Gov. Peter Shumlin is expected to sign S.93, which increases the number of times per year that lobbyists and their employers must file expenditure reports with the Secretary of State’s Office from three to seven.
Lobbyists are already required to register with the Secretary of State’s office, but they only need to report spending once during the legislative session — April 25, when the session is almost over. The new law would require monthly reporting while lawmakers are in Montpelier.
The cornerstone of the bill requires lobbying groups to disclose the name of the group in advertisements and file a mass media report with the Secretary of State within 48 hours of running an advertising campaign worth $1,000 or more.
All of the disclosure requirements would be available through the Secretary of State’s online database, which provides public access to lobbyist disclosure information.
The bill went through the Legislature smoothly following guidance from the Attorney General’s Office. Assistant Attorney General Michael Duane helped rewrite parts of the bill to avoid infringing on First Amendment lobbying rights and corporate free speech.
Duane said the U.S. Supreme Court allows lawmakers to gather information and evaluate the “pressures” that lobbyists put on them, but he said they could not pass a law that even appeared unconstitutional.
Secretary of State Jim Condos said Thursday that he does not expect any lobbyists to sue the state over the law. Condos said the state has not been sued by a lobbyist in about 15 years, when the office increased fees.
As S.93 was making its way through the House, two Republicans tacked on a measure that prohibits legislative leadership political action committees from accepting donations during the biennium.
The measure is meant to stop lawmakers from holding lobbyist-sponsored mixers and accepting campaign donations while the Legislature is in session.
Rep. Kurt Wright, R-Burlington, and Rep. Patti Komline, R-Dorset, sponsored the amendment.
Same-Day Voter Registration Starts In 2017
Shumlin also supports and is expected to sign a same-day voter registration bill, S.29, which would allow Vermonters to register to vote at the polling place on Election Day.
The law would go into effect in 2017 with no formal identification requirement. The Senate agreed to push back the implementation until after the 2016 presidential election to accommodate town clerks.
There would no longer be a voter registration deadline of the Wednesday before an election, and Vermonters would not need to fill out affidavit ballots at the polls in the event of errors on a voter registration form.
By January, the Secretary of State’s Office would have to produce a report on the feasibility of automatic registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles. The office would study which states use identification laws for Election Day registration and how to guarantee Internet access at polling places, among other things.
The bill’s major votes were largely split along party lines. Supporters cited the measure as an important step toward increasing voter rights. Opponents were concerned about election fraud.
Vermont’s Sunshine Laws Modified
Shumlin has already signed one bill on how his administration must comply with the Public Records Act, and a bill that amends exemptions to the law is on his desk.
The first public records bill, H.17, became law March 12. The law places further legislative oversight on state agencies that try to expand how they deny information to the public using exemptions to the Public Records Act.
Agencies already have to file their internal rules with the Secretary of State’s Office, but the new law requires the office to include a cover letter on those proposed internal rules that clearly describes any exemption that the agency cites.
The letter would go to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules plus the Senate and House committees on government operations. The law now allows committee chairs to convene those committees at any time during the year to discuss an agency’s proposed exemption.
Shumlin is expected to sign the second bill, H.18, which clarifies exemptions to the Public Records Act. It also adds exemptions to several miscellaneous laws that have to do with public records.
Natural resources discharge permits would be exempt and kept confidential. The Division of Geology and Mineral Resources within the Agency of Natural Resources would not need to make its research information public.
The exemption for records from the Human Rights Commission would be stronger, and most records could only be obtained by court order. Pre-parole records would go from being “privileged” information to “confidential” information.
The trade secrets exemption to the Public Records Act would be clarified and expanded. The definition of a trade secret would include “confidential business records or information.” Instead of needing to prove that a trade secret is exempt, there would be a catch-all clause to let other records be kept “confidential.”
The law would also make exempt financial records that the Department of Public Service obtains from companies it supervises. The financial records exemption would include executive salaries, plus their pensions, stock options and other benefits.
Another exemption was contained in the telecommunications bill. The provision requires the Attorney General’s Office to keep information confidential about how companies bill cable companies for retransmission fees.
Once H.18 is passed, the Legislature, the Secretary of State’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the State Library, would have to put a copy of the list of exemptions on their websites. The Legislative Council would also send a copy of the list to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
