Ethics board on lobbying and loopholes

The city Board of Ethics has drafted 27 pages of proposed regulations for the city's new lobbying law, spelling out who's covered and what they'll have to do to after the law becomes effective on July 1st. The main requirements will include a lobbyist registration form, filed with the ethics board but open to public inspection on the board's website, and quarterly reports on what lobbyists and their firms spend trying to influence the city's decision-making.

The draft regulations are to be posted on the board's website, http://www.phila.gov/ethicsboard/ by the end of the week. But before they become official, the board has scheduled a public hearing for 1 PM on June 15, to hear from anyone suggesting changes.

At the same hearing, the board will consider a new regulation intended to fortify the city's campaign contribution limits. It's aimed at a loophole that allowed the city electricians union to circumvent the limits by creating and funding multiple political action committees, each giving $10,000 or more to favored candidates. The limit on individual PAC donations is supposed to be $10,600 annually.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.