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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2480 FILED ON: 1/19/2023
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3020
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Kate Donaghue
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act relative to municipal lobbying.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Kate Donaghue19th Worcester1/18/2023Michelle M. DuBois10th Plymouth2/7/2023 1 of 8
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2480 FILED ON: 1/19/2023
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3020
By Representative Donaghue of Westborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3020)
of Kate Donaghue and Michelle M. DuBois for legislation to regulate municipal lobbying. State
Administration and Regulatory Oversight.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
_______________
An Act relative to municipal lobbying.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Section 39 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
2Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after line 99, the following definition:-
3 “Covered municipal official”, a mayor, city manager, city councilor, member of the board
4of alderman, school committee member or municipal department head in a city having more than
5150,000 inhabitants as of the most recent federal census.”, and further;
6 By inserting after line 169, the following definitions:- ““Municipal agent”, a person who
7for compensation or reward engages in municipal lobbying which includes at least 1 lobbying
8communication with a government employee made by said person. The term “municipal agent”
9shall include a person who, as part of his regular and usual business or professional activities and
10not simply incidental thereto, engages in legislative municipal lobbying, whether or not any
11compensation in addition to the salary for such activities is received for such services. For
12purposes of this definition a person shall be presumed to be engaged in municipal lobbying that 2 of 8
13is simply incidental to his regular and usual business or professional activities if he or she: (i)
14engages in municipal lobbying for not more than 25 hours during any reporting period; and (ii)
15receives less than $2,500 during any reporting period for legislative lobbying.
16 “Municipal lobbying”, any act to promote, oppose, influence, or attempt to influence the
17decision of any covered municipal official, where such decision concerns any ordinance
18proposed or change to an adopted ordinance, action or vote of a covered municipal official or the
19adoption, repeal, amendment or postponement of a standard, rate, rule, regulation or appointment
20within a covered municipal official’s direct jurisdiction or the approval, modification or
21disapproval of any formal action by a covered municipal.”
22 SECTION 2. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
23Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “legislative agents” in line 7 the
24following words:- “, municipal agents”.
25 SECTION 3. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
26Official Edition, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “legislative” in line 9 the
27following word:- “, municipal”.
28 SECTION 4. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
29Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “legislative agent” in line 20 the
30following words:- “, municipal agent”.
31 SECTION 5. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General, as appearing in the 2020 Official
32Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “legislative agent” in line 25 the
33following words :- “, municipal agent”. 3 of 8
34 SECTION 6. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General, as appearing in the 2020 Official
35Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “legislative agent” in line 31 the
36following words :- “, municipal agent”.
37 SECTION 7. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
38Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following sentence after the second sentence
39in line 5:- The state secretary shall assess each municipal agent an annual filing fee of $50 upon
40entering the agent’s name on the docket.
41 SECTION 8. Section 41 of chapter 3 of the General, as appearing in the 2020 Official
42Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “legislative agent” in lines 48 and 49 the
43following words :- “, municipal agent”.
44 SECTION 9. Section 42 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
45Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following sentence at the end of the first
46paragraph in line 8:-
47 No person shall agree to engage in municipal lobbying for consideration to be paid upon
48the contingency of the outcome of the actions described in the definition of “municipal
49lobbying.”
50 SECTION 10. Section 43 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
51Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following new sentence after the first
52sentence of the first paragraph in line 29:-
53 On or before the fifteenth day of July, complete from January first through June thirtieth;
54and the fifteenth day of January, complete from July first to December thirty-first of the 4 of 8
55preceding year, every municipal agent shall render to the state secretary an itemized statement,
56under oath, listing all campaign contributions as defined in section one of chapter fifty-five; all
57expenditures, and the total amount thereof, incurred, contributed or paid during the reporting
58period in the course of his employment as a municipal agent and all expenditures made for or on
59behalf of covered municipal officials incurred or paid during the reporting period, except that the
60municipal agent shall not be required to report such expenditures not in the course of his
61employment made for or on behalf of the immediate family of such municipal agent or a relative
62within the third degree of consanguinity of the municipal agent or of his or her spouse or the
63spouse of any such relative; and except that in the case of all expenditures the municipal agent
64shall not be required to itemize the expenditures of any one day in which the amount incurred or
65paid did not total thirty-five dollars or more.
66 SECTION 11. Section 43 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
67Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the first sentence of the third paragraph contained
68in lines 41 to 54, inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following text:
69 Every legislative agent, municipal agent and executive agent shall include in the
70statement required by this section for the relevant reporting period: (1) the identification of each
71client for whom the legislative, municipal or executive agent provided lobbying services; (2) a
72list of all bill numbers and names of legislation and other governmental action that the executive,
73municipal or legislative agent acted to promote, oppose or influence; (3) a statement of the
74executive, municipal or legislative agent's position, if any, on each such bill or other
75governmental action; (4) the identification of the client or clients on whose behalf the executive,
76municipal or legislative agent was acting with respect to each such bill or governmental action;
77(5) the amount of compensation received for executive, municipal or legislative lobbying from 5 of 8
78each client with respect to such lobbying services; and (6) all direct business associations with
79public officials. The disclosure shall be required regardless of whether the legislative agent,
80municipal agent or executive agent specifically referenced the bill number or name, or other
81governmental action while acting to promote, oppose or influence legislation, and shall be as
82complete as practicable.
