Guinn relaxes reporting requirements for lobbyists

Brendan Riley

Friday, May 21, 1999 | 9:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY - A measure deleting a requirement that lobbyists account for spending on individual lawmakers who show up at group events has been signed into law by Gov. Kenny Guinn.

AB518, signed Thursday, was authored by Assemblywoman Gene Segerblom, D-Boulder City, who says she wants to encourage lawmakers to go to parties, dinners or other events sponsored by lobbyists.

The bill takes effect immediately. That means there will be no per-legislator accounting from any end-of-session group events held between now and the May 31 end of the 1999 session.

That includes a big bash planned next Monday at Glenbrook, an upscale Lake Tahoe community, by several top lobbyists.

AB518 still requires lobbyists who throw group events to declare the total spent - but they won't have to name the lawmakers who attend.

And lobbyists will still have to list the dollar value of one-on-one meetings between lawmakers and lobbyists, typically over lunch, dinner or drinks.

Segerblom says the problem with the reporting requirement was that it's a hassle to determine the amount spent per person.

But the formula was pretty simple. For example, if 10 lawmakers attend a group event that costs $1,000 and draws 100 people, the per-head cost would be $10. Each legislator was listed as getting food or drink worth $10, under the old requirements.

Some legislators who don't want their names on the lobbyist reports have been reimbursing the organizations that invited them to the group events.

Supporters of the bill included some of the top-spending lobbyists, including the Nevada Taxpayers Association, Utility Shareholders Association of Nevada and the University of Nevada, Reno.

At an earlier Assembly hearing, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada opposed the measure and said the existing reporting requirements are being ignored by some high-powered lobbyists.

AB518 was approved by the Assembly earlier this month. Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, cast one of only two votes against the bill, saying the bill subverts the original intent of the reporting rules by letting lobbyists spend an unlimited amount of money for an event without requiring a per-lawmaker itemization.