Denouncing closed-door meetings – and the fact that lobbyist activity reports are still maintained on paper, not online – witnesses heaped praise on a bill to tighten restrictions on Baltimore lobbyists and modernize the regulation process.
Lobbyists would have to identify themselves and their clients when engaging in lobbying activities, file quarterly rather than annual disclosure reports and could be banned from lobbying city government for up to three years for repeated infractions under the proposed “Transparency in Lobbying Act.”
“This is putting small resident-advocates on an even footing with the larger well-funded interests” who engage in “backroom deals and influence decisions that impact our citizens before residents are even aware that an opportunity exists,” Ray Kelly, director of the No Boundaries Coalition, said at a City Council hearing yesterday.
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