New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 19 - OTHER AGENCIES › ELECTION LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION › Chapter 25 - REGULATIONS OF THE ELECTION LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION › Subchapter 20 - REPRESENTED ENTITIES AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS AGENTS › Section 19:25-20.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
					 subchapter, shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning
					 clearly appears from the context.
"Act" shall mean the Legislative and Governmental Process
					 Activities Disclosure Act, as amended,
					 52:13C-18 et seq.
"Benefit recipient" means any member of the Legislature,
					 legislative staff, the Governor, the Governor's staff, or an officer or staff
					 member of the Executive Branch who is the recipient of a benefit paid for or
					 otherwise derived from a represented entity's or governmental affairs agent's
					 expenditures providing that benefit or benefits.
"Commission" means the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement
					 Commission.
"Communication with a member of the Legislature", "with
					 legislative staff", "with the Governor", "with the Governor's staff", or "with
					 an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch" shall mean any
					 communication, oral or in writing or any other medium, addressed, delivered,
					 distributed or disseminated, respectively, to a member of the Legislature, to
					 legislative staff, to the Governor, to the Governor's staff, or to an officer
					 or staff member of the Executive Branch, as distinguished from communication to
					 the general public, including, but not limited to, a member of the Legislature,
					 legislative staff, the Governor, the Governor's staff, or an officer or staff
					 member of the Executive Branch. If any person shall obtain, reproduce or
					 excerpt any communication or part thereof which in its original form was not a
					 communication under this definition and shall cause such excerpt or
					 reproduction to be addressed, delivered, distributed or disseminated to a
					 member of the Legislature, to legislative staff, to the Governor, to the
					 Governor's staff, or to an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch,
					 such communication, reproduction or excerpt shall be deemed a communication
					 with the member of the Legislature, with legislative staff, with the Governor,
					 with the Governor's staff, or with an officer or staff member of the Executive
					 Branch by such person.
"Communication with the general public" means any
					 communication that is:
1. Disseminated to the general public through direct mail
					 or in the form of a paid advertisement in a newspaper, magazine, or other
					 printed publication of general circulation or aired on radio, television, or
					 other broadcast medium, including the Internet; and
2. Which explicitly supports or opposes a particular item
					 or items of legislation or regulation, or the content of which can reasonably
					 be understood, irrespective of whether the communication is addressed to the
					 general public or to persons in public office or employment, as intended to
					 influence legislation or to influence regulation.
3. A communication with the general public does not
					 include:
i. A communication by a partnership, committee,
					 association, corporation, labor union, or charitable organization made only to
					 its members, partners, employees, and stockholders; or
ii. A communication in a newspaper, magazine, or other
					 printed publication of general circulation, or aired on radio, television, or
					 other broadcast medium, including the Internet, which communication is required
					 to be made by law.
"Compensation," for the purposes of this subchapter, shall
					 be included within the definition of the term "receipt."
"Contribution," for the purposes of this subchapter, shall
					 be included within the definition of the term "receipt."
"Expenditure" includes every loan, gift, fee, salary,
					 contribution, subscription, advance or transfer of money or other thing of
					 value, including any item of real or personal property, tangible or intangible,
					 and paid personal services (but not including volunteer services provided
					 without compensation) made or paid by any governmental affairs agent or
					 represented entity, and any pledge or other commitment or assumption of
					 liability to make such transfer. Any such commitment or assumption shall be
					 deemed to have been an expenditure upon the date when such commitment is made
					 or liability assumed.
"Expenditures providing a benefit" or "expenditures
					 providing benefits" means any expenditures for entertainment, food and
					 beverage, travel and lodging, honoraria, loans, gifts or any other thing of
					 value, except for:
1. Any money or thing of value paid for past, present, or
					 future services in regular employment, whether in the form of a fee, expense,
					 allowance, forbearance, forgiveness, interest, dividend, royalty, rent, capital
					 gain, or any other form of recompense, or any combination thereof; or
2. Any dividends or other income paid on investments,
					 trusts, and estates.
