JCOPE Votes to Move Forward with Proposed Lobbying Regulations

Last week, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), the state’s lobbying regulator, voted to move forward with its proposed comprehensive lobbying regulations.

Last year, JCOPE’s staff released the proposed lobbying regulations, which are intended to “provide a “one-stop shop” for information about the rules and requirements associated with lobbying in New York.”

JCOPE will publish a ‘Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’ in the New York State Register, and the public and impacted community will have the opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations.  JCOPE staff also indicated that the agency plans to hold a public hearing on the proposal sometime in the fall.

Some of the highlights of the proposal include:

  • clarifying when social media activity constitutes lobbying activity, and what should be reported when an entity engaged in lobbying activity through social media channels;
  • requiring the individual names of lobbying targets be listed on lobbying reports, rather than listing lobbying targets generically (such as ‘NYS Senate’ or ‘Nassau County Legislature’);
  • eliminating the need for an entity that lobbies on its own behalf to register and file both as a lobbyist and as the client of a lobbyist;
  • providing clarification regarding the reporting activity of coalitions and coalition members; and
  • when a coalition n coalitions need to register as lobbyists or clients.

Read the current version of JCOPE’s proposed lobbying regulations here.

Read news coverage of the lobbying regulations in the Times Union and Politico NY.