Colorado § 1-45-105.5 - Contributions to members of general assembly and governor during consideration of legislation.

§ 1-45-105.5. Contributions to members of general assembly and governor during consideration of legislation.

(1) (a) No professional lobbyist, volunteer lobbyist, or principal of a professional lobbyist or volunteer lobbyist shall make or promise to make a contribution to, or solicit or promise to solicit a contribution for:

(I) A member of the general assembly or candidate for the general assembly, when the general assembly is in regular session;

(II) (A) The governor or a candidate for governor when the general assembly is in regular session or when any measure adopted by the general assembly in a regular session is pending before the governor for approval or disapproval; or

(B) The lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the attorney general, or a candidate for any of such offices when the general assembly is in regular session.

(b) As used in this subsection (1):

(I) "Principal" means any person that employs, retains, engages, or uses, with or without compensation, a professional or volunteer lobbyist. One does not become a principal, nor may one be considered a principal, merely by belonging to an organization or owning stock in a corporation that employs a lobbyist.

(II) The terms "professional lobbyist" and "volunteer lobbyist" shall have the meanings ascribed to them in section 24-6-301, C.R.S.

(c) (I) Nothing contained in this subsection (1) shall be construed to prohibit lobbyists and their principals from raising money when the general assembly is in regular session or when regular session legislation is pending before the governor, except as specifically prohibited in paragraph (a) of this subsection (1).

(II) Nothing contained in this subsection (1) shall be construed to prohibit a lobbyist or principal of a lobbyist from participating in a fund-raising event of a political party when the general assembly is in regular session or when regular session legislation is pending before the governor, so long as the purpose of the event is not to raise money for specifically designated members of the general assembly, specifically designated candidates for the general assembly, the governor, or specifically designated candidates for governor.

(III) A payment by a lobbyist or a principal of a lobbyist to a political party to participate in such a fund-raising event shall be reported as a contribution to the political party pursuant to section 1-45-108; except that, if the lobbyist or principal of a lobbyist receives a meal in return for a portion of the payment, only the amount of the payment in excess of the value of the meal shall be considered a contribution to the political party. The political party shall determine the value of the meal received for such payment, which shall approximate the actual value of the meal.

(IV) A gift of a meal described in subparagraph (III) of this paragraph (c) by a lobbyist or a principal of a lobbyist to a candidate elected to any office described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (1) but who has not yet been sworn into such office shall be reported as follows:

(A) The lobbyist shall report the value of the meal in the lobbyist disclosure statement filed pursuant to section 24-6-302, C.R.S.

(B) The elected candidate who has not yet been sworn into office shall report the value of the meal in the public official disclosure statement filed pursuant to section 24-6-203, C.R.S.

Source: L. 2000: Entire section added with relocations, p. 118, § 1, effective March 15. L. 2012: IP(1)(c)(IV) and (1)(c)(IV)(B) amended, (HB 12-1070), ch. 167, p. 586, § 5, effective August 8.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 1-45-104 (13) as it existed prior to 2000.