SR 04-25-2017 7D
Ci ty Council
Report
City Council Meeting : April 25, 2017
Agenda Item: 7.D
1 of 1
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Joseph Lawrence, Interim City Attorney , City Attorney ’s Office
Subject: Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance Amending Chapter 4.85 Of The
Santa Monica Municipal Code Regulating Lobbying
Recommended Action
Staff recom mends that City Council adopt the attached Ordinance.
Executive Summary
At its meeting on April 18, 2017, the City Council introduced for first reading an
ordinance amending Chapter 4.85 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code regulating
Lobbying
The ordin ance is now presented to City Council for adoption.
Prepared By: Elsa Kapsinow, Executive Assistant to the City Attorney
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Ordinance
B. Written Comments
1
City Council Meeting : April 25 , 2017 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER _________ (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA AMENDING CHAPTER 4.85 (REGULATING LOBBYING) OF THE
SANTA MONICA MUNICIPAL CODE
WHEREAS , on March 22, 2016, the City Council adopted Ordinance Number 2511
(CCS), codified as Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 4.85, for the purpose of
regulating lobbying activities to help ensure governmental transparency and thereby
fostering public confidence in government; and
WHEREAS, lobbying regulations took effect on September 19, 2016, at which time
lobbyists began registering with the City Clerk’s Office; and
WHEREAS, based on the City’s experience implementing Sa nta Monica Municipal
Code Chapter 4.85 and comments received from the public , Santa Monica Municipal
Code Chapter 4.85 should be amended .
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 4.85 is her eby amended to
read as follows:
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4.85.010 Definitions.
“Lobbyist” means any individual who receives economic
consideration a s 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. For
purposes of this Chapter, “Lobbyist” does not include City contractors and
those seeking City contracts through bids and proposals.
“Official ” means any person who is:
(a) Member of the City Council;
(b) Appointed by the City Council to serve on a board or
commission and, the City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk ;
(c) A City employee appointed to serve as director of a City
department; and
(d) Any person who is required to file a Statement of Economic
Interest .
4.85.020 Registration and reporting requirements.
A. A Lobbyist shall annually register with the City Clerk, no later
than ten days after qualifying as a Lobbyist under this chapter, on a
registration form provided by the City, and shall thereon disclose:
(a) Lobbyist/Lobbyist Firm ;
(b) Business /mailing address;
(c) E -mail address;
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(d) Telephone number;
(e) The names of all owners of the Lobb yist’s business if the
business is a sole proprietorship or partnership of less than five members;
(f) Names of each individual Lobbyist ;
(g ) A description of the nature of the business entity or organization;
(h ) The name, business address and phon e number of each client
receiving lobbying services;
(i ) The nature of each client’s business;
(j) 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 Lobbyis t has contacted on each client’s behalf.
(k ) The name of each person employed or retained by the Lobbyist
to engage in lobbying activities on each client’s behalf; and
(l) The date, amount, and description of any payment made to,
or on behalf of any Cit y 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 file an amendment to his or her r egistration
and reporting form within ten days of representation of a new client. An
addendum must be filed within ten days of any change in the information
required to be disclosed on the form related to existing clients. Lobbyists
shall report the name s of all Officials contacted about a governmental
decision prior to any public hearing on that decision.
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C. The following are exempt from this Chapter:
(a) Persons whose attempts to influence government
action are limited to appearing at public meeting s or to submitting writings
for consideration at public meetings if their communications are part of the
public record ;
(b) Persons representing themselves in attempting to
obtain decisions relating to their own properties or business;
(c) Persons whos e communications related solely to a
memorandum of understanding or collective bargaining agreement
between the City and its employee organization.
(d) Persons who are officials or members of neighborhood
groups who are not economically compensated for advocating or speaking
on behalf of neighborhood groups to influenc e a City action .
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to
effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed
this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
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declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinan ce
would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage
of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official
newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective 30
days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________
JOSEPH LAWRENCE
Interim City Attorney
1
Vernice Hankins
From:Council Mailbox
Sent:Friday, April 21, 2017 6:29 AM
To:Ted Winterer; Gleam Davis; Pam OConnor; Sue Himmelrich; Terry O’Day; Kevin
McKeown Fwd; Tony Vazquez
Cc:councilmtgitems; Elaine Polachek; Denise Anderson-Warren
Subject:FW: Lobbying
Council ‐
Please see the email below in regards to the lobbying ordinance.
Thank you,
Stephanie
‐‐‐‐‐Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐
From: Meyera Robbins [mailto:meyera@icloud.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 3:57 PM
To: Council Mailbox <Council.Mailbox@SMGOV.NET>
Subject: Lobbying
Friends,
For several years I've enjoyed being able to share coffee, brunch, lunch, social interactions at ci ty hall and the occasional
party with city officials.
Yes, sometimes we've shared ideas, discussed issues and concerns. In both directions.
I do not consider myself a lobbyist and have never received any compensation in any form.
We, as residents have always enjoyed the opportunity to have informal interactions not considered lob b ying.
Our neighborhood groups, the officers, committee heads have been able to seek out information in order to inform
decisions.
In reading the new 'rules', it seems as there are restrictions for some but not all in a quite unbalanced fashion.
I ask you to rethink the issue and restructure 'lob byi ng' to remain a monetary exchange as part of the definition.
In a city where there is so much personal contact with our officials ( and that's a good thing), we need to be able to
maintain some form of availability.
Personal gain, monetary gain, and developer and Chamber gain sh ould be made available by the receiver and reported.
Thanks,
Meyera Robbins
Meyera@mac.com
310 ‐614 ‐5665
Sent from my iPhone
Don't wear fur.
Item 7-D
4/25/17
1 of 1 Item 7-D
4/25/17
REFERENCE:
ORDINANCE NO. 2544
(CCS)