President's Message Welcome New Members 2004 PAGR Schedule Lobbypalooza 2004 Starner-Spitalny Golf

President's Message
by Judith Eschberger, Esq.

The Road Has Been A Long One.

As any lobbyist knows, Pennsylvania has been struggling with its' Lobbying law for a number of years and we have the distinction of being the only state in the nation that does not regulate the lobbying community. That being said, there are as many versions of what that law could look like as there are states. Since PAGR represents approximately 300 lobbyists in various categories - corporate, independent, association and lawyers, our goal has always been to have a level playing field so as not to give one category of members a competitive advantage over another category of members.

The previous Lobbying Disclosure Act, enacted in 1998, was determined by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to be unconstitutional in 2002 as it pertained to attorneys. In keeping with the non-severability provision of the Act, since the Court would not permit the regulation of attorneys that were lobbying, it was struck down as to all lobbyists. In July, 2003, the Court published a Rule classifying "lobbying" as "non-legal services." Many believe that this is the answer to permitting the Legislature to regulate non-attorney lobbyists AND the actions of attorneys when they are acting as lobbyists.

Initially, Representative John Maher introduced House Bill 1770 and the House State Government Committee began conducting workshops to gather the committee members and stakeholders. It was a painstaking process as we discussed how a lobbying firm performed its' work and the differences for an association or corporate lobbyist and an attorney who provides lobbying services. Some of the terminology has changed to avoid confusion that occurred with the 1998 law. The State Ethics Commission participated in the final meetings so that they could understand that certain changes were made to this new version in order to avoid some of the absurd consequences that resulted under the 1998 law and its' subsequent regulations.

The House State Government Committee met on March 17 to consider House Bill 2080 -the work groups work product. The bill was amended, reported out of Committee, had its' first reading and was laid on the table. Now what. Well, although no one views it as the perfect document, it goes a long way in addressing many of the concerns of the legislative members who signed on as sponsors as well as the stakeholders that participated in the work group.

Following the vote, I had the opportunity to talk with an AP reporter and he asked why the lobbying community was so opposed to regulation. Admittedly, our lives would be easier if we weren't regulated, but I told him that the lobbying community isn't running from regulation, but we want the regulation to be reasonable and manageable. To the Committee's credit, they don't want to create an onerous burden on those who petition government either as independent citizens/their constituents or as paid lobbyists. They recognized that Pennsylvania has a full time Legislature with a two-year session cycle and requiring lobbyists to report every month or list every bill they tricked would indeed be onerous. Likewise, they recognized that the public is most interested in knowing about entertainment/gift expenses and not what portion of an association's heating bill is related to lobbying. So although the road has been long, we will continue down it on behalf of our members. Please let us know whether you've got any specific concerns or questions as you review the legislation.

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Welcome New Members

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2004 PAGR Schedule
2004 Schedule

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Lobbypalooza 2004
ONE DAY ONLY!
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Blue Ridge Country Club

TOPICS INCLUDE:
Leadership Roundtable
Lobbying Disclosure
Strategic Communications
State & Federal PACs
Effective Negotiations

Sponsorships and Vendor Opportunities are available. Please contact Christine at the PAGR office is you are interested.

Deadline for Sponsor/Ad packages is Friday, September 5, 2003

Deadline for Golfer Registration is Thursday, September 11, 2003

For more information, visit our website at www.pagr.org or contact Christine Corrigan at the PAGR office @ info@pagr.org or 717.540.4391.

Starner-Spitalny Golf
The 2004 Starner-Spitalny Memorial Golf Outing is Thursday, September 30th At Hershey Country Club.

March 2004 January 2004 September 2003