HB517: AN ACT relating to legislative ethics.

Legislative Summary

Amends KRS 6.611 to exclude from the definition of “lobbying” the action of any person whose official responsibilities do not include lobbying, who is not compensated to lobby, and who is an officer, managerial personnel, or employee with specialized knowledge assisting an entity with a direct interest in legislation on a particular issue; amends KRS 6.681 to require that the Legislative Ethics Commission provide a draft of its response to an advisory opinion or notice of its intention not to issue an opinion to a requestor five days prior to the meeting to consider the opinion; amends KRS 6.686 to allow the commission to dismiss an ethics complaint for failure to state a claim of an ethics violation, to require the commission to determine whether there is a reason to believe a person has committed or is about to commit an ethics code violation, to provide that, if the commission finds by a vote of at least five members that there is reason to believe a violation has been or is about to be committed, it shall initiate a preliminary inquiry into the alleged violations, and to provide that if fewer than five members find reason to believe a violation has been or is about to be committed, then it shall dismiss the complaint; and amends KRS 6.744 to allow a legislator to represent a client on adversarial matters related to previously issued licenses or permits, ministerial functions related to licensing and permitting, or matters related to driver licensing.