means monetary or in-kind payment or remuneration in an amount
in excess of fifty dollars, or the expectation of such remuneration,
for engaging in the legislative advocacy. Compensation does not include
the salary of an employee who devotes less than twenty percent of
that employee's work time to legislative advocacy during any one year
and who engages in legislative advocacy only on behalf of a single
employer. Compensation also does not include reimbursement of or payments
for reasonable travel or business expenses, such as copying, telephone
charges and meals.
means any person, other than any government entity, or officer
or employee of a government entity acting in an official capacity,
who advises regarding, or makes, payments or incurs expenditures of
five thousand dollars or more during any calendar year for directing
or guiding public relations, media relations, advertising, public
outreach, research, investigation, reports, analyses, or studies with
the intent of soliciting, requesting or urging, directly or indirectly,
other persons to communicate directly with a City official in order
to influence any City action.
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Expenditure lobbyist shall not include: (1) a person who pays
compensation to a legislative advocate or who pays compensation to
another representative who appears at a hearing on any City action;
(2) a person who pays dues to a membership organization that is ongoing
in nature and whose membership services do not consist exclusively
of legislative advocacy; (3) an organization who makes payments to
distribute communications to its members; and (4) a person engaged
in publication or broadcasting of news items, editorials, or commentary,
provided that the person is not compensated to take a specific position.
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means any individual who receives economic consideration
as the employee, representative, or contractor of a person or entity
other than the City of Santa Monica for communicating with any official
or employee of the City for the purpose of influencing City action.
Lobbyist also includes an expenditure lobbyist. For purposes of this
Chapter, "lobbyist" does not include the following:
means any person who is:
A member of the Santa Monica City Council;
Appointed by the Santa Monica City Council to serve on a board
or commission;
The City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk;
A City department director; and
Any other person who is required to file a Statement of Economic
Interest in connection with the City of Santa Monica.
(Added by Ord. No. 2511CCS § 1, adopted 3/22/16; amended
by Ord. No. 2544CCS § 1, adopted 4/25/17; Ord. No. 2733CCS § 1, adopted 1/10/23)
(a)
Any person who has been a lobbyist in the two years prior to
the start of a term shall be ineligible to be appointed to serve on
a City board, commission, task force, or advisory board.
(b)
The Council, by a two-thirds vote of the Council, may appoint
a person to a board, commission, task force, or advisory board, despite
otherwise being disqualified under this Chapter, for good cause, including,
but not limited to, unavailability of qualified candidates.
(Added by Ord. No. 2733CCS § 2, adopted 1/10/23)
(a)
A lobbyist shall annually register with the City Clerk, no later
than ten days after qualifying as a lobbyist under this Chapter, using
an electronic registration system provided by the City, and shall
thereon disclose:
(1)
Lobbyist/lobbyist firm;
(2)
Business/mailing address;
(3)
E-mail address;
(4)
Telephone number;
(5)
The names of all owners of the lobbyist's business if the business
is a sole proprietorship or partnership of less than five members;
(6)
Names of each individual lobbyist;
(7)
A description of the nature of the business entity or organization;
(8)
The name, business address and phone number of each client receiving
lobbying services;
(9)
The nature of each client's business;
(10)
A brief description of the governmental decision that the lobbyist
seeks to influence on each client's behalf and the names of the officials
the lobbyist has contacted on each client's behalf;
(11)
The name of each person employed or retained by the lobbyist
to engage in lobbying activities on each client's behalf; and
(12)
The date, amount, and description of any payment made to, or
on behalf of any City official or member of an official's family.
Payments to be disclosed include gifts, meals, fees, salaries and
any other form of compensation or remuneration, but do not include
campaign contributions.
(b)
A lobbyist shall electronically file an amendment to his or
her registration and reporting form within ten days of representation
of a new client. An addendum must be filed electronically within ten
days of any change in the information required to be disclosed on
the form related to existing clients. Lobbyists shall report the names
of all officials contacted about a governmental decision prior to
any public hearing on that decision.
(c)
The following are exempt from this Chapter:
(1)
Persons whose attempts to influence government action are limited
to appearing at public meetings or preparing, processing or limited
to submitting writings for consideration of use at public meetings
if their communications are part of the public record; and
(2)
Persons representing themselves in attempting to obtain decisions
relating to their own properties or business; and
(3)
Persons whose communications related solely to a memorandum
of understanding or collective bargaining agreement between the City
and its employee organization; and
(4)
Persons who are officials or members of neighborhood groups
who are not economically compensated for advocating or speaking on
behalf of neighborhood groups to influence a City action.
(Added by Ord. No. 2511CCS § 1, adopted 3/22/16; amended
by Ord. No. 2544CCS § 1, adopted 4/25/17;Ord. No.
2771CCS, 12/19/23)
A lobbyist's annual registration fee is hereby established to
be set and periodically adjusted by City Council resolution in an
amount sufficient to cover the costs of administering this Chapter.
(Added by Ord. No. 2511CCS § 1, adopted 3/22/16)
(a)
The City Clerk may promulgate rules and regulations implementing
this Chapter.
(b)
No person shall violate any rule or regulation implementing
this Chapter, and any such violation shall constitute a violation
of this Chapter.
(Added by Ord. No. 2511CCS § 1, adopted 3/22/16)
(a)
The City Attorney and the City Clerk shall be responsible for
enforcing the requirements of this Chapter.
(b)
Criminal Penalty. Any person who is convicted of
violating this Chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction
shall be punished by a fine of not greater than five hundred dollars
or by imprisonment in the County Jail for not more than six months,
or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(c)
Civil Action. The provisions of this Chapter may
be enforced by means of a civil action for injunctive and other relief,
including statutory damages.
(d)
Penalties and Other Monetary Awards. In a civil
action, any person determined to have violated this Chapter may be
held liable for statutory damages in an amount of up to ten thousand
dollars and for such reasonable attorneys' fees and costs as may be
awarded by the court.
(e)
Administrative Enforcement. The provisions of this
Chapter may also be enforced through the issuance of administrative
citations and the imposition of administrative fines to be set by
resolution of the City Council. Administrative citations for violations
of this Chapter shall be issued by the City Clerk.
(Added by Ord. No. 2511CCS § 1, adopted 3/22/16)
