The practice of lobbying is considered so essential to the proper functioning of the U. Constitution: "Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The practice of lobbying provides a forum for the resolution of conflicts among often diverse and competing points of view; provides information, analysis, and opinion to legislators and government leaders to allow for informed and balanced decision making; and creates a system of checks and balances that allows for competition among interest groups, keeping any one group from attaining a permanent position of power.
Lobbyists can help the legislative process work more effectively by providing lawmakers with reliable data and accurate assessments of a bill's effect.
The role lobbyists play in the legislative arena can be compared to that of lawyers in the judicial arena. Just as lawyers provide the trier of fact judge or jury with points of view on the legal issues pertaining to a case, so do lobbyists provide local, state, and federal policymakers with points of view on public policy issues.
Although lobbying as a whole serves as a checks-and-balances safeguard on the legislative process, individual lobbyists are not necessarily equal. Unlike voters, who each get one vote, lobbyists vary in their degree of influence. The level of influence a lobbyist has over the legislative process is often proportional to the resources—time and money—the lobbyist can spend to achieve its legislative goal.
Some people think lobbyists in general have too much power. The definition of a lobbyist typically revolves around lobbying on behalf of another for compensation. Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wyoming and New York stipulate compensation thresholds, so that an individual is required to register only after receiving a certain amount of compensation.
The following table provides definitions of lobbying, lobbyist, and other related terms from the respective states' statutes. This table is intended to provide general information and does not necessarily address all aspects of this topic. Because the facts of each situation may vary, this information may need to be supplemented by consulting legal advisors.
Lobby or Lobbying. The practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the introduction, defeat, or enactment of legislation before any legislative body; opposing or in any manner influencing the executive approval, veto, or amendment of legislation; or the practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the enactment, promulgation, modification, or deletion of regulations before any regulatory body.
The term does not include providing public testimony before a legislative body or regulatory body or any committee thereof. The term includes any of the following: 1 A person who receives compensation or reimbursement from another person, group, or entity to lobby.
Lobbying includes promoting or attempting to influence the awarding of a grant or contract with any department or agency of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of state government. Alaska Stat. Specifically enumerated exceptions to lobbying registration requirements located at Ariz. If the communication is filed with the Secretary of State, the filing shall include the approximate number of recipients. Also applies to state agencies with rule-making authority.
Does not include communications made in response to a statute, rule, regulation, or order requiring such communication. Does not include communications by a person who appears before a committee of the general assembly or a rule-making board or commission solely as a result of an affirmative vote by the committee, board, or commission issuing a mandatory order or subpoena commanding that the person appear and testify.
Does not include attorney-client communications, duties performed by employees of the legislative department. Does include both professional or volunteer lobbyists. A "volunteer lobbyist" means any individual who engages in lobbying and whose only receipt of money or other thing of value consists of nothing more than reimbursement for actual and reasonable expenses incurred for personal needs.
Has received or is to receive compensation; or b. Is authorized to act as a representative of any person who has as a substantial purpose the influencing of legislative or administrative action; or c. Expends any funds during the calendar year for members of the General Assembly or for employees or members of any state agency for 1 food and refreshment; 2 entertainment; 3 lodging expenses; 4 fair travel value if over miles; 5 recreation expenses; 6 gifts or contributions, excluding political contributions.
Del Code tit. Does not include: i The appearance or presentation of written testimony by a person on his or her own behalf, or representation by an attorney on behalf of any such person in a rulemaking, rate-making, or adjudicatory hearing before an executive agency or the Tax Assessor; ii Information supplied in response to written inquiries by an executive agency, the Council, or any public official; iii Inquiries concerning only the status of specific actions by an executive agency or the Council; iv Testimony given before the Council or a committee of the Council, during which a public record is made of such proceedings or testimony submitted for inclusion in such a public record; v A communication made through the instrumentality of a newspaper, television, or radio of general circulation, or a publication whose primary audience is the organization's membership; and vi Communications by a bona fide political party.
