Berkeley Municipal Code Art. 5 Prohibitions

A. A local governmental lobbyist shall not engage in any activity on behalf of a client as a local governmental lobbyist unless such local governmental lobbyist is registered and has listed such client with the City Clerk. A local governmental lobbyist shall submit an amended registration form indicating the addition of a new client before lobbying on behalf of that client.

B. No person shall accept compensation for acting as a local governmental lobbyist except upon condition that he or she forthwith register as required by this Act. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)

Local governmental lobbyists, or clients shall abstain from carrying out any act with the express purpose and intent of placing any elected or appointed City official or City employee under personal obligation to such local governmental lobbyist, client, contractor or person. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)

No local governmental lobbyist or client shall deceive or attempt to deceive a City employee, or elected or appointed City official as to any material fact pertinent to any pending or proposed governmental action. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)

No local governmental lobbyist or client shall attempt in any way to create a fictitious appearance of public favor or disfavor of any governmental action or to cause any communication to be sent to a city employee in the name of any fictitious person or in the name of any real person without the real person’s consent. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)

No local governmental lobbyist or client shall represent, either directly or indirectly, orally or in writing that such person can control or obtain the vote or action of any City employee, or elected or appointed City official. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)

A. No local government lobbyist or a registered client shall make any payment or incur any expense, including any gift of travel, that directly benefits an elected city officeholder, candidate for elected city office, a designated employee, or a member of the immediate family of one of these individuals, in which the cumulative value of such payments or expenses exceeds $240 during any calendar year. This $240 limit may be adjusted every four years by the OGC to account for inflation. The payments and expenses specified in subsections 2.09.220(A)-(D) include gifts, honoraria and any other form of compensation but do not include:

1. gifts of food or refreshment worth $25 or less per occasion, if the local governmental lobbyist is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the gift of food or refreshment is offered in connection with a public event held by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and the same gift of food or refreshment is made available to all attendees of the public event;

2. payments or expenses that, within thirty (30) days after receipt, are returned unused or are reimbursed;

3. gifts of food or beverage worth $25 or less per occasion, if said gift is provided in the home of an individual local governmental lobbyist or individual local governmental lobbyist’s registered client when the individual or member of the individual’s family is present;

4. a pass or ticket to a fundraising event for a campaign committee or candidate, or for an organization exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;

5. informational material;

6. campaign contributions not to exceed the limit imposed by the Berkeley Election Reform Act or state law, as applicable; and

7. salaries, consulting fees or other payments for services rendered or bargained for. No other exception to, or exclusion from, the definition of gift or honoraria contained in the Political Reform Act of 1974 as amended, and the regulations issued pursuant thereto, shall apply to this section.

For purposes of the gift limits imposed by subsections (A)-(C), gifts shall be aggregated set forth in California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 18945.1, as it may hereafter be amended.

B. No lobbyist or a lobbyist’s registered client shall make any payment to a third-party for the purpose of making any payment or incurring any expense, including any gift of travel, that directly benefits an elected city officeholder, candidate for elected city office, a designated employee, or a member of the immediate family of one of these individuals.

C. No elected city officeholder, candidate for elected city office, or designated employee may accept or solicit any payment or expense, including any gift of travel, from any lobbyist for the individual’s personal benefit or for the personal benefit of a member of the immediate family of one of these individuals.

D. No elected city officeholder, candidate for elected city office, or designated employee may accept or solicit any payment or expense, including any gift of travel, from a third-party if the officer knows or has reason to know that the third-party is providing the payment or expense on behalf of a lobbyist. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)

A. No campaign consultant, individual who has an ownership interest in the campaign consulting business, or employee of the campaign consultant shall lobby any elected or appointed City official of the city who is a current or former client of the campaign consultant.

B. This prohibition shall not apply to:

1. an employee of a campaign consultant whose sole duties are clerical; or

2. an employee of a campaign consultant who did not personally provide campaign consulting services to the officer of the city with whom the employee seeks to communicate in order to influence local legislative or administrative action.

C. The exceptions in Subsection (B) shall not apply to any person who communicates with an officer of the city in his or her capacity as an employee of the campaign consultant who is prohibited by Subsection (A) from making the communication.

D. Whenever the following words or phrases are used in this Section, they shall be defined as follows:

1. "Current client" shall mean a person for whom the campaign consultant has been contracted to provide campaign consulting services. If such person is a committee as defined by Berkeley Election Reform Act (Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 2.12), the current client shall be any individual who controls such committee; any candidate that such committee was primarily formed to support; and any proponent or opponent of a ballot measure that the committee is primarily formed to support or oppose.

2. "Employee" shall mean an individual employed by a campaign consultant, but does not include any individual who has an ownership interest in the campaign consultant that employs them.

3. "Former client" shall mean a person for whom the campaign consultant has terminated all campaign consulting services within the past twenty-four (24) months. (Ord. 7749-NS, 2021; Ord. 7629-NS § 1 (part), 2018)