Title: Amends State Ethic Laws for Campaign Lobbying
Signed by Governor Doug Burgum
Title: Amends State Ethic Laws for Campaign Lobbying
Vote to pass a bill that amends state ethic laws for campaign lobbying.
Requires a lobbyist who expends an amount greater than $200 file a report with the secretary of state that includes the known ultimate and true source of the funds for expenditure (Sec. 24).
Defines “ultimate and true source” as the person that knowingly contributed over $200 solely to lobby or influence state government action (Sec. 24).
Prohibits a lobbyist from knowingly giving, offering, soliciting, initiating, or facilitating a gift to a public official and prohibits the public official from knowingly accepting the gift from the lobbyist (Sec. 24).
Specifies that the above provisions to not apply when a lobbyist gives, offers, solicits, initiates, facilitates a gift to a public official from their family member (Sec. 24).
Authorizes the secretary of state to assess the following civil penalties on any individual who violates this act (Sec. 24):
For a $500 gift, a civil penalty of at least two times the value of the gift; or
For a gift of less than $500, the civil penalty must be no less than 2 times the value of the git.
Establishes an ethics commission within the state of North Dakota and specifies that complaints may be made to the commission either orally or in writing (Sec. 24).
Authorizes the ethics commission to do the following after hearing or receiving a complaint, including (Sec. 24):
Investigate the allegations in the complaint;
Attempt to negotiate or mediate an informal resolution between the accused individual and the compaintant;
Refer the complaint to the bureau of criminal investigation or other appropriate law enforcement agency;
Refer the complaint alleging violation of open meetings or open records requirements to the attorney general.
Requires that the ethics commission make public its written findings of fact at the conclusion of the hearing that state whether the ethics commission believes that a violation of law regarding transparency, corruption, elections, or lobbying occured (Sec. 24).
Authorizes the accused individual or complainant to appeal a finding of the ethics commission to the district court of the county where the accused individual resides (Sec. 24).
Establishes a penalty of $1,000 to any individual the ethics commissions finds to have knowingly violated the restriction on lobbying by public officials (Sec. 24).
Specifies that an ethics commission member may be removed for the following reasons by a majority vote of the governor, majority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate (Sec. 24):
Substantial neglect of duty;
Gross misconduct in office;
Violation of the commission's code of ethics; or
Willful or habitual neglect or refusal to perform the duties of the member.
Title: Amends State Ethic Laws for Campaign Lobbying
Title: Amends State Ethic Laws for Campaign Lobbying