Dennis blasted on lobbyist law

Lawmaker pushes for implementation of disclosure rules

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

A state representative has accused Secretary of State Gigi Dennis of dragging her feet in implementing a law that requires lobbyists to disclose more information about their work.

"I'm irritated that she's making all kinds of emergency rules (involving campaign laws) that are not connected to her job, but she doesn't have time to comply with the plain language of the bill that is her job," said Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora.

Bill Hobbs, deputy secretary of state, said Tuesday his office is working hard to implement the new law, passed in the recent legislative session.

He blamed the delay on the fact that the $36,400 needed to do the work was not approved until July 1, the same date the law went into effect.

House Bill 1149 requires lobbyists to add the following information to their monthly reports to the secretary, which is posted on her Web site:

• Who they work for.

• Which bills they're working on, and bill numbers.

• The positions their clients have taken on those bills.

• Any financial relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers that would be affected by the bills being worked on.

Tuesday, Carroll sent a letter to Dennis, stating: "I am concerned that the effective date for this legislation was July 1, 2006 and the Secretary of State's office has still not made the necessary changes to come into compliance with the requirements of the statute."

She states that on the secretary of state's Web site, there is a notice to lobbyists that the office has started the reprogramming of the online lobbyist system, but that the project isn't finished.

"When does your office plan to come into compliance with the new lobbying reform law?" Carroll wrote.

Carroll said she informed Dennis of the requirements well before the bill became law, giving her time to make the necessary changes.

"The effective date is not a suggestion, it's the law," she said.

But Hobbs said the secretary of state's hands have been tied.

"Legally, we can't start spending money until the appropriations took effect, which was July 1," said Hobbs.

"We're working as hard as we can. It's hard to tell how close until we do more checking."

Hobbs also said that in the fiscal note for the bill, there was a notation that implementation would require 520 hours of work of a contract programmer.

"The thing to remember is that 520 hours of contract programmer's hours is about three months if you have one person," he said.

"Three months is July, August, and September. As far as we know, we're on track, as we have indicated to the General Assembly."

Hobbs said he believes the new system will be ready before Oct. 15, the deadline for lobbyists to file their monthly financial report for September.

"We haven't talked to the IT division, but the program assistant who oversees lobbyist regulation says the system is just about ready," Hobbs said.