Sec. 1-96. Financial reports of registrants. Requirements. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 1-96. Financial reports of registrants. Requirements. (a) Each client lobbyist registrant shall file with the Office of State Ethics between the first and tenth day of April, July and January a financial report, signed under penalty of false statement. The April and July reports shall cover its lobbying activities during the previous calendar quarter and the January report shall cover its lobbying activities during the previous two calendar quarters. In addition to such reports, each client lobbyist registrant which attempts to influence legislative action shall file, under penalty of false statement, interim monthly reports of its lobbying activities for each month the General Assembly is in regular session, except that no monthly report shall be required for any month in which it neither expends nor agrees to expend one hundred dollars or more in furtherance of lobbying. Such interim monthly reports shall be filed with the Office of State Ethics no later than the tenth day of the month following the last day of the month reported. If the client lobbyist registrant is not an individual, an authorized officer or agent of the client lobbyist registrant shall sign the form. A communicator lobbyist for a municipality or any subdivision of a municipality, a branch of state government or any subdivision of state government or a quasi-public agency shall file the reports described in this subsection utilizing the client lobbyist reporting schedule.

      (b) Each individual communicator lobbyist registrant and each business organization communicator lobbyist registrant shall file with the Office of State Ethics between the first and tenth day of January a report or reports, signed under penalty of false statement, reporting the amounts of compensation and reimbursement received from each of his clients during the previous year. In addition, each individual communicator lobbyist registrant and each business organization communicator lobbyist registrant shall: (1) Report the fundamental terms of contracts, agreements or promises to pay or receive compensation or reimbursement or to make expenditures in furtherance of lobbying, including the categories of work to be performed and the dollar value or compensation rate of the contract, at the time of registration; (2) report, in accordance with the schedule set forth in subsection (a) of this section, any amendments to these fundamental terms, including any agreements to subcontract lobbying work; and (3) report, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, any expenditures for the benefit of a public official in the legislative or executive branch or a member of the staff or immediate family of such official which are unreimbursed and required to be itemized. Such report shall not include the disclosure of food and beverage provided by a communicator lobbyist registrant to a public official in the legislative or executive branch or a member of his staff or immediate family at a major life event, as defined by the Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board, of the registrant. All such information shall be reported under penalty of false statement.

      (c) An individual communicator lobbyist registrant shall file a separate report for each person from whom he received compensation or reimbursement. Notwithstanding any provision of this subsection to the contrary, a business organization to which one or more individual communicator lobbyist registrants belong may file a single report for each client lobbyist in lieu of any separate reports that individual registrants are required to file pursuant to this subsection.

      (d) Each registrant who files a notice of termination under subsection (c) of section 1-95 shall file with the Office of State Ethics a financial report, under penalty of false statement, between the first and tenth day of January of the year following termination.

      (e) Each client lobbyist registrant financial report shall be on a form prescribed by the board and shall state expenditures made and the fundamental terms of contracts, agreements or promises to pay compensation or reimbursement or to make expenditures in furtherance of lobbying. Any such fundamental terms shall be reported once in the monthly, quarterly or post-termination report next following the entering into of such contract. Such financial report shall include an itemized statement of each expenditure of ten dollars or more per person for each occasion made by the reporting registrant or a group of registrants which includes the reporting registrant for the benefit of a public official in the legislative or executive branch, a member of his staff or immediate family, itemized by date, beneficiary, amount and circumstances of the transaction. The requirement of an itemized statement shall not apply to an expenditure made by a reporting registrant or a group of registrants which includes the reporting registrant for (1) the benefit of the members of the General Assembly at an event that is a reception to which all such members are invited or all members of a region of the state, as such term is used in subdivision (11) of subsection (g) of section 1-91, are invited, unless the expenditure is thirty dollars or more per person, or (2) benefits personally and directly received by a public official or state employee at a charitable or civic event at which the public official or state employee participates in his official capacity, unless the expenditure is thirty dollars or more per person, per event. If the compensation is required to be reported for an individual whose lobbying is incidental to his regular employment, it shall be sufficient to report a prorated amount based on the value of the time devoted to lobbying. On the first financial report following registration each client lobbyist registrant shall include any expenditures incident to lobbying activities which were received or expended prior to registration and not previously reported to the Office of State Ethics.

