Should information about communications between city officials and organizations be made available to the public?
That’s one of the questions Long Beach Ethics Commissioners aim to answer in a new online survey put out to the public this week.
Commissioners want to know what residents want to see in proposed changes to the city’s lobbyist ordinance to help determine what information could be disclosed in the future, and who will be disclosing it.
The survey, available online in multiple languages, asks residents to share their opinions about lobbying rules ahead of the Ethics Commission’s Oct. 25 meeting, where residents will also be able to make recommendations in person or virtually.
Commissioners added the special public meeting after receiving backlash earlier this year over its draft changes. Those revisions could have meant that nonprofits, neighborhood groups and others, who are currently exempted from disclosing communications with city officials, would have to begin reporting them.
It’s unclear when the commission will issue formal recommendations for changes to the law, but ultimately the City Council will have to approve those recommendations once the commission votes to send them to the council for consideration.
Commissioners have been looking at potential tweaks to the 2010 law that established rules for lobbyists who meet with public officials, City Council members and others in the city regarding projects or policies being discussed.
While the law did create a misdemeanor charge and potential temporary bans for people who run afoul of its disclosure rules, no one has been found in violation of the law in 13 years.
The survey begins by asking whether communications between city officials and organizations should be available to the public. For respondents who believe it should, the survey asks them to list what types of projects should be subject to any changes to the law (homelessness, housing, zoning, public safety, etc.) and who should disclose it.
Currently, the city’s law depends on self-reporting from lobbyists who are registered with the city and those contacts are published in biannual reports on the City Clerk’s website. However, the commission has been discussing potentially increasing the reporting frequency and changing who would be required to report future discussions.
The survey asks respondents to choose what type of communication they’d like to know about; for example, when paid lobbyists contact city officials about projects their clients are proposing or when labor unions not representing city employees meet with city officials.
Under the existing law, lobbyists only have to share who they spoke with and disclose a general topic that was discussed. However, changes to that law could require organizations to disclose their stance on a given topic and share any materials or presentations shown during those meetings.
You can access the English, Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog versions of the survey.