Revised November 6, 2015

RESOLUTION NO.
WHEREAS, Austinites have a fundamental constitutional right to petition and to
seek changes to their city government;
WHEREAS, Austinites have a right to and need for disclosure of the activities of
all persons paid appreciably to seek to influence the decisions of their government;
WHEREAS, comprehensive, timely and accessible disclosure of persons
compensated appreciably to influence government promotes government
transparency and public faith in the City of Austin’s government; and
WHEREAS, the City of Austin’s current lobbying ordinances, Chapter 4-8,
Regulation of Lobbyists, are outdated, ambiguous, and contain numerous gaps in
transparency; and
WHEREAS, a number of individuals who appear to be paid appreciably to
influence through direct communications Austin city employees on discretionary
municipal matters are currently not registering and reporting as lobbyists; and
WHEREAS, individuals should be required to register and report as lobbyists in
Austin who satisfy all of these criteria: 1) they are compensated; 2) over a
specified minimum threshold amount; 3) to influence; 4) through direct
communications: 5) a city employee; 6) on a discretionary; 7) municipal matter.
WHEREAS, Austin’s lobbyist laws, unlike Texas’ state laws, do not require
lobbyist to disclose essential information, such as the amounts they are paid, the
specific matters they are lobbying on, details of their expenditures, or the names
and pay of the persons assisting them; and
WHEREAS, the City’s enforcement of Austin’s lobbyist laws has not been
effective; and

 WHEREAS, the State of Texas’ more modern and effective lobbying laws (Tex.
Gov. Code, Chapter 305) and regulations (1 Tex. Admin. Code, Chapter 34)
provide guidance for improving Austin’s laws, as referenced below; and
WHEREAS, consideration by the Audit and Finance Committee of revisions
described in general terms below to Chapter 4-8 will provide an opportunity for the
City of Austin to make substantial improvements to its lobbyist disclosure laws:
1) Eliminate incidental employment as a lobbyist exception to the definition of
“compensation” and “expenditures” for lobbying in Austin City Code, Section 4-82(2), (3).
2) Encompass all city employees and agents within the scope of city personnel who
may be subject to being lobbied on a discretionary matter, by redefining “city
official” in Austin City Code, Section 4-8-2(1), to include all city employees,
consultants, agents and representatives. Similarly, revise the Austin lobby law’s
applicability in Austin City Code, Section 4-8-3 to include all city employees. See
Tex. Gov. Code Section 305.002(4), (7)
3) Amend “municipal question” in Austin City Code, Section 4-8-2 (9) to
explicitly require the city officials’ decision or action to be discretionary. Include
specifically in the definition of municipal question both municipal legislation and
administrative action of a discretionary nature that are subject to any action or
decision by a city official and that is pending or may in the future be subject to a
discretionary action or decision. See Tex. Gov. Code, Section 305.002 (1), (6). A
matter is considered discretionary per se if it can be appealed to a city commission,
city board, or to the council, or if it is an administrative variance or alternative
compliance in the Land Development Code (Titles 25 and 30). Decisions on
building permits and site plans are discretionary per se. However, technical
decisions, whether appealable or not, in Chapter 25-12 (the Technical Code) are
considered non-discretionary.
Subject to the above, discretionary excludes the non-discretionary day-to-day,
routine application, administration, and execution of city programs and policies
such as routine, non-discretionary permitting and design approval matters in

