Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee

HB 2878

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Background:

The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) was created and empowered by an initiative of the people to provide timely and meaningful public access to information about the financing of political campaigns, lobbyist expenditures, and the financial affairs of public officials and candidates, and to ensure compliance with contribution limits and other campaign finance restrictions.

In 1999 electronic filing was made available to candidates, public officials, and political committees for filing financial affairs reports, contribution reports, and expenditure reports. By 2002 electronic filing was mandatory. Electronic filing was made available to lobbyists and lobbyist employers for submitting their reports in 2002, although it is not mandatory. Electronic filing includes, but is not limited to, filing by diskette, modem, satellite, or over the Internet.

Funding was made available to the PDC in the fiscal year 2008 budget for a feasibility study to determine the cost to design, develop, implement, and maintain an application to accommodate electronic filing by lobbyists, lobbyist employers, public agencies and a database and query system compatible with current computer architecture, technology, and operating systems.

Summary of Bill:

Electronic Reporting Requirements.

Beginning January 1, 2013, lobbyists whose reportable compensation was $10,000 in the previous calendar year, or is expected to be $10,000 in the current calendar year, must file the required disclosure reports electronically over the Internet. Also beginning January 1, 2013, all agencies required to file lobbying reports must file the reports electronically over the Internet. Beginning January 1, 2014, lobbyist employers whose reportable expenses and payments for lobbying was $10,000 or more in the previous calendar year, or is expected to be $10,000 or more in the current calendar year, must file the required disclosure reports electronically over the Internet.

Initial Lobbying Fee.

Effective August 1, 2010, lobbyists, lobbyist employers, and agencies must pay an initial fee to the PDC for development and implementation of an electronic filing system for reporting lobbying disclosure reports. Lobbyists who earn $10,000 or more must pay a fee of $250. Lobbyist employers whose total reportable accrued expenses and payments for lobbying is $10,000 or more must pay a fee of $500. State agencies that have 50 or more full-time equivalent employees must pay a fee of $150. The fees must be used to establish the software and hardware needed to establish an electronic filing system for lobbyists and lobbyist employers.

Annual Filing Fees.

Annual fees for filing reports to the PDC are established. Every political committee, lobbyist, lobbyist employer, and person filing a personal financial affairs statement must pay a fee of $200 for each year that reporting is required. No person must pay more than one fee in a calendar year, and any person may file an appeal to the PDC.

Account.

The fees collected must be deposited into the Lobbying Electronic Filing Account (Account) created in the custody of the State Treasurer. Expenditures from the Account may be used only for costs incurred for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of an application to accommodate electronic filing for lobbying reports, and a database and query system compatible with current systems.