83 SECTION 12. Section 43 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
84Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 60 the
85following word:- “, municipal”.
86 SECTION 13. Section 43 of chapter 3 of the General, as appearing in the 2020 Official
87Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 67 the following
88word:- “, municipal”.
89 SECTION 14. Section 43 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
90Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 77 the
91following word:- “, municipal”.
92 SECTION 15. Section 44 of chapter 3 of the General Laws is hereby amended by
93inserting the following new sentence after the first sentence in line 26 of the first paragraph:-
94 On or before the fifteenth day of July, complete from January first through June thirtieth;
95and the fifteenth day of January, complete from July first to December thirty-first of the
96preceding year, any group or organization, however constituted, not employing a municipal
97agent which as part of an organized effort, expends in excess of two hundred and fifty dollars
98during any calendar year to promote, oppose, or influence municipal governmental action, or to
99influence the decision of any officer or employee of a covered municipal official, where such 6 of 8
100decision concern the adoption, defeat or postponement of a standard, rate, rule or regulation
101pursuant thereto, or to do any act to communicate directly with a covered municipal official to
102influence a decision concerning policy or procurement shall register with the state secretary by
103rendering a statement, under oath, containing the names and addresses of the principals of such
104group or organization, the purposes of the organization, such aforesaid decisions of such
105employees of the executive branch or an authority or legislation which affects those purposes,
106the total amount of expenditures, incurred or paid during the reporting period in furtherance of
107the foregoing objectives and an itemized statement containing all expenditures made for or on
108behalf of covered municipal officials and employees of such offices.
109 SECTION 16. Section 44 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
110Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 56 the
111following word:- “, municipal”.
112 SECTION 17. Section 44 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
113Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the text contained in the last paragraph in lines
11462 to 76, inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:
115 This section shall not apply to any group or organization that (i) does not employ an
116executive, municipal or legislative agent; (ii) does not realize a profit; (iii) does not make a
117contribution, as defined in section one of chapter fifty-five, to a political candidate or committee;
118(iv) does not pay a salary or fee to any member for any activities performed for the benefit of the
119group or organization; and (v) expends two thousand dollars or less during any calendar year to
120promote, oppose, or influence legislation, or the governor's veto or approval thereof, or to
121influence the decision of any officer or employee of the executive branch or an authority, 7 of 8
122including, but not limited to, statewide constitutional officers and employees thereof, or a
123covered municipal official and employees thereof, where such decision concerns legislation or
124the adoption, defeat or postponement of a standard, rate, rule or regulation pursuant thereto or
125other government action, or to do any act to communicate directly with a covered executive
126official or covered municipal official to influence a decision concerning policy or procurement.
127 SECTION 18. Section 45 of chapter 3 of the General Laws is hereby amended by
128inserting the following the words in the subsection (d) after the words “executive lobbying”:- ,
129municipal lobbying.
130 SECTION 19. Section 45 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
131Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 96 the
132following word:- “, municipal”.
133 SECTION 20. Section 46 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
134Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 1 the
135following word:- “, municipal”.
136 SECTION 21. Section 47 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
137Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence contained in lines 1 to 25,
138inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following text:
139 “On or before the fifteenth day of July, complete from January first through June
140thirtieth; and the fifteenth day of January, complete from July first to December thirty-first of the
141preceding year, every employer of an executive, municipal or legislative agent shall render to the
142state secretary a complete and detailed itemized statement, under oath, listing all expenditures
143incurred or paid separately by such employer during the reporting period in connection with 8 of 8
144promoting, opposing or influencing legislation, or the governor's approval or veto thereof, or
145influencing the decision of any officer or employee of the executive branch or an authority,
146including, but not limited to, statewide constitutional officers and employees thereof, or a
147covered municipal official and employees thereof, where such decision concerns legislation or
148the adoption, defeat or postponement of a standard, rate, rule or regulation pursuant thereto or
149other government action, or to do any act to communicate directly with a covered executive
150official or covered municipal official to influence a decision concerning policy or procurement
151and all expenditures for or on behalf of the statewide constitutional officers, officers and
152employees of such offices, members of the general court, officers and employees of the general
153court, officers and employees of the executive branch and officers and employees of an
154authority, covered municipal officials and any employees thereof and the total amount thereof
155incurred or paid separately by such employer during the reporting period; and except that in the
156case of all expenditures the employer shall not be required to itemize the expenditures of any one
157day in which the amount incurred or paid did not total thirty-five dollars or more.”
158 SECTION 22. Section 47 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
159Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in line 47 the
160following word:- “, municipal”.
161 SECTION 23. Section 48 of chapter 3 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
162Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “executive” in lines 6 and 8, as it
163appears in each instance, the following word:- “, municipal”.