 connection with a specific project or development. See City of Houston Code,
Section 18-71 (administrative action, municipal legislation); City of Dallas Code,
Section 12A-15.2(12).
Define “municipal legislation” as (1) An ordinance, resolution, motion,
amendment, nomination, or any other matter pending before the city council,
council committee, city-created entity, or city commission; or (2) Any matter that
is or may be the subject of action by the city council, council committee, citycreated entity, or city commission, including drafting, placing on the agenda,
consideration, passage, defeat, approval, timing or tactics, or countersignature of
the matter. See City of Houston Code, Section 18-71 (municipal legislation)
Define “administrative action” as rulemaking, licensing, or any other matter that is
or may be the subject of decision or action by a city official, including the
proposal, consideration, or approval of the matter. See City of Houston Code,
Section 18-71 (administrative action).
4) Raise the lobbyist registration compensation thresholds in Austin City Code,
Section 4-8-4 to $2000 a quarter from $200 a quarter for all lobbying activities and
the expenditure threshold. to $500 from $200.
Add an additional lobbyist registration time threshold of 26 hours of lobbying time
a quarter. Add a subsection in Section 4-8-4 specifying that a person who
meets a threshold in this section is required to register if the person, as part of his
regular employment, communicates directly with a city official to influence a
municipal question, whether or not the person receives any compensation or
reimbursement for the communication in addition to their salary for that
employment. See Tex. Gov. Code 305.003(b).
Require the registrant to make a reasonable allocation of compensation, between
compensation for lobby activity and compensation for other activities, for all
reported persons. See 1 Tex. Admin. Code 34.43(c). Require the Ethics Review
Commission to recommend to the Council for consideration every four years a
modification in the registration compensation and expenditure thresholds to
maintain a substantially equivalent threshold after 4 years of cost of living and
other relevant changes.

 5) Increase the current lobbyist registration fee of $300 to $350 to reflect the cost
of living, in Austin City Code, Section 4-8-6(C). Tie the fee to the cost-of-living
index and having it revised automatically every year in increments of $10 at the
time of the City budget’s adoption. Lower the registration fee for regular
employees of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, that are not retained or
compensated by others to lobby, to $50 a year.
6) Require lobbyist reports, pursuant to Austin City Code, Section 4-8-7(A), to
include lobbyist compensation ranges for each client. See Tex. Gov. Code, Section
305.005(g). In addition, the Code in Section 4-8-6 (A) should include the following
information on lobbyist preparers or aides: their name, compensation, client, and
specific subject matter. Tex. Gov. Code, Section 305.005(f)(5).
7) Require all lobbyist registration forms and reports to be filed in an electronic
format that allows for a downloadable, searchable database, which will be placed
within 2 business days on the City website with common queries for publicly
accessibility, such as total compensation for a particular lobbyist, all clients of a
particular lobbyist, and all lobbyists and their compensation for a particular
municipal matter or client.
8) Require in Austin City Code, Section 4-8-6(A)(3) more detailed reporting of the
specific municipal matters lobbied on so that the lobbyist reports contain a
description by each client of every real property (an address or legal description)
and/or a description of each subject matter being lobbied. Require the City Clerk
to develop checkoff boxes for a comprehensive list of specific subject matter
descriptions. See Tex. Gov. Code, Section 305.005(f)(4).
9) Require lobbyists to update their city registration forms within 5 business days
when a new client or new municipal matter is added. See Tex. Gov. Code, Section
305.0065. Change Austin City Code, Sections 4-8-2(2) and 4-8-6 to have lobbyist
registration or amended registration triggered simply by the first day of direct
communication with a city official, rather than under current law, which is
triggered by the latter of their first day of direct communication or entering into a
lobby contract.

