To amend sections 101.72, 101.73, and 101.75 of the Revised Code to require a legislative agent to report to the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee compensation paid to the agent by the agent's employer.

Section 1.  That sections 101.72, 101.73, and 101.75 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 101.72.  (A) Each legislative agent and employer, within ten days following an engagement of a legislative agent, shall file with the joint legislative ethics committee an initial registration statement showing all of the following:

(1) The name, business address, and occupation of the legislative agent;

(2) The name and business address of the employer and the real party in interest on whose behalf the legislative agent is actively advocating, if it is different from the employer. For the purposes of division (A) of this section, where a trade association or other charitable or fraternal organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(c) of the federal Internal Revenue Code is the employer, the statement need not list the names and addresses of each member of the association or organization, so long as the association or organization itself is listed.

(3) A brief description of the type of legislation to which the engagement relates.

(B) In addition to the initial registration statement required by division (A) of this section, each legislative agent and employer shall file with the joint committee, not later than the last day of January, May, and September of each year, an updated registration statement that confirms the continuing existence of each engagement described in an initial registration statement and that lists the specific bills or resolutions on which the agent actively advocated under that engagement during the period covered by the updated statement, and with it any statement of expenditures required to be filed by section 101.73 of the Revised Code and any details of financial transactions required to be filed by section 101.74 of the Revised Code.

(C) If a legislative agent is engaged by more than one employer, the agent shall file a separate initial and updated registration statement for each engagement. If an employer engages more than one legislative agent, the employer need file only one updated registration statement under division (B) of this section, which shall contain the information required by division (B) of this section regarding all of the legislative agents engaged by the employer.

(D)(1) A change in any information required by division (A)(1), (2), or (B) of this section shall be reflected in the next updated registration statement filed under division (B) of this section.

(2) Within thirty days after the termination of an engagement, the legislative agent who was employed under the engagement shall send written notification of the termination to the joint committee.

(E) A registration fee of twenty-five dollars shall be charged for filing an initial registration statement. The state agency of an officer or employee who actively advocates in a fiduciary capacity as a representative of that state agency shall pay the registration fee required under this division. All money collected from registration fees under this division and late filing fees under division (G) of this section shall be deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the joint legislative ethics committee fund created under section 101.34 of the Revised Code.

An officer or employee of a state agency who actively advocates in a fiduciary capacity as a representative of that state agency need not file expenditure statements under section 101.73 of the Revised Code. As used in this division, "state agency" does not include a state institution of higher education as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code.

(F) Upon registration pursuant to division (A) of this section, the legislative agent shall be issued a card by the joint committee showing that the legislative agent is registered. The registration card and the legislative agent's registration shall be valid from the date of their issuance until the next thirty-first day of December of an even-numbered year.

(G) The executive director of the joint committee shall be responsible for reviewing each registration statement filed with the joint committee under this section and for determining whether the statement contains all of the information required by this section. If the joint committee determines that the registration statement does not contain all of the required information or that a legislative agent or employer has failed to file a registration statement, the joint committee shall send written notification by certified mail to the person who filed the registration statement regarding the deficiency in the statement or to the person who failed to file the registration statement regarding the failure. Any person so notified by the joint committee shall, not later than fifteen days after receiving the notice, file a registration statement or an amended registration statement that does contain all of the information required by this section. If any person who receives a notice under this division fails to file a registration statement or such an amended registration statement within this fifteen-day period, the joint committee shall assess a late filing fee equal to twelve dollars and fifty cents per day, up to a maximum of one hundred dollars, upon that person. The joint committee may waive the late filing fee for good cause shown.

(H) On or before the fifteenth day of March of each year, the joint committee shall, in the manner and form that it determines, publish a report containing statistical information on the registration statements filed with it under this section during the preceding year.

Sec. 101.73.  (A) Each legislative agent and each employer shall file in the office of the joint legislative ethics committee, with the updated registration statement required by division (B) of section 101.72 of the Revised Code, a statement of expenditures as specified in divisions (B) and (C) of this section. A legislative agent shall file a separate statement of expenditures under as specified in division (B) of this section for each employer engaging the legislative agent.

(B)(1) In addition to the information required by divisions (B)(2) and, (3), and (4) of this section, a statement filed by a legislative agent shall show the total amount of expenditures made by the legislative agent during the reporting period covered by the statement.

(2) If, during a reporting period covered by a statement, an employer or any legislative agent the employer engaged made, either separately or in combination with each other, either directly or indirectly, expenditures to, at the request of, for the benefit of, or on behalf of any particular member of the general assembly, any particular member of the controlling board, the governor, the director of a department created under section 121.02 of the Revised Code, or any particular member of the staff of any of the public officers or employees listed in division (B)(2) of this section, then the employer or legislative agent shall also state all of the following:

(a) The name of the public officer or employee to whom, at whose request, for whose benefit, or on whose behalf the expenditures were made;

(b) The total amount of the expenditures made;

(c) A brief description of the expenditures made;

(d) The approximate date the expenditures were made;

(e) The specific items of legislation, if any, for which the expenditures were made and the identity of the client on whose behalf each expenditure was made.

As used in division (B)(2) of this section, "expenditures" does not include expenditures made by a legislative agent as payment for meals and other food and beverages.

