There are 688 businesses and organizations registered to lobby the 2017 General Assembly, according to the Legislative Ethics Commission.
Those which have recently registered include: Balanced Budget Amendment Inc.; Black Hawk Mining, LLC; BPM Lumber; CIOX Health, LLC; Consumer Technology Association; Dell Technologies, Inc.; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund; Greenwich Biosciences, Inc.; Kidz Club; Kentucky Laborers District Council; Kentucky Oil & Gas Association; Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.; National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; NeuroRestorative; NextEra Energy Resources, LLC; Northern Kentucky University Foundation, Inc.; Powerhouse Gaming; and Waste Connections, Inc.
Current Issues Ethics session set for Jan. 4-5
The 2017 Current Issues Ethics sessions for members of the General Assembly will be on Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 4-5. The sessions will start at 9 a.m. on both days and will be in Room 154 of the Capitol Annex.
The guest speaker on Wednesday will be Amy S. Hess, the recently-appointed Special Agent in Charge of the Louisville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Ms. Hess has responsibility for all FBI personnel and operations throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Hess started her career in 1991, and has worked in FBI offices in several U.S. cities, and at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. She has investigated violent crimes, gangs, and drug trafficking organizations, and served as the on-scene commander of the FBI’s counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
Prior to taking charge in Louisville, Ms. Hess led the development and delivery of sophisticated technical capabilities in support of the FBI’s investigative and intelligence missions, and more recently, she headed up the Science and Technology Branch, with responsibility for the Criminal Justice Information Services, Laboratory, and Operational Technology Divisions.
The guest speaker on Thursday will be Norm Ornstein, a long-time observer of Congress, and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a contributing editor and columnist for National Journal and The Atlantic, a contributor to USA Today, and Founder and Director of the Campaign Finance Reform Working Group.
Among the books he has written: The Permanent Campaign and Its Future; The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track, with Thomas Mann; and the New York Times bestseller, It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, also with Thomas Mann.
Lobbyist and Employer session
The Legislative Ethics Commission will conduct a training workshop for lobbyists and their employers on Friday, Jan. 6, at 2 p.m. in Room 171 of the Capitol Annex.
Spending reports due by January 17
Employer and Legislative Agent Updated Registration Statements for the period of Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016 are required to be filed by Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.
To file forms quickly and easily, please use the Legislative Ethics Commission’s website http://klec.ky.gov/. The File Forms Online box is on the front page of the website. If there are questions about an employer’s or legislative agent’s form, please contact the Commission office at (502) 573-2863.
This is the middle of the two-year registration cycle, so if a lobbyist or employer is registered, it is not necessary to re-register until December 2017. After the January filing, lobbying spending reports are due by the 15th of each month from February to May, then again in September.
From Legislative Ethics Commission Communications