Requires certain persons to register and report as governmental affairs agents.

S4126

SENATE, No. 4126

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MAY 11, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� VIN GOPAL

District 11 (Monmouth)

Senator� JOSEPH P. CRYAN

District 20 (Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires certain persons to register and report as
governmental affairs agents.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act
concerning the registration and reporting requirements
for certain persons acting as governmental affairs agents and amending
P.L.1971, c.183.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 3 of P.L.1971,
c.183 (C.52:13C-20) is amended to read as follows:

���� 3.��� For the purposes of this
act, as amended and supplemented, unless the context clearly requires a
different meaning:

���� a.���� The term
"person" includes an individual, partnership, committee, association,
corporation, and any other organization or group of persons.

���� b.��� The term
"legislation" includes all bills, resolutions, amendments,
nominations and appointments pending or proposed in either House of the
Legislature, and all bills and resolutions which, having passed both Houses,
are pending approval by the Governor.

���� c.���� The term
"Legislature" includes the Senate and General Assembly of the State
of New Jersey and all committees and commissions established by the Legislature
or by either House thereof.

���� d.��� The term
"lobbyist" means any person, partnership, committee, association,
corporation, labor union or any other organization that employs, engages or
otherwise uses the services of any governmental affairs agent to influence
legislation, regulation or governmental processes.

���� e.���� (1) The term
"Governor" includes the Governor or the Acting Governor; and

���� (2) the term "Lieutenant
Governor" means the person elected to that office, or appointed to fill a
vacancy therein, pursuant to Article V, Section I of the New Jersey
Constitution.

���� f.���� The term
"communication with a member of the Legislature", "with
legislative staff," "with the Governor," "with the
Lieutenant Governor," "with the Governor's staff," or "with
an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch" means any
communication, oral or in writing or any other medium, addressed, delivered,
distributed or disseminated, respectively, to a member of the Legislature, to
legislative staff, to the Governor, to the Lieutenant Governor, to the
Governor's staff, or to an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch, as
distinguished from communication to the general public including but not
limited to a member of the Legislature, legislative staff, the Governor, the
Lieutenant Governor, the Governor's staff, or an officer or staff member of the
Executive Branch.� If any person shall obtain, reproduce or excerpt any
communication or part thereof which in its original form was not a
communication under this subsection and shall cause such excerpt or
reproduction to be addressed, delivered, distributed or disseminated to a
member of the Legislature, to legislative staff, to the Governor, to the
Lieutenant Governor, to the Governor's staff, or to an officer or staff member
of the Executive Branch, such communication, reproduction or excerpt shall be
deemed a communication with the member of the Legislature, with legislative
staff, with the Governor, with the Lieutenant Governor, with the Governor's
staff, or with an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch by such
person.

���� g.��� The term
"governmental affairs agent" means any person who
:

����
(1)
receives or agrees
to receive, directly or indirectly, compensation, in money or anything of value
including reimbursement of his expenses where such reimbursement exceeds
$100.00 in any three-month period, to influence legislation, to influence
regulation or to influence governmental processes, or all of the above, by
direct or indirect communication with, or by making or authorizing, or causing
to be made or authorized, any expenditures providing a benefit to, a member of
the Legislature, legislative staff, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the
Governor's staff, or any officer or staff member of the Executive Branch, or
who holds himself out as engaging in the business of influencing legislation,
regulation or governmental processes, by such means, or who incident to his
regular employment engages in influencing legislation, regulation or
governmental processes, by such means; provided, however, that a person shall
not be deemed a governmental affairs agent who, in relation to the duties or
interests of his employment or at the request or suggestion of his employer,
communicates with a member of the Legislature, with legislative staff, with the
Governor, with the Lieutenant Governor, with the Governor's staff, or with an
officer or staff member of the Executive Branch concerning any legislation,
regulation or governmental process, if such communication is an isolated,
exceptional or infrequent activity in relation to the usual duties of his
employment
; or

����
(2)� receives or agrees to
receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation, in money or anything of
value including reimbursement of the person�s expenses, from another person or
from a corporation that is not the person�s principal employer, in exchange for
communicating, however isolated, exceptional, or infrequently, with a member of
the Legislature, legislative staff, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the
Governor's staff, or an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch
concerning any legislation, regulation or governmental process, if the
communication is made to influence regulation or governmental processes, or both
.

���� h.��� The term "influence
legislation" means to make any attempt, whether successful or not, to
secure or prevent the initiation of any legislation, or to secure or prevent
the passage, defeat, amendment or modification thereof by the Legislature, or
the approval, amendment or disapproval thereof by the Governor in accordance
with his constitutional authority.

���� i.���� The term
"statement" includes a notice of representation or a report required
by this act, as amended and supplemented.

���� j.���� (Deleted by amendment,
P.L.1991, c.243).

���� k.��� The term "member of
the Legislature" includes any member or member-elect of, or any person who
shall have been selected to fill a vacancy in, the Senate or General Assembly,
and any other person who is a member or member-designate of any committee or
commission established by the Legislature or by either House thereof.

