non-governmental entity (or 1% in the case of a
				corporation whose stock is regularly traded on an established securities
				exchange).
11)
State
				Person
includes:
(i) statewide
				elected officials;
(ii) members of
				the legislature or legislative employees;
(iii) heads of State departments and their
				deputies and assistants, other than members of the board of regents of the
				university of the State of New York who receive no compensation or are
				compensated on a per diem basis;
(iv) officers and employees of statewide
				elected officials;
(v) officers and
				employees of State departments, boards, bureaus, divisions, commissions,
				councils, or other State agencies; and
(vi) employees of public authorities (other
				than multi-state authorities), public benefit corporations and commissions at
				least one of whose members is appointed by the governor, and members or
				directors of such authorities, corporations, and commissions who are
				compensated other than on a per diem basis.