SECOND REGULAR SESSION

[PERFECTED]

HOUSE BILL NO. 927

89TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES HOSMER (Sponsor), HICKEY AND GREEN.

Pre-filed December 1, 1997 and 1000 copies ordered printed.

Read 1^st time January 7, 1998.

Read 2^nd time January 8, 1998 and referred to the Committee on Governmental Organization & Review, January 12, 1998.

Reported from the Committee on Governmental Organization & Review, February 9, 1998, with recommendation that the bill

Do Pass.

Taken up for Perfection February 23, 1998. Bill ordered Perfected and printed, as amended.

ANNE C. WALKER, Chief Clerk

L2008.01P

AN ACT

To repeal section 36.150, RSMo 1994 and section 105.473, RSMo Supp. 1997, relating to certain political activities, and to enact in lieu thereof six new sections relating to the same subject, with penalty provisions.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Section 36.150, RSMo 1994, and section 105.473, RSMo Supp. 1997, are repealed and six new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 36.150, 105.155, 105.156, 105.157, 105.158 and 105.473, to read as follows:

36.150. 1. Every appointment or promotion to a position covered by this [law] chapter shall be made on the basis of merit as provided in this chapter. Demotions in and dismissals from employment shall be made for cause under rules and regulations of the board uniformly applicable to all positions of employment. No appointment, promotion, demotion or dismissal shall be made because of favoritism, prejudice or discrimination. The regulations shall prohibit discrimination in other phases of employment and personnel administration and shall provide such remedy as is required by federal merit system standards for grant-in-aid programs and is not provided in chapter 296, RSMo.

2. Political endorsements shall not be considered in connection with any such appointment.

3. No person shall use or promise to use, directly or indirectly, for any consideration whatsoever, any official authority or influence to secure or attempt to secure for any person an appointment or advantage in appointment to any such position or an increase in pay, promotion or other advantage in employment.

4. No person shall in any manner levy or solicit any financial assistance or subscription for any political party, candidate, political fund, or publication, or for any other political purpose, from any employee in a position subject to this [law] chapter, and no such employee shall act as agent in receiving or accepting any such financial contribution, subscription, or assignment of pay. No person shall use, or threaten to use, coercive means to compel an employee to give such assistance, subscription, or support, nor in retaliation for the employee's failure to do so.

5. [No employee selected under the provisions of this law shall be a member of any national, state, or local committee of a political party, or an officer of a partisan political club. Such person shall take no part in the management or affairs of any political party or in any partisan political campaign, except that nothing in this section shall prohibit an employee from attending and participating in a partisan presidential caucus held for the purpose of determining a group of registered voters' preference for the office of President of the United States.] No such employee shall be a candidate for nomination or election to any partisan public office or nonpartisan office in conflict with that employee's duties unless such person resigns, or obtains a regularly granted leave of absence, from such person's position.

6. No person elected to partisan public office shall, while holding such office, be appointed to any position covered by this [law] chapter.

7. Any officer or employee in a position subject to this [law] chapter who purposefully violates any of the provisions of this section shall forfeit such office or position. If an appointing authority finds that such a violation has occurred, or is so notified by the director, this shall constitute cause for dismissal [under] pursuant to section 36.390 and a final determination by the board as to the occurrence of a violation.

105.155. For the purposes of sections 105.155 to 105.158, the following terms mean:

(1) "Contribution", as defined in chapter 130, RSMo;

(2) "Employee", any individual holding an appointive position in an executive agency of the state;

(3) "Partisan political office", any office for which any candidate is nominated or elected as representing a party pursuant to chapter 115, RSMo.

105.156. 1. An employee may take part in the activities of political parties and political campaigns.

2. An employee may not:

(1) Use the employee's official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the results of an election;

(2) Knowingly solicit, accept or receive a political contribution from any person who is a subordinate employee of the employee, except on a voluntary basis;

(3) Run for the nomination, or as a candidate for election, to a partisan political office; or

(4) Knowingly solicit or discourage the participation in any political activity of any person who has an application for any compensation, grant, contract, ruling, license, permit or certificate pending before the employing department of such employee or is the subject of, or a participant in, an ongoing audit, investigation or enforcement action being carried out by the employing department of such employee.

3. An employee retains the right to vote as the employee chooses and to express the employee's opinion on political subjects and candidates.

105.157. 1. An employee may not engage in political activity:

(1) While on duty;

(2) In any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties;

(3) While wearing a uniform or official insignia identifying the office or position of the employee; or

(4) When using any vehicle owned or leased by the state or any agency or instrumentality of the state.

2. No printed material in support or in opposition to any legislation pending before the general assembly may be developed or distributed by any officer, employee or agent of the state of Missouri or of any political subdivision of the state. Material that is deemed to be in nature, informational only, may be distributed with the expressed consent of the legislation's sponsor.

105.158. It shall be unlawful for any person to intimidate, threaten, command or coerce any employee of the state to engage in, or not to engage in, any political activity, including, but not limited to, voting, or refusing to vote, for any candidate or measure in any election, making, or refusing to make, any political contribution or working, or refusing to work, on behalf of any candidate. Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a class three election offense as established in section 115.635, RSMo, punishable by a term of imprisonment for not more than one year and a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars, or both such fine and imprisonment.