 10) Include lobbying preparation by lobbyists and their assistants for directly
communicating to the definition of “compensation” in Austin City Code, Section
4-8-2(2) for lobbying. See 1 Texas Administrative Code Sections 34.3, 34.63.
11) Redefine lobbying in Austin City Code, Section 4-8-2 (6) to include
“communicating directly” or communicating through intermediaries with city
officials. See Tex. Gov. Code Section 305.002(2).
12) Eliminate the overbroad dispute exception to lobbying in Section 4-8-5(7) and
add additional exceptions, such as for lobbyist assistants that do not directly
communicate with city officials and are reported by the lobbyist (See 1 T.A.C
34.63), and for a person whose only lobbying communication is public testimony
at a public hearing regardless of whether they are compensated. See Tex. Gov.
Code, Section 305.004 (2). Add an exception for persons who are appointed to city
boards and commissions and their sole activities relate directly to that public
service. Tex. Gov. Code, Section 305.0041(a)(4).
13) Require all registered lobbyists, by amending Austin City Code Section 4-8-9,
at the beginning of all their direct communications with city employees to state
their name and the client(s) for whom they are lobbying.
14) Amend the Austin lobby law to explicitly subject all lobby filings to state
perjury and false statement penal provisions, by amending Austin City Code,
Sections 4-8-6 (A) and 4-8-7 (A). Clarify Amend City Code Section 4-8-11 to
provide that each and every failure to properly register, file or disclose information
under Chapter 4-8 is a separate violation and is subject to a separate Class C
Misdemeanor
.
The City Attorney shall submit a written report subject to the Public Information
Act and testify in an Open Meeting at least quarterly to the Audit and Finance
Committee on their enforcement activities, which shall include: number of referrals
by City Clerk, City Auditor, and other City Departments, number of citizen
complaints, and number of City Attorney self-generated complaints; number of
investigations opened, the number of cases settled, the number of subpoenas for

 documents issued; the number of witnesses subpoenaed; the number of cases tried,
the number of cases in which a fine was imposed; the number of cases a fine was
not imposed or the person was adjudged not liable; the amount of fines assessed
and collected; and the number of City Attorney staff hours devoted for the period
for enforcement of the lobby laws.
15) Mandate in Section 4-9-11 that lobbyists that violate the City lobby law after
two prior adjudicated violation occurrences shall be banned from lobbying the City
of Austin for 60 to 365 days for each subsequent adjudicated occurrence.
16) Require the City Clerk, pursuant to Austin City Code, Section 4-8-7 (E), to
facially review all lobbyist registration and activity
report forms for timeliness and completeness within 30 days. Require all findings
of possible violations to be forwarded by the City Auditor to the Ethics Review
Commission within 10 business days.
17) Change Austin City Code, Section 2-7, Article 3, to require that complaints for
alleged violations of Austin City Code, Article 4-8, that the Ethics Review
Commission shall hold only a preliminary hearing, and not a final hearing, and that
the Commission be required to refer all complaints for which there is a reasonable
basis to believe that there may be a possible violation for municipal prosecution.
Require an Ethics Review Commissioner to fully recuse themselves from any
decision or participation in any lobbyist or ethics complaint before the Commission
involving an alleged violation by the Council member that nominated them.
18) Require, in Section 4-8-7, the City Auditor to annually conduct a complete
audit at random of a sufficiently large sample of lobby registrants to be
representative, but not less than 5% of registrants, to ensure registrants’ filings are
in compliance. All possible violations shall be referred to the Ethics Review
Commission within 14 days.
19) Delineate the expenditure categories more specifically. to include these
categories: (a) transportation and lodging; (b) food and beverages;(c)
entertainment; (d) gifts, other than awards and mementos; (e) awards and
mementos; (f) expenditures made for the attendance of city council members at

