Indiana Lobby Registration Commission
Wednesday, April 17, 2002
2:30 p.m.
Statehouse, RM 125
Members present: Dennis Heeke, Jon Krahulik, Jan Abbs, Gerald Bepko
Staff present: Sarah Nagy, Executive Director/Counsel
The Chairman called the meeting to order at approximately 2:45 P.M. The Commissioners unanimously approved the minutes of the February, 2002 meeting.
Request for Advisory Opinion
The law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding, LLP, requested a formal advisory opinion (attached and incorporated by reference) on matters relating to grassroots lobbying. The commissioners unanimously agreed that the Executive Director & Counsel should draft a proposed advisory opinion for discussion at the June 18, 2002, meeting.
MISC
Staff report was given:
The Director presented the commissioners with a copy of the Access Indiana Project Charter, which details the commission's plans for revising the web site. The Director indicated that with on-line filing and a searchable data base, it would no longer be necessary to maintain the spreadsheet relating to individual gifts received by legislators. The manual nature of this spreadsheet could and has led to discrepancies between the compiled data and what is reflected on the lobbying report. This spreadsheet differs from the legislators's statements of economic interest due to statutory differences. These statutory differences give rise to confusion with interpreting our spreadsheet. The commissioners unanimously approved the Director's recommendation to discontinue that manual spreadsheet.
The Director noted that SB001 died in session, gave an update on the FY 2001 budget, and noted that the 2001 random audit letters would be sent out soon.
Public comment was given.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:10 P.M.