Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Lobbying Disclosure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Nebraska committee hears technical fix to clarify lobby consultant reporting (LB904)
Summary
A bill to move consultant disclosure rules from the lobbying statute into accountability statutes was presented as a clarification; Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission warned the change creates an opportunity to fix an unfunded $50,000 reward requirement created by last year's amendments.
Senator John Arch on Monday asked the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee to advance LB904, a bill he described as a clarification that moves consultant reporting requirements for foreign-adversary relationships out of the lobbying statute and into accountability statutes.
Arch, who represents Sarpy County's 14th District, said the 2025 law (LB644) placed two disclosure requirements in the same statutory section and that mixing lobbying and accountability rules created confusion. "This bill isn't technically a clean up bill but is more of a clarification bill," Arch said, adding the measure does not create new obligations under the Foreign Adversary and Terrorist Agent Registration Act.
Brandon Mentzer, Clerk of the Legislature, testified in a neutral capacity that his office and the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (NADC) had been passing a single form back and forth and that NADC now houses the form. "There was some confusion between my office and the accountability disclosure office," Mentzer said; "ultimately, NADC took it over."
Scott Danigole, executive director of the NADC, also testified in neutral. Danigole raised an additional concern tied to last year's changes: an award provision that would obligate NADC to pay $50,000 to a person who provided information leading to a finding of violation, but LB644 amended the destination of fines to the permanent school fund, leaving no appropriation for NADC to pay rewards. "The money required to pay rewards is unfunded for the NADC," Danigole said, and he suggested an amendment that would require violators to pay an administrative fee to the NADC cash fund so the agency could meet any statutory reward obligation without a general-fund request.
Arch and the committee expressed willingness to work with NADC on language to correct the funding gap. No vote was taken during the hearing.
The committee then closed LB904 and proceeded to hearings on other bills.