      (f) The Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board shall, by regulations adopted in accordance with chapter 54, establish minimum amounts for each item required to be reported, below which reporting may be made in the aggregate. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to expenditures made for the benefit of a public official or a member of such person's staff or immediate family.

      (g) Each former registrant shall (1) report receipts or expenditures incident to lobbying activities during his period of registration which are received or expended following termination of registration and (2) report each expenditure of ten dollars or more per person for each occasion made by him for the benefit of a public official or a member of such official's immediate family or staff which occurs within six months after termination of registration.

      (h) The Office of State Ethics shall, within thirty days after receipt of a financial report which contains the name of a public official in the legislative or executive branch or a member of such official's staff or immediate family, send a written notice to such public official, of the filing of the report and the name of the person who filed it.

      (P.A. 77-605, S. 7, 21; P.A. 79-615, S. 6, 10; P.A. 81-339, S. 4, 7; P.A. 82-423, S. 3, 8; P.A. 83-586, S. 12, 14; P.A. 84-21, S. 3; 84-425; P.A. 85-290, S. 7; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-1, S. 12, 22; P.A. 92-149, S. 3, 12; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-6, S. 7, 14; P.A. 05-183, S. 21.)

      History: P.A. 79-615 required interim monthly reports of lobbying activities during general assembly sessions, added detail to financial report requirements and provided that minimum amounts be established for items required to be reported; P.A. 81-339 raised level of expenditures requiring itemized reporting in Subsec. (b) from $25 to $35; P.A. 82-423 increased amount in Subsec. (b) from $35 to $50 and authorized waiver of reporting requirement where expenditures are less than $50; P.A. 83-586 amended Subsec. (a) to require post-termination reports, amended Subsec. (b) to delete notarization requirement and add reporting requirement for preregistration receipts and expenditures and added Subsec. (d) specifying certain post-termination receipts and expenditures required to be reported; P.A. 84-21 added exception in Subsec. (a) to monthly reporting requirement for months in which receipts or expenditures or agreements relating thereto are less than $50; P.A. 84-425 amended section to permit filing of a single financial report on behalf of all registrants in a business organization for each client, to clarify $50 per occasion reporting requirement and added Subsec. (e) to require the commission to notify public officials of financial reports which contain the name of the official, a member of his staff or a member of his family; P.A. 85-290 amended Subsecs. (b) and (d) to require reporting of expenditures of $15 or more per person for each occasion rather than of expenditures of $50 or more per occasion and in Subsec. (b) exempted registrants from reporting expenditures in certain cases involving a reception for all members of the general assembly; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-1 amended Subsec. (a) by repealing requirement for October report, limiting monthly reports to each month general assembly is in regular session, increasing threshold for monthly report from $50 to $100, and allowing business organization to which one or more registrants belong to file single financial report in lieu of separate reports for individual registrants, amended Subsecs. (b) and (d) by decreasing threshold for itemized statement of each expenditure per person for each occasion from $15 to $10 and in Subsec. (b) repealed commission authority to waive reporting of expenditures less than $50, and added sentence to Subsec. (c) re exemptions from requirements of Subsec. (c); P.A. 92-149 amended Subsec. (a) to add "client lobbyist" reference, added reporting requirement for communicator lobbyist, added new Subsec. (b) re reporting requirements of individual communicator lobbyist registrant and business organization communicator lobbyist, created a new Subsec. (c) with language taken from the old Subsec. (a) re filing separate reports for each person in a firm receiving compensation or reimbursement, added "individual communicator lobbyist" and "client lobbyist" references, relettered the remaining Subsecs. as necessary and made technical corrections for statutory consistency; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-6 amended Subsec. (e) by expanding the exception to the requirement to submit itemized statements and by changing limit to $30, effective January 1, 1998; P.A. 05-183 replaced "commission" with "Office of State Ethics", "Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board" or "board" throughout the section, effective July 1, 2005.