City Lobbying Regulations
What is the purpose of the lobbying regulations?
The City's lobbying disclosure program serves to improve transparency and inform the public of efforts to influence City officials. To achieve this goal, lobbying entities and City officials are required to file reports disclosing certain lobbying activities.
To view lobbying activities in the City, please visit the Auditor's Lobbying Reports Portal. To view historic lobbying reports, visit the Lobbying Disclosure Reports (2014 through 2020) page.
What is a lobbying entity?
A lobbying entity means any individual, business association, corporation, partnership, association, club, company, business trust, organization or other group who lobbies either by employing or otherwise authorizing a lobbyist to lobby on that person’s behalf.
What are the general requirements for these regulations?
For Elected Officials (Mayor, City Councilors, and City Auditor):
- File reports each calendar quarter disclosing certain gifts and donation agreements from lobbying entities. This report is mandatory for elected officials, regardless of whether they received any gifts or agreements to donate.
- Publish calendars of official City business each quarter. Visit the Calendar Posting Guide for Elected City Officials & City Directors page for more information and posted calendar links.
For City Directors:
- File quarterly reports only if they have reportable activities in the quarter, such as receipt of a gift valued at $25 or more from a lobbyist or if they have made a request for donations from a group lobbying the City.
- Publish calendars of official City business each quarter. Visit the Calendar Posting Guide for Elected City Officials & City Directors page for more information on posting calendars.
For other City officials
- File quarterly reports only if they have reportable activities in the quarter, such as receipt of a gift valued at $25 or more from a lobbyist or if they have made a request for donations from a group lobbying the City.
View Current City Official List for December 2025
For Lobbying Entities:
- Register with the Auditor's Office within three business days after meeting one of the following thresholds:
- Spending eight hours or more lobbying in a calendar quarter; or
- Spending at least $1,000 lobbying in a calendar quarter.
- File quarterly reports disclosing any lobbying activity if one of the following thresholds are met:
- Spent eight or more hours lobbying in a calendar quarter; or
- Spent at least $1,000 lobbying in a calendar quarter.
For more specific requirements, please review City Code Chapter 2.12 - Regulation of Lobbying Entities.
For City Officials and Lobbying Entities:
To file a quarterly report, visit the lobbying filing portal for lobbyists and City officials.
City Political Consultant Regulations
What is the purpose of this program?
The City's political consultant disclosure program serves to improve transparency and inform the public of efforts to influence elected officials. Generally, elected officials may seek political consulting services when running for re-election or when supporting or opposing certain ballot measures.
To view political consultant reports, please visit the Auditor's Political Consultant Portal. To view previous political consultant reports, visit the Historical Political Consultant page (2016 through 2018).
What is a political consultant?
A political consultant is a person or entity that provides campaign management and political strategy services to the following:
- Elected City officials;
- Successful candidates for City office;
- Successful candidates' principal campaign committees; or
- Any person appointed or succeeding to the position of City elected official pursuant to Charter Section 2-206.
The term "political consultant" does not include the following:
- Attorneys who provide only legal services;
- Accountants who provide only accounting services;
- Professional fundraisers;
- Pollsters who only provide polling services
- A person who does not engage in political consulting as a trade or profession; or
- Is a City employee.
Common services that political consultants provide include:
- Advocacy and strategy;
- Political polling;
- Advising or assisting in voter contact strategies and services;
- Advising in media strategy, buying and advertisement;
- Providing candidate development, policy training, political image consulting, and designing, implementing and analyzing polls and surveys;
- Performing issues research and opposition research;
- Developing and assisting in strategic communication such as news releases, talking points and speech writing; and
- Advising on negative information handling an political crisis management.
What are the general requirements of this disclosure program?
For Elected Officials (The Mayor, City Councilors, and City Auditor):
- File reports each calendar quarter identifying the political consultant(s) who provided services.
- If an elected official sponsors a City referred measure, disclose the measure and political consultant who provided or will provide consulting services.
For Political Consultants:
- Register with the Auditor's Office within 15 days after providing political consulting services to a City elected official, disclosing the name(s) of the elected official(s).
- If services are provided to a City elected official in support of a City referred measure under Chapter 2.04, then the name of the City elected official, identification of the measure, the date when services commenced and all information in Subsections A.1.-3.
- File a termination notice within 15 days of no longer providing consulting services.
For more specific requirements, please review City Code Chapter 2.14 - Reporting by Political Consultants.
Does this disclosure program have any prohibitions?
- A City elected official shall not knowingly utilize a Political Consultant who is in violation of this Chapter.
- A Political Consultant shall not provide Political Consulting Services without registering as required under this Chapter.
- No person shall submit false, fraudulent or misleading information on statements, including but not limited to misrepresenting the scope or nature of services provided or the identity of clients to whom services are provided.