H-4994.1  _______________________________________________

               ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2591

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By House Committee on Government Administration (originally sponsored by Representatives Dyer, D. Schmidt, Clements, L. Thomas, Lisk, Zellinsky, Huff, B. Thomas and Schoesler)

Read first time 02/06/98.  Referred to Committee on .

Forbidding state agencies from requesting vendors to lobby the legislature.

    AN ACT Relating to prohibiting state agencies from soliciting vendors and contractors to lobby the legislature; and adding a new section to chapter 41.04 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 41.04 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) An employee or officer of a state agency may not use state resources to demand, or pressure vendors or contractors from whom the state agency is making purchases or has a current contract for services, construction, or maintenance, to lobby or contact the legislature, including members of the legislature or legislative staff, regarding proposed or pending legislation.

    (2) Subsection (1) of this section only prohibits communications between an employee or officer of a state agency and a vendor or contractor that are explicitly or implicitly coercive in nature where the vendor or contractor fears, or has reason to fear, loss of an existing contract by the state agency if the vendor or contractor fails to lobby or make such legislative contacts.

    (3) As used in this section, the term "state agency" means a board, commission, bureau, committee, department, institution, division, educational institution, or tribunal of the executive branch of state government, but does not include an elected official of the executive branch of state government.

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