 political fund-raisers or charity events; (g) expenditures for broadcast or print
advertisements, direct mailings, and other mass media communications if:(1) the
communications are made to a person other than a member, employee, or
stockholder of an entity that reimburses, retains, or employs the registrant; and(2)
the communications support or oppose, or encourage others to support or oppose,
municipal questions; and (h) each person who is paid to assist or prepare the
lobbyist in directly communicating, including employees, agents, contractors,
experts, strategists, pollsters, media consultants, and others that assist or help
prepare the registrant in lobbying, excluding purely clerical or administrative
assistance. See Tex. Gov. Code, Section 305.006(b). Require itemization for
specific items over $50
.
20) Add narrow and limited exclusions to the definition of compensation in
Section 4-8-2(2), similar to those provided by Texas State Law, including for
activities directly related to service on appointed city boards and commissions.
Tex. Gov. Code Section 305.0041(a)(4); 1 Tex. Adm. Code 34.5. These exceptions
do not exist in current law, except the exceptions for mere inquiries and individual
financial gain. The exceptions to compensation for lobbying are:
(1) requesting or inquiring merely for informational purposes only, without seeking
directly or indirectly to influence or persuade, about a municipal law, ordinance,
regulation, rule, policy, practice, or procedure administered by the city;
(2) preparing or submitting an application or other required written document,
without seeking to influence or persuade, that provides merely information
required by law, ordinance, rule, regulation, order, or subpoena.
(3) communicating, without seeking to influence or persuade, for the purpose
merely of requesting information for achieving compliance with an audit,
inspection, city investigation, or existing laws, rules, and policies;.
(4) providing, without seeking to influence or persuade, information consisting of
facts or data to a city official that the city official specifically requested in writing
regarding a municipal matter, when the request was not solicited by or on behalf of
the person providing the information;

 (5) communicating to a city attorney or a municipal judge concerning litigation or
adjudicative proceedings to which the city is a party, or concerning adjudicative
proceedings of the city;
(6) providing testimony, making an appearance, or any other type of
communication documented as part of a public record in a proceeding of an
adjudicative or judicial nature, including before the City Municipal Courts, the
Ethics Review Commission, and the Municipal Service Commission;
(7) providing only clerical assistance to another in connection with the other
person's lobbying or preparation for lobbying;
(8) realizing financial gain as a result of a determination of a municipal question as
to real property that the person in question owns, unless that gain is in the form of
a contingent fee; or
(9) serving as a member of a city board, commission, or task force when their
communications relate solely and directly to their public service on the city entity.

21) Add additional minor clarifying language as appropriate to modernize Chapter
4-8
22) .Add a new section, requiring any individual who appears before city officials
to directly communicate with them on a municipal matter to sign in in writing with
the city department or agency in question, with their name and address, person or
entity whom they represent, the subject matter, and the main city officials they are
meeting with. See Texas Government Code, Section 2004. These paper sign-in
sheets should be posted in an organized manner weekly on the internet on the
City’s website. All records shall be kept by the city for at least 4 years.
23. Amend 4-8-4, 4-8-6 and 4-8-7, providing as an alternative to each individual
employee lobbyist of a business entity being required to register and report
separately, such that the employer entity may register and report on behalf of all its
employee lobbyists. Each employee lobbyist would have to swear under oath to

 their information submitted by the employer, and the same required information
would have to be provided. The employee lobbyist would not have to file separate
registration, reports, or fees. This provision would not apply to third-party
lobbyists.
24. Amend 4-8-11 to authorize late filing administrative penalties to be imposed by
the city clerk. Also, provide that filings are not considered late if registrants
amend or correct their lobbyist reports within 14 business days of being made
aware of errors. This grace period does not apply after a complaint has been filed.
See Texas Gov. Code Section 305.033.
25. Clarify for the reimbursement threshold in 4-8-4 that reimbursement does not
include the person's own travel, food, lodging, or membership dues to
communicate directly with a city official to influence a municipal matter. See 1
Texas Admin. Code Section 34.43
26. Seek to establish a civil enforcement administrative process, similar to the
process for short term rental violations, for violations of Chapter 4-8 and make the
fines civil rather than criminal.

NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE AUDIT AND FINANCE COMMITTEECITY
COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF AUSTIN:
The City Manager is directed to provide a draft ordinance in accordance with this
resolution within 60 days, and provide comment and recommendation for review
and consideration by the Audit and Finance Committee.
FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED:
The City Manager is directed to analyze and report back to the Audit and Finance
CommitteeCity Council within 90 days alternative approaches to ensure the
diligent and
independent City prosecution of alleged lobbyist law violations.

 ADOPTED: 2015 ATTEST:
annette S. Goodall
City Clerk