"Governmental affairs agent" shall mean any person who
					 receives or agrees to receive, directly or indirectly, compensation, in money
					 or anything of value (including reimbursement of his or her expenses where such
					 reimbursement exceeds $ 100.00 in any three-month period), to influence
					 legislation, to influence regulation, or to influence governmental processes,
					 or all of the above, by direct or indirect communication with, or by making or
					 authorizing, or causing to be made or authorized, any expenditures providing a
					 benefit to a member of the Legislature, legislative staff, the Governor, the
					 Governor's staff, or any officer or staff member of the Executive Branch, or
					 who holds himself or herself out as engaging in the business of influencing
					 legislation, regulation, or governmental processes by such means, or who,
					 incident to his or her regular employment, engages in influencing legislation,
					 regulation, or governmental processes by such means. The term "governmental
					 affairs agent" shall also include any person who receives or agrees to receive,
					 directly or indirectly, compensation, in money or anything of value for the
					 purpose of conducting communication with the general public, or who incident to
					 his or her regular employment conducts communication with the general public,
					 or who holds himself or herself out as engaging in the business of conducting
					 communication with the general public. However, a person shall not be deemed a
					 governmental affairs agent who, in relation to the duties or interests of his
					 or her employment or at the request or suggestion of his or her employer,
					 communicates with a member of the Legislature, with legislative staff, with the
					 Governor, with the Governor's staff, or with an officer or staff member of the
					 Executive Branch concerning any legislation, regulation, or governmental
					 process, or who conducts communication with the general public, if such
					 communication is an isolated, exceptional or infrequent activity in relation to
					 the usual duties of his or her employment. For the purposes of this definition,
					 activities to influence legislation, influence regulation, or influence
					 governmental processes, or to conduct communication with the general public
					 shall be deemed "isolated, exceptional or infrequent" if they constitute less
					 than 20 hours of the time an employee spends working at his or her employment
					 during a calendar year.
"Governmental process" means:
1. Promulgation of executive orders;
2. Rate setting;
3. Development, negotiation, award, modification or
					 cancellation of public contracts;
4. Issuance, denial, modification, renewal, revocation or
					 suspension of permits, licenses or waivers;
5. Procedures for bidding;
6. Imposition or modification of fines and
					 penalties;
7. Procedures for purchasing;
8. Rendition of administrative determinations; and
9. Award, denial, modification, renewal or termination of
					 financial assistance, grants and loans.
"Governor" includes the Governor or the Acting
					 Governor.
"Governor's staff" includes the members of the Governor's
					 Cabinet, the Secretary to the Governor, the Counsel to the Governor and all
					 professional employees in the office of the Counsel to the Governor, and all
					 other employees of the Office of the Governor.
"Influence governmental processes," "influencing
					 governmental processes" or "influence governmental process" mean to make any
					 attempt, whether successful or not, to assist a represented entity or group to
					 engage in communication with, or to secure information from, an officer or
					 staff member of the Executive Branch, or any authority, board, commission or
					 other agency or instrumentality in or of a principal department of the
					 Executive Branch of State government, empowered by law to administer a
					 governmental process or perform other functions that relate to such
					 processes.
"Influence legislation" shall mean to make any attempt,
					 whether successful or not, to secure or prevent the initiation of any
					 legislation or to secure or prevent the passage, defeat, amendment or
					 modification thereof by the Legislature, including efforts to influence the
					 preparation, drafting, content, introduction and consideration of any bill,
					 resolution, amendment, report or nomination or the approval, amendment or
					 disapproval thereof by the Governor in accordance with his constitutional
					 authority.
"Influence regulation" means to make any attempt, whether
					 successful or not, to secure or prevent the proposal of any regulation or to
					 secure or prevent the consideration, amendment, issuance, promulgation,
					 adoption or rejection thereof by an officer or any authority, board, commission
					 or other agency or instrumentality in or of a principal department of the
					 Executive Branch of State Government empowered by law to issue, promulgate or
					 adopt administrative rules and regulations.
