N.J. Admin. Code § 19:25-20.2
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, N.J.S.A. 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, N.J.S.A. 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, N.J.S.A. 52:13C-18 et seq.
N.J. Admin. Code § 19:25-20.2
See: 23 N.J.R. 3077(a), 24 N.J.R. 298(a).
Revised text.
Amended by R.1997 d.420, effective 10/6/1997.
See: 29 N.J.R. 2809(a), 29 N.J.R. 4302(a).
Added "Benefits recipient".
Amended by R.2005 d.427, effective 12/5/2005 (operative date of January 1, 2006).
See: 37 N.J.R. 2838(a), 37 N.J.R. 4559(a).
Revised definitions "Act," "Benefit recipient," "Expenditure," "Lobbyist," "Officer or staff member of the Executive Branch" and "Receipt"; added definitions "Communication with the general public," "Governmental affairs agent," "Governmental process," "Influence governmental processes," "Member" and "Public contract"; deleted definition "Legislative agent."
Amended by R.2007 d.230, effective 8/6/2007.
See: 39 N.J.R. 626(a), 39 N.J.R. 3409(a).
In definition "Member", inserted "or organization" and "or which"; and added definition "Represented entity".
Amended by R.2012 d.205, effective 12/17/2012.
See: 44 N.J.R. 2049(a), 44 N.J.R. 3077(a).
In definition "Benefit recipient", substituted "represented entity's" for "lobbyist's"; in definition "Expenditure" and in the introductory paragraph and paragraph 1 of definition "Receipt", substituted "represented entity" for "lobbyist"; and rewrote definitions "Lobbyist" and "Represented entity".