���� l.���� The term
"legislative staff" includes all staff, assistants and employees of
the Legislature or any of its members in the member's official capacity,
whether or not they receive compensation from the State of New Jersey.

���� m.�� The term "Governor's
staff" includes the members of the Governor's Cabinet, the Secretary to
the Governor, the Counsel to the Governor and all professional employees in the
office of the Counsel to the Governor, and all other employees of the Office of
the Governor, including employees of that office who may be assigned by the
Governor to assist the Lieutenant Governor.

���� n.��� The term "officer
or staff member of the Executive Branch" means any assistant or deputy
head of a principal department in the Executive Branch of State Government,
including all assistant and deputy commissioners; the members and chief executive
officer of any authority, board, commission or other agency or instrumentality
in or of such a principal department; and any officer of the Executive Branch
of State Government other than the Governor who is not included among the
foregoing or among the Governor's staff, but including the Lieutenant Governor
when the Lieutenant Governor has been appointed by the Governor to serve in any
of the foregoing positions, but who is empowered by law to issue, promulgate or
adopt administrative rules and regulations or to administer governmental
processes, and any person employed in the office of such an officer who is
involved with the development, issuance, promulgation or adoption of such rules
and regulations or administration of governmental processes in the regular course
of employment.

���� o.��� The term
"regulation" includes any administrative rule or regulation affecting
the rights, privileges, benefits, duties, obligations, or liabilities of any
one or more persons subject by law to regulation as a class, but does not
include an administrative action (1) to issue, renew or deny, or, in an
adjudicative action, to suspend or revoke, a license, order, permit or waiver
under any law or administrative rule or regulation, (2) to impose a penalty, or
(3) to effectuate an administrative reorganization within a single principal
department of the Executive Branch of State Government.

���� p.��� The term "influence
regulation" means to make any attempt, whether successful or not, to
secure or prevent the proposal of any regulation or to secure or prevent the
consideration, amendment, issuance, promulgation, adoption or rejection thereof
by an officer or any authority, board, commission or other agency or
instrumentality in or of a principal department of the Executive Branch of
State Government empowered by law to issue, promulgate or adopt administrative
rules and regulations.

���� q.��� The term
"expenditures providing a benefit" or "expenditures providing
benefits" means any expenditures for entertainment, food and beverage,
travel and lodging, honoraria, loans, gifts or any other thing of value, except
for (1) any money or thing of value paid for past, present, or future services
in regular employment, whether in the form of a fee, expense, allowance,
forbearance, forgiveness, interest, dividend, royalty, rent, capital gain, or
any other form of recompense, or any combination thereof, or (2) any dividends
or other income paid on investments, trusts, and estates.

���� r.���� The term
"commission" means the Election Law Enforcement Commission
established pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-5).

���� s.���� The term
"communication with the general public" means any communication:

���� (1)�� disseminated to the
general public through direct mail or in the form of a paid advertisement in a
newspaper, magazine, or other printed publication of general circulation or
aired on radio, television, or other broadcast medium, and

���� (2)�� which explicitly
supports or opposes a particular item or items of legislation or regulation, or
the content of which can reasonably be understood, irrespective of whether the
communication is addressed to the general public or to persons in public office
or employment, as intended to influence legislation or to influence regulation.

���� t.���� The terms
"influence governmental processes", "influencing governmental
processes" or "influence governmental process" means to make any
attempt, whether successful or not, to assist a represented entity or group to
engage in communication with, or to secure information from, an officer or
staff member of the Executive Branch, or any authority, board, commission or
other agency or instrumentality in or of a principal department of the
Executive Branch of State Government, empowered by law to administer a governmental
process or perform other functions that relate to such processes.

���� u.��� The term
"governmental process" means:

���� promulgation of executive
orders;

���� rate setting;

���� development, negotiation,
award, modification or cancellation of public contracts;

���� issuance, denial,
modification, renewal, revocation or suspension of permits, licenses or
waivers;

���� procedures for bidding;

���� imposition or modification of
fines and penalties;

���� procedures for purchasing;

���� rendition of administrative
determinations; and

���� award, denial, modification,
renewal or termination of financial assistance, grants and loans.

���� v.��� The term "public
contract" means a contract the cost or price of which is to be paid with
or out of State funds or the funds of an independent authority created by the
State or by the Legislature.

(cf: P.L.2009, c.66, s.37)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect 30 days following the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill revises the
definition of a governmental affairs agent to include any person who receives
or agrees to receive any compensation, from another person or from a
corporation that is not the person�s principal employer, in exchange for
communicating, however isolated, exceptional, or infrequently, with a member of
the Legislature, legislative staff, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the
Governor's staff, or an officer or staff member of the Executive Branch
concerning any legislation, regulation or governmental process, if the
communication is made to influence regulation or governmental processes, or
both.� A governmental affairs agent is required by law to register and report
quarterly to the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).

���� Under current law, a person
does not have register and report to ELEC if the communications they have with
public officials are an isolated, exceptional, or infrequent part of their job.�
ELEC has established by regulation that communications that may be considered
isolated, exceptional or infrequent if they amount to less than 20 hours per
calendar year.