105.473. 1. Each lobbyist shall, not later than five days after beginning any activities as a lobbyist, file standardized registration forms, verified by a written declaration that it is made under the penalties of perjury, along with a filing fee of ten dollars, with the commission. The forms shall include the lobbyist's name and business address, the name and address of all persons such lobbyist employs for lobbying purposes, the name and address of each lobbyist principal by whom such lobbyist is employed or in whose interest such lobbyist appears or works. The commission shall maintain files on all lobbyists' filings, which shall be open to the public. Each lobbyist shall file an updating statement under oath within one week of any addition, deletion, or change in the lobbyist's employment or representation. The filing fee shall be deposited to the general revenue fund of the state.

2. Each person shall, before giving testimony before any committee of the general assembly, give to the secretary of such committee such person's name and address and the identity of any lobbyist or organization, if any, on whose behalf such person appears. A person who is not a lobbyist as defined in section 105.470 shall not be required to give such person's address if the committee determines that the giving of such address would endanger the person's physical health.

3. (1) During any period of time in which a lobbyist continues to act as an executive lobbyist, judicial lobbyist or a legislative lobbyist, the lobbyist shall file with the commission on standardized forms prescribed by the commission monthly reports which shall be due at the close of business on the tenth day of the following month;

(2) Each report filed pursuant to this subsection shall include a statement, verified by a written declaration that it is made under the penalties of perjury, setting forth the following:

(a) The total of all expenditures by the lobbyist or his or her lobbyist principals made on behalf of all public officials, their staffs and employees, and their spouses and dependent children, which expenditures shall be separated into at least the following categories by the executive branch, judicial branch and legislative branch of government: printing and publication expenses; media and other advertising expenses; travel; entertainment; honoraria; meals, food and beverages; and gifts;

(b) An itemized listing of the name of the recipient and the nature and amount of each expenditure by the lobbyist or his or her lobbyist principal, including a service or anything of value, for all expenditures made during any reporting period, paid or provided to or for a public official, such official's staff, employees, spouse or dependent children;

(c) The total of all expenditures made by a lobbyist or lobbyist principal for occasions and the identity of the group invited, the date and description of the occasion and the amount of the expenditure for each occasion when any of the following are invited in writing:

a. All members of the senate;

b. All members of the house of representatives;

c. All members of a joint committee of the general assembly or a standing committee of either the house of representatives or senate; or

d. All members of a caucus of the general assembly if the caucus consists of at least ten members, a list of the members of the caucus has been previously filed with the ethics committee of the house or the senate, and such list has been approved by either of such ethics committees;

(d) Any expenditure made on behalf of a public official, or the public official's staff, employees, spouse or dependent children, if such expenditure is solicited by such public official, the public official's staff, employees, or spouse or dependent children, from the lobbyist or his or her lobbyist principals and the name of such person or persons;

(e) A statement detailing any direct business relationship or association or partnership the lobbyist has with any public official.

The reports required by this paragraph shall cover the time periods since the filing of the last report or since the lobbyist's employment or representation began, whichever is most recent.

4. No expenditure reported pursuant to this section shall include any amount expended by a lobbyist or lobbyist principal on himself or herself. All expenditures disclosed pursuant to this section shall be valued on the report at the actual amount of the payment made, or the charge, expense, cost, or obligation, debt or bill incurred by the lobbyist or the person the lobbyist represents. Whenever a lobbyist principal employs more than one lobbyist, expenditures of the lobbyist principal shall not be reported by each lobbyist, but shall be reported by one of such lobbyists.

5. Any lobbyist principal shall provide in a timely fashion whatever information is reasonably requested by the lobbyist principal's lobbyist for use in filing the reports required by this section.

6. All information required to be filed [under] pursuant to the provisions of this section with the commission shall be kept available by the executive director of the commission at all times open to the public for inspection and copying for a reasonable fee for a period of five years from the date when such information was filed.

7. No person shall knowingly employ any person who is required to register as a registered lobbyist but is not registered pursuant to this section. Any person who knowingly violates this subsection shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount of not more than ten thousand dollars for each violation. Such civil penalties shall be collected by action filed by the commission.

8. No lobbyist shall knowingly omit, conceal, or falsify in any manner information required pursuant to this section.

9. The prosecuting attorney of Cole County shall be reimbursed only out of funds specifically appropriated by the general assembly for investigations and prosecutions for violations of this section.

10. Any public official or other person whose name appears in any lobbyist report filed pursuant to this section who contests the accuracy of the portion of the report applicable to such person may petition the commission for an audit of such report and shall state in writing in such petition the specific disagreement with the contents of such report. The commission shall investigate such allegations in the manner described in section 105.959. If the commission determines that the contents of such report are incorrect, incomplete or erroneous, it shall enter an order requiring filing of an amended or corrected report.

11. The commission shall provide a report listing the total spent by a lobbyist for the month and year to any member or member-elect of the general assembly, judge or judicial officer, or any other person holding an elective office of state government on or before the twentieth day of each month. For the purpose of providing accurate information to the public, the commission shall not publish information in either written or electronic form for ten working days after providing the report pursuant to this subsection. The commission shall not release any portion of the lobbyist report if the accuracy of the report has been questioned pursuant to subsection 10 of this section unless it is conspicuously marked "Under Review".

12. Each lobbyist principal by whom the lobbyist was employed, or in whose behalf the lobbyist acted, shall provide a general description of the proposed legislation or action by the executive branch or judicial branch which the lobbyist supported or opposed. This information shall be supplied to the commission on March fifteenth and May thirtieth of each year.

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