ARA-15.02 - Regulation of Lobbying Entities: City Official Reporting

A. Effective Date

This version of ARA 15.02 is effective as of January 1, 2025.

B. "At Will Staff” of a City Elected Official

“At will staff” of City elected officials is defined in ARA 15.01.

C. Gifts

1. For purposes of the City's lobbying registration and reporting requirements:
   1. A "gift" is defined in Code Section 2.12.020.L.
   2. In addition to the exceptions in Code Section 2.12.020.L, a “gift” does not mean:
      1. Campaign contributions, as described in Code Chapters 2.10 and 2.16.
      2. A cultural item, if the fair-market value cannot be easily determined and declining the item is likely to cause offense.
2. Code Section 2.12.070 requires City officials to file written reports documenting any gifts, meals, or entertainment in excess of $25 received from a lobbying entity or any person authorized to lobby on the lobbying entity's behalf.
   1. The $25 threshold is based on a good-faith estimate of the fair-market value of the gift, meal, or entertainment.
   2. The fair-market value of a gift means the price for attendance, participation, or access to the same item or event that a member of the public would pay.
3. City officials are also required to comply with State law and City rules restricting the acceptance of gifts. See ORS 244.020 - 244.040; Human Resources Administrative Rule 4.07; and Auditor’s Office Administrative Rule 3.11, Chapter III.

D. Online Reporting System and Training

The Auditor's Office provides a Lobbying Entity Registration & Reporting System.

1. City officials must use the filing portal to file all quarterly reports required under Code Section 2.12.070.
2. The City's website provides written training materials with detailed instructions for accessing the portal and filing quarterly reports. In-person trainings are also available and are recommended for City officials.

E. Posting Calendars

City elected officials and City directors are required to publicly post their calendars on the City’s website, in accordance with Code Section 2.12.070 D. The Auditor's Office will link to their calendars from the City's website.

F. Calendar Posting Safety Exemptions

1. Pursuant to Code Section 2.12.070 D., a City elected official or City director may seek an exemption to posting some or all of their calendar if doing so would pose a safety threat. (For purposes of this subsection, elected officials and City directors are referred to generally as “officials.”)
2. Officials wishing to seek a safety exemption under Code Section 2.12.070 D must file a request for the exemption with the City Attorney, using a form accessible from the City’s website. 
3. The City Attorney or their designee will evaluate the safety threat exemption request using the following criteria. 
   1. As a general matter, the City Attorney will grant the least restrictive relief available to address the identified safety threat. In recognition of the fact that calendars are posted after the meetings occur, are not forward-looking, and are not required to identify meeting locations, only in rare circumstances will a safety threat justify wholesale exemption from the calendar posting requirement. Instead, exemptions will typically consist of identifying certain meetings or meeting types that, because of unique identifying factors or their recurring nature, may be redacted.
   2. For exemption requests based on an official’s concerns about their own safety:
      1. The official must have a current, approved safety exemption pursuant to ORS 192.368 from the City to qualify for the calendar safety exemption.
      2. The official must make a separate application for a calendar safety exemption. In their application, the official should explain, in writing, why retroactive posting of their calendar details would pose a safety threat. While the official may rely on the same reasons that their safety exemption pursuant to ORS 192.368 is based on, the official should specify what about posting their calendar retroactively would implicate those particular concerns.
      3. For recurring meetings where specific circumstances about the meeting create the safety threat (e.g., it would be obvious that the official was traveling from their typical work location to another location at the same time every week), the City Attorney may consider permitting redaction of the meetings from the calendar but requiring the official to list such meetings in an addendum to their calendar that would state the attendee names and the number of times such meetings occurred in a calendar quarter (but not the date or time). 
      4. The safety exemption will lapse after two years but may be renewed upon an application of the official making a showing that the exemption continues to be warranted. 
   3. For exemption requests based on an official’s concerns about the safety of another person who attends a regular recurring meeting with the official:
      1. The official may make an application for a safety exemption that would permit the redaction of the attendee’s name from the official’s calendar. 
      2. To be granted the exemption, the official will be required to provide evidence that sufficiently establishes that the disclosure of the meeting in unredacted form would constitute a danger to the personal safety of a particular attendee. This evidence may include any or all of the following documents: affidavits; declarations; court records; police reports or report numbers; restraining orders; or stalking protective orders.
      3. The safety exemption will lapse after two years but may be renewed upon an application of the official making a showing that the exemption continues to be warranted.
   4. For exemption requests based on an official’s concerns that some exceptionally unique factors about a meeting or a series of related meetings may create a security concern for the City generally:
      1. The official may make an application for a safety exemption that would permit partial or total redaction of the meetings that create the security concern from the official’s posted calendar.
      2. The official must explain the nature of the security threat, and how listening the date, length and attendees of a meeting that already occurred would create a security threat for the City.
      3. The safety exemption will lapse after one year but may be renewed upon an application of the official making a showing that the exemption continues to be warranted. 
4. While any request for a safety exemption to calendar posting is pending, the official who made the request will not be required to post their calendar and the Auditor’s Office will not consider the person to be in violation of the calendar posting requirements. When the safety exemption request is determined, if the official’s request is denied or if the relief granted is redacting certain calendar entries (as opposed to wholesale non-posting of the official calendar), the official will post any past-due calendars within 10 business days of the safety exemption determination. 
5. The City Attorney will notify the Auditor’s Office of any safety exemption granted, and the scope of the exemption. 
6. The Auditor’s Office will post a list of elected officials who have been granted a safety exception, but not the reasons the exemption was granted. 

G. Report Filing and Calendar Posting Deadlines

1. City officials must file required quarterly reports by the 15th day after the end of the preceding calendar quarter.
   1. Elected officials must file a quarterly report every quarter, regardless of whether gifts, meals, or entertainment exceeding $25 were received or requested.
   2. City officials other than elected officials are required to file a quarterly report only if they received or requested gifts, meals, or entertainment exceeding $25 in the preceding calendar quarter.
2. A City official may amend a quarterly report without penalty if the official files the amended report within 25 calendar days after the end of the calendar quarter.
3. Elected officials and City directors must post their calendars, showing all activities required under Code 2.12.070 D, to the City’s website by the 15th day after the end of the preceding calendar quarter. Elected officials and City directors must also notify the Auditor's Office of the web address for their calendar by this date.
4. Calendar Quarters, Reporting Periods and Filing Dates:

The filing deadline is 5 p.m. on the last day to file a report or post a calendar, provided that if the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or official City holiday, the due date is the next business day at 5 p.m.

Questions

Questions about this administrative rule may be directed to the Lobbying Regulations and Political Consulting Reporting Program.

History

Rule adopted by City Auditor and filed in PPD June 8, 2006.