"Legislation" includes all bills, resolutions, amendments,
					 nominations and appointments, pending or proposed, in either House of the
					 Legislature, and all bills and resolutions which, having passed both Houses,
					 are pending approval by the Governor.
"Legislative staff" includes all staff, assistants and
					 employees of the Legislature or any of its members in the member's official
					 capacity, whether or not they receive compensation from the State of New
					 Jersey.
"Legislature" includes the Senate and General Assembly of
					 the State of New Jersey and all committees and commissions established by the
					 Legislature or by either House thereof.
"Lobbyist" means the same as "represented entity" as
					 defined in this section, in accordance with the Legislative and Governmental
					 Process Activities Act,
					 52:13C-20(d).
"Member" means an individual or organization who or which
					 pays dues to, makes a contribution of money or time to, or has made an
					 affirmative request to receive materials from a committee, association, or
					 organization.
"Member of the Legislature" includes any member or
					 member-elect of, or any person who shall have been selected to fill a vacancy
					 in, the Senate or General Assembly, and any other person who is a member or
					 member-designate of any committee or commission established by the Legislature
					 or by either House thereof.
"Officer or staff member of the Executive Branch" means any
					 assistant or deputy head of a principal department in the Executive Branch of
					 State Government, including all assistant and deputy commissioners; the members
					 and chief executive officer of any authority, board, commission or other agency
					 or instrumentality in or of such a principal department; and any officer of the
					 Executive Branch of State Government other than the Governor who is not
					 included among the foregoing or among the Governor's staff, but who is
					 empowered by law to issue, promulgate or adopt administrative rules and
					 regulations, or to administer governmental processes, and any person employed
					 in the office of such an officer who is involved with the development,
					 issuance, promulgation or adoption of such rules and regulations or
					 administration of governmental processes in the regular course of
					 employment.
"Person" includes an individual, partnership, committee,
					 association, corporation, and any other organization or group of
					 persons.
"Public contract" means a contract the cost or price of
					 which is to be paid with or out of State funds or the funds of an independent
					 authority created by the State or by the Legislature.
"Receipt" includes every loan, gift, contribution, fee,
					 subscription, salary, advance or transfer of money or other thing of value,
					 including any item of real property or personal property, tangible or
					 intangible, and paid personal services (but not including voluntary services
					 provided without compensation) made to any governmental affairs agent or
					 represented entity and any pledge or other commitment or assumption of
					 liability to make such transfer. Any such commitment or assumption shall be
					 deemed to have been a receipt upon the date when such commitment is made or
					 liability assumed.
1. For the purposes of this subchapter, the term "receipt"
					 shall include, but not be limited to, compensation by way of salary, fees,
					 allowances, retainers, reimbursement of expenses, or other similar
					 compensation, when received by a governmental affairs agent. For purposes of
					 this subchapter, the term "receipt" shall also include, but not be limited to,
					 contributions by way of fees, dues, gifts or other similar contributions when
					 received by a represented entity.
"Regulation" includes any administrative rule or regulation
					 affecting the rights, privileges, benefits, duties, obligations, or liabilities
					 of any one or more persons subject by law to regulation as a class, but does
					 not include an administrative action:
1. To issue, renew or deny, or, in an adjudicative action,
					 to establish or make rates that have particular applicability on named or
					 specified petitioners or parties, or to suspend or revoke, a license, order,
					 permit or waiver under any law or administrative rule or regulation;
2. To impose a penalty; or
3. To effectuate an administrative reorganization within a
					 single principal department of the Executive Branch of State Government.
"Represented entity" shall mean any person, partnership,
					 committee, association, corporation, labor union, or any other organization
					 that employs, retains, designates, engages, or otherwise uses the services of
					 any governmental affairs agent to influence legislation, regulation, or
					 governmental processes. The term "represented entity" shall refer to "lobbyist"
					 as used in the Legislative and Governmental Process Activities Act,
					 52:13C-18 et seq.