Utah Expands Lobbying Laws and Requires Annual Registration

Alexandra Vernis, JD
Research Associate 

The Utah Legislature passed significant amendments to lobbying laws during the 2019 legislative session. Gov. Gary Herbert signed two bills expanding lobbying laws to the local level and requiring registration and harassment training to be completed annually.

Local Lobbying

House Bill 64 creates reporting requirements for lobbying local government and board of education members. The Local Government and Board of Education Lobbyist Disclosure and Regulation Act applies to communications with elected or appointed members of a local government for the purpose of influencing local action or education action. Covered actions include consideration of ordinances or policies; nominations or appointments; administrative actions; adjudicative proceedings; purchasing or contracting decisions; drafting rules; determining rates or fees; and making adjudicative decisions.

Unlike state-level lobbying, registration is only required once an expenditure has been made. Local-level lobbyists will not be required to complete training as a part of the registration process.

The new requirements follow the quarterly reporting schedule for state-level lobbying and mirror the prohibition on certain expenditures by lobbyists and principals over $10. Not included in the $10 limit are certain expenditures for food, beverage, travel, lodging, or admission to or attendance at a tour or meeting. Reports are not required for a quarter in which no expenditures were made, but a lobbyist must file an annual report in January detailing activity of the preceding year. The Act also prohibits a person, agent, or employee who knowingly and intentionally assists a lobbyist or principal from making an expenditure benefitting a local or education official that would require disclosure if made by the lobbyist or principal.

Annual Registration and Training

Senate Bill 147 moves the term of lobbyist registration from biennial to annual. Lobbying licenses will now expire every year on December 31. The new annual registration fee is $60, replacing the biennial fee of $110. Following a national trend, the bill also requires harassment training to be included in the lobbyist ethics course. The bill codifies a policy requiring the annual training to be completed within 30 days of the application for registration or renewal. The lobbying license will not be issued until the training is completed. Penalties for engaging in unlawful harassment include a fine of up to $2,000 and suspension of the lobbying license.

Both House Bill 64 and Senate Bill 147 are effective May 14, 2019, 60 days after the adjournment sine die of the Utah Legislature on March 14, 2019.

[The details for this article will be updated on our website in the Registration, Reports Required, and Definitions sections of the Lobbying and Procurement Lobbying Compliance Laws for Utah.]

Summary of Changes UPDATE
Note Recent Changes to Compliance Regulations 

Michael Beckett, Esq.,
Research Manager

COLORADO: Gov. Jared Polis signed House Bill 1007, creating contribution limits under the Fair Campaign Practices Act for county office candidates. Current campaign finance law does not set limits on contributions to candidates for county office. The bill defines county office as a county commissioner, county clerk and recorder, sheriff, corner, treasurer, assessor, or surveyor. The maximum aggregate contribution a person may make to a candidate for county office under the bill is $1,250 for the primary election and $1,250 for the general election. The bill will take effect August 2, provided adjournment sine die of the General Assembly is on May 3, 2019. If, however, a referendum petition is filed, the bill would not take effect unless approved by voters in the November 2020 general election.

IDAHO: Gov. Brad Little signed a bill amending state lobbying laws. Effective July 1, Senate Bill 1153 removes the lobbyist employer signature requirement from reports filed by lobbyists and requires a designated contact upon registration for electronic notification. The bill also provides a definition for lobbyist’s client as the person on whose behalf the lobbyist is directly or indirectly acting as a contractor and by whom the lobbyist or lobbyist’s employer is compensated for acting as a lobbyist.

MARYLAND: Gov. Larry Hogan signed Senate Bill 79 on April 18. The bill requires lobbyists to file registrations and certain reports electronically with the State Ethics Commission. The commission will be required to develop procedures regarding these electronic filings. Gov. Hogan also signed an executive order calling for the Maryland General Assembly to convene a special session on Wednesday, May 1. The special session will allow the House of Delegates to elect a successor to the late Speaker Michael E. Busch, who passed away on April 7.

NEW MEXICO: Senate Bill 3, relating to the Campaign Reporting Act, was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday, April 4, 2019. The bill amends several provisions of campaign finance law, including definitions related to elections cycles, penalties for violating campaign finance law, and independent expenditure reporting. Contributions to most candidates and political committees will be limited to $5,000 per election cycle, unless those contributions are from a candidate’s own personal funds or made to a political committee and used only to make independent expenditures. Gubernatorial candidates will be limited two times the contribution limit during a primary or a general election cycle. The bill will become effective on July 1, 2019.

UTAH: Campaign finance laws have been amended. Updates include amended registration and reporting requirements for political action committees (PACs) and political issues committees (PICs) and modified provisions relating to the statement of organization and naming requirements. Other changes include a provision banning PICs from contributing to PACs and clarifications on how to dissolve a PAC. Regarding electioneering communications, a person making an expenditure for certain advertisements relating to a ballot proposition is required to disclose the person's identity in the advertisement. The bills take effect on May 13.

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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