On Monday, February 14th, the taxpayers of Arizona were given a Valentine’s Day present by the Senate Government Committee, when it passed SB1198. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Warren Petersen, prohibits counties, cities, towns, and school districts, from spending money on lobbying services, unless the person lobbying is an employee of the entity.
Petersen said he ran the bill in part because of concerns he was hearing from elected officials from various communities. Too often, they tell Petersen, outside lobbyists hired by communities and school districts are under the control and direction of unelected bureaucrats, who advocate for the bureaucrat’s pet projects rather than those of value to the constituents.
That concern is common among school governing board members, who often are advocating for parents and other taxpaying stakeholders, while superintendents and other administrative staff hire lobbyists who advocate for their own agenda that often does not reflect the voters’ wishes or the school board’s wishes.
As was pointed out during the hearing, the most important problem being fixed is that the taxpayers themselves do not have unlimited funds to lobby legislators to support pro-taxpayer positions, all while those same taxpayers end up paying for lobbyists who are lobbying against their interests. As a result, the playing field is less-than-level, and very anti-taxpayer.
Currently, a state agency, office, department, board or commission may not: 1) enter into a contract or other agreement with a person or entity for lobbying services; or 2) spend monies for any person or entity to lobby on its behalf unless the person is an employee of the state agency, office, department, board or commission. This prohibition does not apply to: 1) any state agency, office, department, board or commission that is either headed by one or more elected officials or exempt from the Arizona Procurement Code for the purposes of contracts for professional lobbyists; or 2) the employment relationship of a lobbyist who is a state employee directly employed by a state governmental unit for whom the employee acts as a lobbyist or lobbying is part of the employee’s job description (A.R.S. § 41-1234).
SB1198 provisions:
1. Prohibits a county, city, town, school district or other political subdivision or a representative of a county, city, town, school district or other political subdivision from:
a) entering into a contract or other agreement with a person or entity for lobbying services; or
b) spending monies for any person or entity to lobby on its behalf unless the person is an employee of a county, city, town, school district or other political subdivision.
2. Prohibits any membership dues from being authorized for lobbying activities if a county, city, town, school district or other political subdivision of Arizona is a member of an organization of which the majority of the members are composed of political subdivisions or other public bodies.