TESTIMONY
Rachel Fauss, Senior Policy Adviser at Reinvent Albany, on Strengthening Lobbying Laws and Disclosure Requirements in New York City Government
2:29:12
·
3 min
Fauss advocates for more transparent and accountable New York City and state governments through her role at Reinvent Albany, a nonprofit organization.
- She supports the intent of three bills aimed at reducing the influence of well-funded political interests and the revolving door of city employees lobbying NYC
- Fauss urges the council to implement a minimum three-year lobbying revolving door ban, citing Florida's six-year ban as an example
- She recommends consistent standards across bills and clear, enforceable regulations for different categories of individuals
- Fauss highlights the need to implement a 2013 measure allowing smaller lobbyists to report twice a year instead of six times
- She advocates for legislation requiring lobbyists to disclose whether their activities support or oppose specific bills
Rachel Fauss
2:29:12
Okay.
2:29:13
I was gonna say good morning as that's what my testimony says, but good afternoon to a wrestler and council member brewer.
2:29:21
My name is Rachel Foss.
2:29:22
I'm the senior policy adviser for Reinvent Albany.
2:29:24
We advocate for more transparent and accountable New York government.
2:29:28
Both in the city and the state.
2:29:29
And thanks again for holding this hearing.
2:29:32
Definitely struck that it's been 10 years.
2:29:35
I was and wearing a different hat at the time that the changes went into effect, actually his hat.
2:29:41
So we support the intent of the 3 bills you're considering today and to reduce the undue influence of deep pocketed political interest and slow the revolving door of city government employees lobbying their former employer, the city of New York.
2:29:55
However, we urge you to aim much higher.
2:29:58
At a minimum, New York City should have a 3 year lobbying revolving door ban.
2:30:02
Just to put things in perspective, Florida has a 6 year ban.
2:30:07
And this is on elected officials and very high ranking folks This was passed by public referendum in 2018.
2:30:13
I'm gonna repeat that a 6 year ban.
2:30:16
So, surely, New York City can pass a ban half as long as Florida's.
2:30:20
And the 2 year ban, I think, exists in many states where there's 2 year terms.
2:30:24
We have a 4 year term.
2:30:25
So I think that's something to think about and how this is crafted.
2:30:31
And just to speak to the 3 year band, I think we'd like to see it deploy to all three of the bills you know, what category of people, the policymaker list, you know, I think we heard a lot of discussion today about who to get.
2:30:44
But I think bright line of 3 years and also a bright line that is not just to your former employer, but also the entire city is really important.
2:30:53
Is when you have different standards for different individuals, it gets very confusing.
2:30:58
And I think it's we know that enforcement's challenging when there's extremely limited staffing levels, so the brighter the lines are, the better.
2:31:07
On a couple of Other matters around lobbying activity.
2:31:11
Just wanna draw to your attention.
2:31:14
In 2013, the city Council passed the major changes to lobbying law, one of those was that smaller lobbyists, those that spend less than $10,000, and do not hire outside firms, they should only have to report twice a year rather than 6 times.
2:31:33
It's not that their lobbying reporting activity is not reported.
2:31:36
It's absolutely reported.
2:31:37
It's just the filing burden was reduced by from our understanding that has not been implemented.
2:31:44
That's something I think you should consider looking at.
2:31:48
We crunch the numbers and the elobbyist open data.
2:31:51
It looks like there's about a 140 groups who fall into that.
2:31:56
Some of them are notable.
2:31:57
Community Service Society, Habitat for Humanity, New York Botanical Garden, Queensboro Public Library, a lot of nonprofit institutions.
2:32:05
Full disclosure.
2:32:05
Rainbow Albany is also on that list.
2:32:08
Other piece, while I've got 7 seconds, I'm glad to hear that the fundraising and political consulting data is gonna be reported as open data, that's great.
2:32:18
We'd like you to introduce a bill that would specify whether lobbying, reporting, whether lobbyists activity is in support or opposition to bills.
2:32:27
Right now, you only know they lobby on the subject.
2:32:29
You don't know whether it is in support or opposition.
2:32:32
This is done in other states like Montana.
2:32:34
We think you should introduce Bill to help tighten up the wall.
2:32:37
Thanks.
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Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause New York, on Rebalancing Public Integrity and the Right to Petition Government Through Lobbying Reforms
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Ben Weinberg of Citizens Union on Strengthening Regulations for Political Consulting and Fundraising Activities by Lobbyists in New York City