[Lobbyist Registration and Disclosure] – [January 10, 2017]
Topic:Lobbyist Registration and Disclosure
Question by:Marissa N. Soto-Ortiz
Jurisdiction:Massachusetts
Date:January 10, 2017
Jurisdiction / Question(s)Do any of you have within your offices have an online filing system for the Lobbyist Registration and Reporting. If so, was it developed in-house or did you use a vendor? If you used a vendor, can you please provide who you used? Is the product licensed or owned?
Manitoba
Corporations Canada
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona / In Arizona, Lobbyist Registration is done through the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office. Scott Washington is the Lead Lobbyist Specialist and can be reached at .
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia / In DC different agency handles lobbyist registration - Board of Ethics and Government Accountability
Here is the link for their information:
On federal side both House of Representatives and Senate has separate lobbyist registration processes.
Here are the links for their information:
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii / In Hawaii, the Hawaii State Ethics Commission is responsible for the lobbyist registration.
Idaho
Illinois / The Illinois Secretary of State launched an online registration system in 2005, and an online expenditure reporting system in 2006. Virtually all activity necessary to maintain registration and expenditure reporting files, and payment of registration and late fees, is performed electronically by the registered lobbying entities. The system was developed by our Department of Information Technology and the programs are held by our agency.
You may access information and user processing links at and search for Lobbyist Activities.
To review our registration and reporting mandates, access ; Illinois Compiled Statutes; Lobbyist Registration Act, 25 ILCS 170.
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine / Maine's lobbyist disclosure program is administered by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. The website for further information can be found:
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota / In Minnesota different agency handles lobbyist registration – Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board
The website for further information can be found:
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana / In Montana, lobbyist registration and disclosure is done through the office of the Commissioner of Public Practices, not the Secretary of State, so our office has nothing in place for that.
Nebraska / We don’t register lobbyists, but it is the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure office that would handle this. Their website is:
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina / North Carolina does have mandatory online filing for the Lobbyist Registration Division. The filing system was done in-house. If you have any questions the Lobbyist Director is Joal Broun, at .
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island / The RI Department of State does oversee Lobbyist Registration and Report and last year passed legislation to improve the process. Our Public Information Section maintains these registration and to adequately answer your question, I asked our IT Director, Christopher Fowler to provide the following information:
Dear Marissa,
We are in the middle of re-writing our Lobby Tracker system now. We are developing it in-house and replacing a system that was vendor developed. That system was in place for two years and replaced an a system that was developed in-house and lasted for about 10 years. Here’s a link to our Lobbying information/application
We would be happy to discuss the application more in-depth once its completed (this February) if that is something that would be interesting to you. I have copied Stacy DiCola as she is the primary administrator for the Lobby Tracker system(s) and is intimately familiar with the rules and regulations that have accompanied the latest change.
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas / Texas SOS does not register Lobbyists. Lobbyist Registration/Reporting is handled through the Texas Ethics Commission, which does have web-based electronic filing.
For further information on the system/software they use, you may wish to contact the Ethics Commission.
Utah / Utah has an online system of registration but it is in the Lt. Governor's office (they do that type of thing) so I'm not sure who developed it. Here is the url.....
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Additional comments:
NOVA SCOTIA:
Nova Scotia has an online Lobbyists Registry within our office. It was built in house many years ago.
Full text of email:
Good Morning Everyone:
Do any of you have within your offices have an online filing system for the Lobbyist Registration and Reporting. If so, was it developed in-house or did you use a vendor? If you used a vendor, can you please provide who you used? Is the product licensed or owned?
We appreciate any information you all may provide in this matter.
Thank you very much,
Marissa N. Soto-Ortiz
Assistant Director and Attorney - Corporations Division
The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
One Ashburton Place, Room 1711
Boston, MA 02108
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