Section 1-92-48 - Financial reports of clients and communicator lobbyists shall disclose compensation for lobbying and expenditures for the benefit of a public official, etc(a) The financial reports of all client and communicator registrants, including those who terminate their registrations during the calendar year, shall include the dollar amount, the payor or payee other than the registrant as the case may be, and the date(s) of the following payments: (1) any fee, retainer or reimbursed expenses paid by a client registrant in furtherance of lobbying to a communicator registrant or other person who is not a member of or a regular employee of the client. Appearances as characterized by section 1-91(12)(D) of the Connecticut General Statutes are considered "in furtherance of lobbying," for the purposes of this subsection, when made by a registrant.(2) pursuant to section 1-96(e) of the Connecticut General Statutes, the pro rata value of the time spent in furtherance of lobbying by a communicator registrant who is a member of or a regular employee of a client registrant; however, neither the total salary of the communicator registrant nor the fraction of that salary which lobbying represents need be disclosed.(b) The pro rata value of the time spent in furtherance of lobbying shall be calculated based upon the compensation of the member or regular employee including: (1) research time spent in preparation for communicating with an official or his staff in the legislative or executive branch of government for the purpose of influencing any legislative or administrative action; (2) time spent in actually communicating with any official or his staff in the legislative or executive branch of government; and (3) any other time consumed in furtherance of lobbying for which the member or regular employee is compensated or reimbursed by the client. Appearances as characterized by section 1-91(12)(D) of the Connecticut General Statutes are "in furtherance of lobbying," for purposes of this subsection, when made by a registrant.(c) Pursuant to section 1-96(a), (b), and (e) of the Connecticut General Statutes, the financial reports of all client registrants, communicator registrants who are not reimbursed by a client registrant, and communicator registrants for a municipality or any subdivision of a municipality, a branch of state government or any subdivision of state government, or a quasi-public agency, including those who have terminated their registrations during the calendar year, shall include a detailed statement of each expenditure, valued at ten dollars or more per person per occasion or transaction, made for the benefit of a public official or a member of a public official's staff or immediate family, reporting in a separate block those personal expenditures for the benefit of a public official, his or her staff or family, unrelated to lobbying.(d) The itemized statement of each expenditure of ten dollars or more per person per occasion or transaction shall be provided whether the expenditure is made solely by the reporting registrant or by a group of registrants which includes the reporting registrant. However, the requirement of an itemized statement does not apply: (1) when the expenditure is for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly at a reception to which all such members are invited, or all members of a region of the state are invited unless the expenditure is thirty dollars or more per person invited; or (2) when a public official or state employee participates in his official capacity in a charitable or civic event is thirty dollars or more per person per event. This detailed statement shall include the names, and public positions as applicable, of all reportable beneficiaries, the relationship of all reportable staff or immediate family to the appropriate public official, a description of the benefit conferred, the location of the event if applicable, the date of the occasion or transaction, the amount of the expenditure per beneficiary, and the date and amount of any reimbursement received from the beneficiary. In addition, whenever the occasion or transaction has been paid for by a group of registrants pursuant to section 1-96(b) and (e) of the Connecticut General Statutes, the statement shall include the percentage of the expenditure paid by each registrant and the names of all the registrant payors. Under these circumstances, one registrant payor, authorized by the group of payors, shall make the required filing on behalf of the group. All registrant members of such group shall be legally responsible for the completeness and accuracy of this filing. In all instances where food or beverage or both is paid for by the registrant, the statement shall disclose by name whether the registrant, or a representative of the registrant, was in attendance at the event. Additionally, each registrant, including any registrant who has terminated registration during the calendar year, that pays or reimburses a public official or state employee ten dollars or more for "necessary expenses" as defined in section 1-79(17) of the Connecticut General Statutes shall, within forty five days, file a report disclosing the name of such individual and the amount of the necessary expenses. The registrant shall disclose the payment of necessary expenses by including the required information on the applicable periodic lobbyist financial report (i.e., ETH-2B, 2C or 2D). However, when a public official or state employee attends an event in this state as a principal speaker and receives admission or food or beverage from the sponsor or the event, no reporting by a lobbyist sponsor is required.(e) In determining the value of an expenditure, both for the purpose of reporting expenditures for the benefit of a public official, etc., and of applying the gift restriction contained in section 1-97(a) of the Connecticut General Statutes: (1) the value of the expenditure equals the cost to the registrant if the item to be valued was obtained by the registrant in a marketplace transaction.(2) When subdivision (1) of this subsection, is not applicable, the value of the expenditure equals the fair market value of the item as determined by its replacement cost: i.e., the cost of purchasing the same or a similar item in a marketplace transaction.(3) When subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, are not applicable, the registrant may use any reasonable method to determine the value of the expenditure. In each such instance where the value of the expenditure is determined to be ten dollars or more per reportable beneficiary per occasion or transaction the registrant shall disclose the method used to calculate such value as part of the itemized statement required by sections 1-96(a), (b), and (e) of the Connecticut General Statutes.(4) When subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) of this subsection are not applicable, the value of the expenditure is indeterminable and the registrant may not confer the benefit in question on any state employee, public official, candidate for public office or a member of such individual's staff or immediate family, unless the value of the benefit is clearly negligible.(5) In no instance shall the rental value of the registrant's home or office be required to be included in determining the value of the expenditure when the registrant uses the premises to host a reception or other gathering.(6) When more than one individual is benefited incident to an occasion or transaction the registrant may calculate the per person value of the expenditure by either: (A) dividing the total expenditure by the number of individuals benefited;(B) dividing the total expenditure by the number of individuals expected at an event when the actual amount expended was based on an anticipated number of attendees one or more of whom did not attend the event in question; or(C) determining the actual benefit received by each individual.(f) Pursuant to section 1-79a of the Connecticut General Statutes, for the purposes of calculating the dollar limits under the exceptions to the term "gift" under section 1-79 and section 1-91 of the Connecticut General Statutes, any expenditure provided by a lobbyist who is an individual shall be deemed to have also been provided by the business organization which he owns or by which he is employed, and any expenditure provided by a business organization shall be deemed to have also been provided by all owners and employees of the business organization who are lobbyists.(g) Additionally, any payments or expenditures, as defined in subsections (a), (b) and (c) of this section, made incident to lobbying and prior to registration which were not previously reported to the Office of State Ethics, whether occurring in the year of registration or a previous calendar year, shall be disclosed in the first financial report due after registration. Also, the fundamental terms, including the dollar amount, of a contract, agreement, or promise to receive compensation or reimbursement, or to make expenditures, in furtherance of lobbying are to be disclosed in the first financial report due after the contract, agreement, or promise is made or amended , including the fundamental terms made by a communicator lobbyist who subcontracts lobbying work to another person. Such fundamental terms shall disclose the categories of work to be performed under the contract in furtherance of lobbying, i.e., contract for lobbying services, polling, advertising, etc. Such terms shall also identify the dollar amount of any fee or retainer attributable to each relevant category.Conn. Agencies Regs. § 1-92-48
Effective June 16, 1993; Amended March 3, 1998; Amended May 9, 2000; Amended January 2, 2008; amended 5/11/2023