QUESTION
What is the extent of outreach and training being conducted by the NYC City Council on lobbying laws without a dedicated staff person?
1:14:28
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149 sec
The NYC City Council continues conducting outreach and training on lobbying laws despite not having a dedicated staff person for that role.
- The Council reviews reports filed with the state lobbying entity to ensure compliance in NYC.
- The Council contacts agencies receiving discretionary funding to inform them about the lobbying law.
- The Council investigates any evidence of unreported lobbying.
- Physical outreach like attending community board meetings has been reduced without the staff person.
Shahana K. Hanif
1:14:28
So 2 members of the team who are not the the outreach representatives are right now filling that role or as a part of their portfolio.
1:14:42
Could you just walk me through what the the extent of the outreach looks like in the trainings that you're fulfilling.
1:14:49
Yeah.
UNKNOWN
1:14:50
So we actually As part of the amnesty program, there was very specific activities that we were required to undergo.
1:14:58
We were required to take out advertisements, attend public meetings, distribute materials, public, you know, commercials.
1:15:06
And we fulfilled all of those activities that were specifically mandated by that by the law.
1:15:10
But there's other activities that we conduct on a yearly basis, quarterly basis to to conduct outreach and to train.
1:15:19
And we continue to do those activities even without that staff position.
1:15:23
So examples include Every year, we contact every single agency that receives discretionary funding and inform them of the lobbying law and invite them to communicate with our office if they need more information.
1:15:35
In addition, we review every single report filed with the New York State lobbying entity to make sure that if they are lobbying in New York City, they're also reporting with our office.
1:15:47
So for example, last we reviewed approximately 9000 reports filed with the state, and we compared them with the approximate 3000 reports filed with the city and made sure that anyone that wasn't in our system came into our system.
1:16:00
And as a result of that, we contacted approximately 94 entities But we also you know, if we we definitely haven't been able to physically go out there and attend as many meetings, and conduct as much community outreach as we did when we have the trainer.
1:16:16
But because for example, when we have the trainer, the trainer along with other staff that's sitting here, we went to every single community board meeting, every single bureau board meeting to publicize the information.
1:16:27
So we've had to come back cut back a little bit on some of our field operations.
1:16:32
But certainly, we continue to review all publicly available information to make sure if we see evidence that there's unreported lobbying, we investigate, and we haven't decreased those efforts even, you know, with
Shahana K. Hanif
1:16:47
I thought that's a staff person.
1:16:48
But would it be, of course, better to have the staff person?
UNKNOWN
1:16:53
Of course.
1:16:54
Right?
1:16:55
Whom more help is always going to be beneficial.