Florida Senate - 2014                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for CS for SB 846
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì310360kÎ310360                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                 Floor: WD/2R          .                                
             03/20/2014 02:45 PM       .                                
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    1         Senate Amendment 
    2  
    3         Delete lines 172 - 275
    4  and insert:
    5  of elections, clerk of the circuit court, or superintendent of
    6  schools.
    7         (i)(h) “Office” means the Office of Legislative Services.
    8         (j)(i) “Principal” means the person, firm, corporation, or
    9  other entity which has employed or retained a lobbyist.
   10         (2) A local officer may not lobby or register to lobby the
   11  Legislature on behalf of a person or entity other than his or
   12  her political subdivision. This subsection does not prohibit a
   13  local officer from being employed by, or contracting with, a
   14  lobbying firm if he or she does not personally represent clients
   15  before the Legislature.
   16         (9)(8) Any person required to be registered or to provide
   17  information pursuant to this section or pursuant to rules
   18  established in conformity with this section who knowingly fails
   19  to disclose any material fact required by this section or by
   20  rules established in conformity with this section, or who
   21  knowingly provides false information on any report required by
   22  this section or by rules established in conformity with this
   23  section, commits a noncriminal infraction, punishable by a fine
   24  not to exceed $5,000. Such penalty shall be in addition to any
   25  other penalty assessed by a house of the Legislature pursuant to
   26  subsection (8) (7).
   27         (10)(9) There is hereby created the Legislative Lobbyist
   28  Registration Trust Fund, to be used for the purpose of funding
   29  any office established for the administration of the
   30  registration of lobbyists lobbying the Legislature, including
   31  the payment of salaries and other expenses, and for the purpose
   32  of paying the expenses incurred by the Legislature in providing
   33  services to lobbyists. The trust fund is not subject to the
   34  service charge to general revenue provisions of chapter 215.
   35  Fees collected pursuant to rules established in accordance with
   36  subsection (3) (2) shall be deposited into the Legislative
   37  Lobbyist Registration Trust Fund.
   38         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 112.3215, Florida
   39  Statutes, is amended, present subsections (3) through (15) of
   40  that section are renumbered as subsections (4) through (16),
   41  respectively, a new subsection (3) is added to that section, and
   42  present subsection (11) of that section is amended, to read:
   43         112.3215 Lobbying before the executive branch or the
   44  Constitution Revision Commission; registration and reporting;
   45  investigation by commission.—
   46         (1) For the purposes of this section:
   47         (a) “Agency” means the Governor, the Governor and Cabinet,
   48  or any department, division, bureau, board, commission, or
   49  authority of the executive branch. In addition, “agency” shall
   50  mean the Constitution Revision Commission as provided by s. 2,
   51  Art. XI of the State Constitution.
   52         (b) “Agency official” or “employee” means any individual
   53  who is required by law to file full or limited public disclosure
   54  of his or her financial interests.
   55         (c) “Compensation” means a payment, distribution, loan,
   56  advance, reimbursement, deposit, salary, fee, retainer, or
   57  anything of value provided or owed to a lobbying firm, directly
   58  or indirectly, by a principal for any lobbying activity.
   59         (d) “Expenditure” means a payment, distribution, loan,
   60  advance, reimbursement, deposit, or anything of value made by a
   61  lobbyist or principal for the purpose of lobbying. The term
   62  “expenditure” does not include contributions or expenditures
   63  reported pursuant to chapter 106 or contributions or
   64  expenditures reported pursuant to federal election law,
   65  campaign-related personal services provided without compensation
   66  by individuals volunteering their time, any other contribution
   67  or expenditure made by or to a political party or an affiliated
   68  party committee, or any other contribution or expenditure made
   69  by an organization that is exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C.
   70  s. 527 or s. 501(c)(4).
   71         (e) “Fund” means the Executive Branch Lobby Registration
   72  Trust Fund.
   73         (f) “Lobbies” means seeking, on behalf of another person,
   74  to influence an agency with respect to a decision of the agency
   75  in the area of policy or procurement or an attempt to obtain the
   76  goodwill of an agency official or employee. “Lobbies” also means
   77  influencing or attempting to influence, on behalf of another,
   78  the Constitution Revision Commission’s action or nonaction
   79  through oral or written communication or an attempt to obtain
   80  the goodwill of a member or employee of the Constitution
   81  Revision Commission.
   82         (g) “Lobbying firm” means a business entity, including an
   83  individual contract lobbyist, that receives or becomes entitled
   84  to receive any compensation for the purpose of lobbying, where
   85  any partner, owner, officer, or employee of the business entity
   86  is a lobbyist.
   87         (h) “Lobbyist” means a person who is employed and receives
   88  payment, or who contracts for economic consideration, for the
   89  purpose of lobbying, or a person who is principally employed for
   90  governmental affairs by another person or governmental entity to
   91  lobby on behalf of that other person or governmental entity.
   92  “Lobbyist” does not include a person who is:
   93         1. An attorney, or any person, who represents a client in a
   94  judicial proceeding or in a formal administrative proceeding
   95  conducted pursuant to chapter 120 or any other formal hearing
   96  before an agency, board, commission, or authority of this state.
   97         2. An employee of an agency or of a legislative or judicial
   98  branch entity acting in the normal course of his or her duties.
   99         3. A confidential informant who is providing, or wishes to
  100  provide, confidential information to be used for law enforcement
  101  purposes.
  102         4. A person who lobbies to procure a contract pursuant to
  103  chapter 287 which contract is less than the threshold for
  104  CATEGORY ONE as provided in s. 287.017.
  105         (i) “Local officer” means a state attorney, public
  106  defender, sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, supervisor
  107  of elections, clerk of the circuit court, or superintendent of
  108  schools.