Birmingham Airport Authority Appeals Alabama Advisory Opinion Finding Employees are Subject to State Ethics Law 

Joanna Kamvouris, J.D. 
Research Associate              

The Birmingham Airport Authority appealed an Alabama Ethics Commission advisory opinion finding the Birmingham Airport Authority’s employees are considered public employees and are thus subject to the state ethics law

Under Alabama Code Section 36-25-1(26), a public employee is an employee of a governmental corporation or an instrumentality of state, county, or local government who is paid in whole or in part from state, county, or municipal funds.

The Birmingham Airport Authority argued that because the salaries of its employees come from user and landing fees paid by airlines, as well as rental and concession fees at the airport, they do not fall within the provisions of the ethics law.

While Birmingham Airport Authority’s employees are not paid in whole or in part from public funds, the Ethics Commission determined the airport’s revenue is considered “state, county, or municipal funds” because the Legislature grants the airport authority the ability to collect those fees for a specific purpose.

Airport employees are criminally liable for ethics violations and, if they meet specific income thresholds, are required to file annual statements of economic interests with the commission.

Counsel for the Birmingham Airport Authority believes the commission’s interpretation of the law could have a wide-ranging impact across Alabama, affecting thousands of Alabama citizens who work for various authorities throughout the state and who have never previously been classified as public employees.

Both sides to the appeal agreed to stay the operation of the opinion for the time being. Under Judge Brooke Reid’s order, affected persons will not have to comply with the commission’s regulatory requirements until a determination is made in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

[The details for this article are updated on our website in the Definitions section of the Lobbying Compliance Laws and Procurement Lobbying Compliance Laws for Alabama.]

Summary of Changes UPDATE
Note Recent Changes to Compliance Regulations 

Michael Beckett, Esq.,
Research Manager

ARIZONA: The Office of the Secretary of State announced the implementation of new filing forms. The forms are now separated by entity types: lobbyist, principal, and public body filings. The notarization requirement for all lobbying forms has been replaced by an attestation. Because filing forms no longer require notarization the forms may be filed by email. In the coming weeks, the Office of the Secretary of State will also implement a new website for online payment and document filing.

FEDERAL: On September 6, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notice of a proposed regulation allowing certain tax-exempt organizations to no longer be required to report the names and addresses of contributors on their annual reports. Previously, the IRS issued guidance to this effect, but on July 30, the guidance limiting these disclosure requirements was set aside by a federal judge. In Bullock v. IRS, the U.S. District Court District of Montana (Great Falls) found the IRS violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not providing notice and allowing a public comment period before the guidance was issued. It predicated this decision by finding the guidance was a legislative rule.

KENTUCKY: The Legislative Ethics Commission unanimously recommended the 2020 General Assembly pass legislation prohibiting legislators and lobbyists from engaging in sexual and workplace harassment against legislative employees, other legislators, and lobbyists. In past cases involving allegations of sexual harassment, the commission has followed more general ethics laws relating to the misuse of office. The recommended change would add specific workplace protections into the legislative ethics law and categorize sexual harassment as ethical misconduct, punishable by fines or other sanctions. The commission also recommended the ethics law be amended to grant the commission the authority to adjudicate a complaint filed against a legislator, even if the legislator leaves office after the complaint is filed, as long as the complaint is based on action that occurred not more than a year prior to the day the legislator left office. During the 2019 session, several bills relating to sexual harassment were filed, but none were approved by the Legislature. 

PORTLAND, OREGON: The city auditor announced new campaign finance requirements and a new public campaign financing program. Committees must now timely file disclosures for certain election communications advocating for or against a city candidate and provide names of individuals or other entities contributing to the committees. Entities making more than $750 in independent expenditures to support or oppose city candidates must now register with the secretary of state as a political committee or independent expenditure filer and provide certain disclosures. Public and private employers must now allow employees to donate to political committees through payroll deduction if they allow similar post-tax deductions for other purposes. The public campaign financing program will require candidates to agree to limit individual contributions to $250 or less and abide by other fundraising limits. Candidates will not be required to participate in the program.

TEXAS: Lobbying registrations must now include a statement of whether the lobbyist is or is required to be registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). This requirement of House Bill 1785 applies to a registration filed on or after the effective date of September 1.

Legislation We Are Tracking

At any given time, more than 1,000 legislative bills, which can affect how you do business as a government affairs professional, are being discussed in federal, state, and local jurisdictions. These bills are summarized in State and Federal Communications' digital encyclopedias for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying and can be found in the client portion of our website.

Summaries of major bills are also included in monthly email updates sent to all clients. The chart below shows the number of bills we are tracking in regard to lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying.
 

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