JCOPE Announces Amnesty Program

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), in a press release dated October 7, has announced a “targeted six-month amnesty and compliance program to encourage lobbyists and clients of lobbyists who are currently unknown to JCOPE to comply with the Lobbying Act and disclose information about their lobbying activities.”

According to the release, the program is being conducted in conjunction with a similar amnesty program being offered by the New York City Clerk’s Office. The program will run from January 1, 2016 through June 30, 2016. Any entity that is seeking amnesty will be required to file their JCOPE reports back to January 2013, and also to pay all applicable filing fees.

JCOPE Chair Daniel Horwitz said:

“This is a great opportunity to provide sunlight and transparency about groups that have not been filing required reports about lobbying activities. It also gives the public more information about the groups that are working in their communities and trying to influence government.”

Read news coverage from the Politics on the Hudson blog and the Capitol Confidential blog.