(3) If, during a reporting period covered by a statement, a legislative agent made expenditures as payment for meals and other food and beverages, other than for meals and other food and beverages provided to a member of the general assembly at a meeting at which the member participated in a panel, seminar, or speaking engagement or provided to a member of the general assembly at a meeting or convention of a national organization to which any state agency, including, but not limited to, any legislative agency or state institution of higher education as defined in section 3345.011 of the Revised Code, pays membership dues, that, when added to the amount of previous payments made for meals and other food and beverages by that legislative agent during that same calendar year, exceeded a total of fifty dollars to, at the request of, for the benefit of, or on behalf of any particular member of the general assembly, any particular member of the controlling board, the governor, the director of a department created under section 121.02 of the Revised Code, or any particular member of the staff of any of the public officers or employees listed in division (B)(3) of this section, then the legislative agent shall also state all of the following regarding those expenditures:

(a) The name of the public officer or employee to whom, at whose request, for whose benefit, or on whose behalf the expenditures were made;

(b) The total amount of the expenditures made;

(c) A brief description of the expenditures made;

(d) The approximate date the expenditures were made;

(e) The specific items of legislation, if any, for which the expenditures were made and the identity of the client on whose behalf each expenditure was made.

(4) If, during a reporting period covered by a statement, a legislative agent is paid compensation by an employer, the legislative agent shall state on the statement the amount of the compensation paid to the legislative agent and the name and business address of the employer who paid the legislative agent the compensation.

(C) In addition to the information required by divisions (B)(2) and (3) of this section, a statement filed by an employer shall show the total amount of expenditures made by the employer filing the statement during the period covered by the statement. As used in this section, "expenditures" does not include the expenses of maintaining office facilities or the compensation paid to legislative agents engaged by an employer.

No employer is required to show any expenditure on a statement filed under this division if the expenditure is reported on a statement filed under division (B) of this section by a legislative agent engaged by the employer.

(D) Any statement required to be filed under this section shall be filed at the times specified in section 101.72 of the Revised Code. Each statement shall cover expenditures made and compensation paid during the four-calendar-month period that ended on the last day of the month immediately preceding the month in which the statement is required to be filed.

No portion of the amount of an expenditure for a dinner, party, or other function sponsored by an employer or legislative agent need be attributed to, or counted toward the amount for, a reporting period specified in division (B)(2) or (3) of this section if the sponsor has invited to the function all the members of either of the following:

(1) The general assembly;

(2) Either house of the general assembly.

However, the amount spent for such function and its date and purpose shall be reported separately on the statement required to be filed under this section and the amount spent for the function shall be added with other expenditures for the purpose of determining the total amount of expenditures reported in the statement under division (B)(1) or (C) of this section.

If it is impractical or impossible for a legislative agent or employer to determine exact dollar amounts or values of expenditures, reporting of good faith estimates, based upon reasonable accounting procedures, constitutes compliance with this section.

(E) All legislative agents and employers shall retain receipts or maintain records for all expenditures that are required to be reported pursuant to this section. All legislative agents shall maintain records of compensation paid to them by employers. These receipts or records shall be maintained for a period ending on the thirty-first day of December of the second calendar year after the year in which the expenditure was made or the compensation was paid.

(F)(1) An employer or legislative agent who is required to file an expenditure a statement under division (B) or (C) of this section shall deliver a copy of the statement, or of the portion showing the an expenditure, to the public officer or employee who is listed in the statement as having received the expenditure or on whose behalf it was made, at least ten days before the date on which the statement is filed.

(2) If, during a reporting period covered by an expenditure a statement filed under division (B)(2) of this section, an employer or any legislative agent the employer engaged made, either separately or in combination with each other, either directly or indirectly, expenditures for transportation, lodging, or food and beverages purchased for consumption on the premises in which the food and beverages were sold to, at the request of, for the benefit of, or on behalf of any of the public officers or employees described in division (B)(2) of this section, the employer or legislative agent shall deliver to the public officer or employee a statement that contains all of the nondisputed information prescribed in division (B)(2)(a) through (e) of this section with respect to the expenditures described in division (F)(2) of this section. The statement of expenditures made under division (F)(2) of this section shall be delivered to the public officer or employee to whom, at whose request, for whose benefit, or on whose behalf those expenditures were made on the same day in which a copy of the expenditure statement or of a portion showing the expenditure is delivered to the public officer or employee under division (F)(1) of this section. An employer is not required to show any expenditure on a statement delivered under division (F)(2) of this section if the expenditure is shown on a statement delivered under division (F)(2) of this section by a legislative agent engaged by the employer.

Sec. 101.75.  If a dispute arises between any member of the general assembly, any member of the controlling board, or a member of the staff of the general assembly or controlling board and an employer or legislative agent with respect to an expenditure or financial transaction alleged in any statement to be filed under section 101.73 or 101.74 of the Revised Code, the member, employer, or legislative agent may file a complaint with the joint legislative ethics committee. The committee shall proceed to investigate the complaint as provided for other complaints in section 101.34 of the Revised Code.

The complaint shall be filed at least three days prior to the time the statement is required to be filed with the joint legislative ethics committee. The time for filing a disputed expenditure or financial transaction in any statement of expenditures or the details of a financial transaction shall be extended pending the final decision of the joint committee. This extension does not extend the time for filing the nondisputed portions of an expenditure a statement or of the details of a financial transaction. The joint committee shall notify the parties of its final decision by certified mail. If the committee decides that the disputed expenditure or financial transaction should be reported, the employer or legislative agent shall include the matter in an amended statement and file the amended statement not later than ten days after the employer or agent receives notice of the decision of the committee by certified mail.

An employer or legislative agent who files a false statement of expenditures or details of a financial transaction is liable in a civil action to any public officer or employee who sustains damage as a result of the filing or publication of the statement.

Section 2.  That existing sections 101.72, 101.73, and 101.75 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.