Does not include public officials communicating directly or soliciting others to communicate with other public officials; provided, that a public official does not receive compensation in addition to his or her salary for such communication or solicitation and makes such communication and solicitation in his or her official capacity. Code Ann. Lobbying means any activity by a lobbyist which is reasonably designed to influence the passage, defeat, or content of any legislation.
Does not include the preparation and submission of a grant application by a representative of a nonprofit organization. Idaho Code Ann. It affects policy by influencing policymakers and therefore citizens, rather than just individuals. Whether made directly by entities or through professional lobbying firms, the contributions—this "special interest money" as it's imaginatively known—causes lobbying to be associated with bribery.
In contrast, a bribe usually occurs on an individual level. And it is anything but public. A bribe giver usually gives an offer of money "under the table" in order to subvert standard processes. This could be paying a tax officer to clear reports with under-reported revenue or sending goods without an invoice. The bribe may be in the form of a donation or favor in kind. A company's purchase manager may award an order to a supplier in return for undue favor in the form of money, against his company's policy of awarding orders based on criteria of quality and price.
Public officers are offered bribes to enable evasion of taxes and the corresponding liabilities at an individual or company level. However it's done, a bribe—along with its cousin, the kickback —results in an unfair advantage for the bribe giver. Bribes may seem like small amounts compared to lobbying contributions, but therein lies the problem: They often cannot be accounted for.
Bribery is the first step of subversion of the economic system. Slowly but steadily, a corrupt, parallel system is formed. It creates inefficiencies and obstacles in the short term; over time, it erodes the economic foundation of the country, hurting the most vulnerable members of the society and filling the middle class with a sense of hopelessness and cynicism.
The company reached a plea bargain with prosecutors in Britain, France, and the United Kingdom. Bribery seems to have no morally redeeming features at all: It is a direct purchase of favor or advantage.
Lobbying, on the other hand, is also used by civil rights and environmental support groups in their battles against commercial and for-profit interests. In that sense, lobbying becomes a critical and important tool in influencing public policy and evening the scales between different groups. But all too often, the border where lobbying's influence ends, and outright bribery begins, can be hard to fathom. The primary difference between a gift and a bribe is that a gift comes with no expectations, meaning, no strings attached.
A gift is given freely out of goodwill as opposed to with the intention of receiving something in return to better the position of the giver. Often, a bribe can be directly related to some future action whereas a gift, not necessarily so. Bribery is considered to be a felony. This applies to both the bribe giver and the bribe receiver. If convicted of bribery, an individual most often has to complete a state prison sentence of at least one year.
Commercial bribery cases are often classified as misdemeanors. The three main types of bribes are active bribes, passive bribes, and facilitation payment. A Supreme Court ruling in reaffirmed the legality of lobbying in the United States.
In an opinion, Justice Jackson wrote that many lobbyists are "entirely honest and respectable representatives of business, professional, and philanthropic organizations who come to Washington openly and frankly to express their views for or against the legislation, many of whom serve a useful and perfectly legitimate purpose. So while some bad-actor lobbyists do break laws, lobbying, in general, is a legal activity because, as you will read below, it's not bribery and trying to influence Congress is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Researchers from Harvard University looked into the question "is lobbying bribery? After studying lobbyists for almost a year, they concluded that lobbysits are not professional bribers. They were able to boil down what makes lobbyists so influential to two sentences:. Rather, these firm lobbyists focus their professional attention on honing the fine art of building relationships, primarily with members of Congress and their staffs, but also with potential clients, coalitions and other individuals and organizations related to their clients and issue areas.
The Harvard researchers also looked at the role donations play in lobbying and influence , and they came to a very interesting conclusion:. A transaction or quid pro quo exchange, like borrowing money from a family member, would serve to undermine the relationship and, thus, it was to be avoided at all costs.
0コメント