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Florida Administrative Code (Last Updated: October 28, 2024) |
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34. Commission on Ethics |
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D34. Departmental |
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34-12. Executive Branch Lobbyist Registration |
1(1) Where an expenditure is made to a person other than the agency official or employee by a lobbyist or principal, where the expenditure or the benefit of the expenditure ultimately is received by the agency official or employee, and where the expenditure is provided with the intent to benefit the agency official or employee, such expenditure will be considered a prohibited indirect expenditure to the agency official or employee.
71(2) Where an expenditure or the benefit of an expenditure is made to an agency official or employee by someone other than a lobbyist or principal, but the expenditure has been provided by or paid for by a lobbyist or principal who intends thereby to benefit the agency official or employee, such expenditure will be considered a prohibited indirect expenditure to the agency official or employee.
137(3) Factors which the Commission will consider in determining whether a prohibited indirect expenditure has been made include but are not limited to:
160(a) The existence or nonexistence of communications by the lobbyist or principal, or by the intervening third person, indicating the lobbyist’s or principal’s intent to make or convey the expenditure to the agency official or employee rather than to the intervening third person;
203(b) The existence or nonexistence of any relationship between the lobbyist or principal and the third person, independent of the relationship between the lobbyist or principal and the agency official or employee, that would motivate an expenditure to the third person;
244(c) The existence or nonexistence of any relationship between the third person and the agency official or employee that would motivate the expenditure;
267(d) Whether the same or similar expenditures have been or are being provided to other persons having the same relationship to the lobbyist or principal as the third person;
296(e) Whether, under the circumstances, the third person had full and independent decision-making authority to determine whether the agency official or employee, or another, would receive the benefit of the expenditure;
327(f) Whether the third person was acting with the knowledge or consent of, or under the direction of, the lobbyist or principal;
349(g) Whether there were or were intended any payments or bookkeeping transactions between the third person and the lobbyist or principal reimbursing the third person for the expenditure; and
378(h) The degree of ownership or control the lobbyist or principal has over the third person.
394(4) The provisions of this rule may be illustrated by the following examples:
407EXAMPLE 1: A law firm which lobbies the agency of Agency Employee A (“A”) invites all of its attorneys to attend a weekend retreat. The attorneys are encouraged to bring their spouses or significant others at the firm’s expense. A is married to an attorney in the firm and has been asked by her spouse to attend the retreat. The lodging, meals, and entertainment provided to A for the weekend retreat would not be considered a prohibited indirect expenditure to A because the firm’s invitation was to A’s spouse through his employment with the firm.
502EXAMPLE 2: Agency Official B (“B”) hosts a turkey shoot attended by other agency officials and employees. Lobbyists who lobby the agency of B give money to a third person, who is not an agency official or employee, to pay for the food and beverages which will be served at the turkey shoot. B orders and prepares the food and beverages. The money provided to the third person by the lobbyists would be a prohibited indirect expenditure to B, because it was given with the intent of benefiting B and his guests at the turkey shoot.
598EXAMPLE 3: Agency Official C (“C”) and C’s spouse have arranged to take a trip to New York City. A lobbyist who lobbies C’s agency meets with the spouse and offers her theater tickets. The lobbyist and C’s spouse know each other only through the lobbyist’s involvement with C. The theater tickets would be a prohibited indirect expenditure to C.
658Rulemaking Authority 660112.3215(14), 661112.322(9) FS. 663Law Implemented 665112.3215 FS. 667History–New 6-15-06.
