July 25 isn’t a particularly special day by most people’s standards, but it’s well-marked on the calendars at Vermont news outlets. That’s because it’s one of three times a year that lobbyists have to file reports on how much money they’ve spent trying to get lawmakers to look favorably on their interests.
The Secretary of State’s office held an all-day staff meeting, which meant they didn’t have enough manpower to supply scanned copies of the forms for public consumption by the end of the day. On Friday, the Secretary of State’s Office clarified that it usually takes three days to enter the disclosure data and post it online. All of the requested reports were made available to VTDigger on Friday.
The lobbyists themselves are held to strict rules; if they miss the deadline they can pay fines of up to $175, depending on how tardy they are in filing. State statutes charge the Secretary of State’s office with making the disclosure forms available to the public, but it doesn’t hold the office to a deadline.
The last filing date was in late April and the legislative session ended in May, so up until now the public has had partial information about what lobbyists spent during the 2013 legislative session. The July 25 filings, when they come, will complete that picture, offering insight into how money influenced lawmaking in the last legislative session.
Correction: VTDigger was the only news outlet to request the disclosure forms Thursday. Clarification: The original version of this story was unclear that the Secretary of State’s Office routinely requires three days to enter lobbyist disclosure data and post it online.
