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Ethics Commission accepts 2023 lobbyist audits and approves streamlined reporting approach
Summary
The commission accepted the bureau's 2023 lobbyist audits, heard that most findings were minor and that staff will streamline future reports; it also considered several lobbyist and employer registration enforcement matters and ordered a mix of waivers and assessments.
The Tennessee Ethics Commission on April 1 accepted the bureau's 2023 lobbyist audits and agreed to publish the reports. Director of Audit Jay Mok told the commission that overall compliance was improving and that most audit findings were minor, often involving short late registrations or training lapses.
Mok said audits showed "it's usually about 20, 25 lobbyists each year out of 600" who fail to complete required training in any given year, and that many late registrations were short delays or errors by larger firms managing multiple clients.
The commission voted to accept and publish the audit reports and directed staff to streamline future reports to focus on late registrations and remove duplicative training detail that commissioners cannot act on. Mok and staff said the revised reports will be shorter and will list lobbyists the computer system shows did not complete required training.
On enforcement items tied to lobbying and employers of lobbyists, the commission considered several individual matters. The commission: waived a small late-report penalty for Heather Callahan (one day late), waived a late-fee matter for Chris Walker (six days late), and assessed or continued others where registration fees remained unpaid.
For three employer-registration matters (identified in meeting materials as Kate Roberts, Nadara Freeman and Bill Nolan), commissioners voted to assess civil penalties of $500 each to get the entities' attention after staff said prior notices had not produced a response. In related employer-of-lobbyist matters, staff asked the commission to continue one item (1 to 1 Health) to allow payment; the commission granted the continuance.
Commissioners also handled several employer-registration late-payment cases (for example, Choctaw Resort and several business filers) and, by motion, waived penalties where staff reported the registration fees had been paid quickly after the due date.
In one enforcement item involving a large company, International Paper had hired a lobbyist but had not registered as an employer of a lobbyist and had not responded to bureau notices. Commissioners voted to assess $500 for that matter and directed staff to try contacting the lobbyist and the company to resolve the issue.
The commission's actions on audits and enforcement were procedural and intended to emphasize compliance through targeted penalties and improved reporting, staff said.
