Lobbying, Gifts and Public Officials

Campaign finance law covers the money spent to win an election. This lesson covers the money and favors aimed at people after they win: lobbyists, gifts, and the rules on officials using their position or the public's resources in campaigns. Idaho spreads these rules across three titles of its code. Lobbying sits in Title 74, Chapter 7. Gifts and bribery sit in the criminal code, Title 18, Chapter 13. Conflicts of interest and the ban on public campaign spending sit in Title 74, Chapters 4 and 6. For the basics of reading a statute, see Reading Bills and Statutes.

Lobbying after the 2025 move

Until mid-2025, Idaho's lobbying rules lived inside the Sunshine Law, Title 67, Chapter 66. House Bill 398 moved them to a new Title 74, Chapter 7, effective July 1, 2025. Every section there carries the history line "added 2025, ch. 280." Older guides that cite 67-6617 or 67-6619 for lobbyists are out of date.

The new definition in Idaho Code 74-702 is broad. Lobbying means contacting legislators or executive officials, or getting others to contact them, to influence legislation, plus efforts "to develop or maintain relationships with, promote goodwill with, or entertain" them. It also covers communicating with executive officials about agency rules, ratemaking, procurement, contracts, bids, financial services agreements and bond issues. A utility's visit to a Public Utilities Commission member about a rate case, or a vendor's pitch to an agency director about a contract, is lobbying under Idaho law. So is indirect lobbying: paid efforts through ads, email or social media to get the public to contact officials. The definition leaves out a few things, including negotiations after a contract or bid has been awarded, parties dealing with each other in a contested case, state employees acting in their official roles, and an association talking with its own members.

"Executive official" is a list, not a general idea: the seven statewide elected officers and their policy staff, agency directors, deputies, division administrators and bureau chiefs, the members and chief officers of rulemaking boards and the boards over state departments (school districts excluded), the PUC, Industrial Commission and Tax Commission, and the boards of the State Insurance Fund, Idaho Housing and Finance Association, Idaho Energy Resources Authority and Idaho State Building Authority. City councils and county commissions are not on the list. Lobbying a county commissioner about a zoning change is not reportable under this chapter.

Who registers

Anyone who lobbies registers unless an exemption in 74-704 fits. The exemptions matter more than the rule, because most citizen advocates fall under one of them.

Person	Registers?	Why
A resident who testifies at a public committee hearing	No	Lobbying limited to public committee sessions and public hearings or meetings is exempt
A volunteer who meets privately with legislators, unpaid	No	No compensation for lobbying
A part-time advocate paid $200 a quarter, with minimal lobbying time	No	Compensation at or below $250 a quarter, with minimal time
A nonprofit's policy director paid to meet with legislators all session	Yes	Paid, private contact, above the threshold
A trade association member who visits legislators at the association's request	No, if the association registers and reports the spending	Trade association member exemption
A county commissioner lobbying the Legislature in an official role	No	Elected officials of political subdivisions acting officially are exempt
A reporter gathering news	No	News media exemption, for employees of publishers and broadcasters gathering and reporting news
A company employee who meets legislators for the company	No, if the company registers, appoints a designated lobbyist and reports the employee's spending	Corporate employee exemption; employees who spend $50 or more in a year are named
A church member representing the church on religious liberty	No	Church representative exemption

Under 74-703, registration is due before lobbying starts or within 30 days of being hired or designated, whichever comes first. The fee is $10, plus $10 for each additional employer or client. The statement lists the lobbyist's permanent business address and any temporary Ada County address during the session, the client and the general nature of its business, the general subjects of interest, whether lobbying is the person's whole job or part of a regular job, and who keeps the records. Changes are due within one week. Every registration must be renewed by January 10, or it lapses.

What lobbyists report

Section 74-705 requires a monthly report, filed online within 15 days of the first day of the month, covering the month before. The Secretary of State's lobbyist page says annual reports ended in 2025, every lobbyist (including executive branch lobbyists and state entities) reports monthly after July 1, 2025, and a month with no activity still needs a "no activity" filing.

• Totals by category: entertainment, food and refreshment, honoraria, travel, lodging, advertising and the like.
• Itemized by official: any single-occasion spending for a legislator, an executive official or a member of their household above $135 per person, with date, payee, purpose, the official's name and amount. The statute lets the Secretary of State adjust the $135 every two years for inflation.
• 48-hour reports: indirect lobbying spending of $100 or more, such as paid ads urging people to call their legislator, is reported within 48 hours. Food, refreshment and entertainment go on the monthly report instead.
• Appropriations bills: the specific sections the lobbyist supported or opposed.

What is not on a lobbyist report: campaign contributions. The Secretary of State's page notes that political contributions are reported under the Sunshine Law, on the candidate's and the PAC's reports. A full picture of one interest's spending takes both systems.

State agencies and state-funded colleges that give gifts in their dealings with the Legislature or executive officials file the same reports under 74-706, unless a registered lobbyist reports for them.

Duties and penalties

Section 74-708 requires lobbyists to keep receipts and records for at least three years and to put a "Paid for by" line on public communications reported as lobbying expenses. It bars lobbying before registering, knowingly deceiving a legislator about facts, getting a bill introduced so you can be hired to kill it, representing an interest adverse to a client without the client's informed consent, taking pay contingent on a bill's passage or defeat (or on an executive official's decision), economic reprisal against a legislator over a vote, and lobbying a close relative: a spouse, parent, child, sibling or in-law. Penalties under 74-712 mirror the Sunshine Law: civil fines up to $250 for an individual and $2,500 for any other person, and a misdemeanor with up to six months in jail for knowing and willful violations. The Attorney General or a county prosecutor brings the case within two years. Late reports cost $50 a day starting 48 hours after the deadline under 74-713.

Gifts and bribery: Title 18, Chapter 13

Idaho's criminal code draws three lines. The farthest is bribery, under 18-1352: offering, giving, asking for or accepting a money benefit as consideration for a public servant's, party official's or voter's decision, vote or other discretion. It is a felony. What makes it bribery is the exchange, the benefit given for the vote. It is no defense that the person had not yet taken office.

Next is the gift ban in 18-1356. No exchange needs to be proved. Officials who regulate, inspect or investigate may not accept a money benefit from people subject to that oversight; officials who award contracts or approve payments may not accept one from people interested in those deals; and legislators and other public servants may not accept one in return for action on a bill. The person offering commits a crime too. The exceptions:

• Fees set by law, or benefits given for fair value or legally owed.
• Gifts from family, or from personal, professional or business relationships that do not depend on the official's position.
• Trivial benefits worth no more than $50, tied to personal, professional or business contacts, with no substantial risk to impartiality.
• Benefits from lobbying disclosed under Title 74, Chapter 7. This one never covers a benefit given in return for action on a bill.

Last is the use of public position in 18-1359: no using public funds or property for personal gain without authorization, no taking payment for doing one's official job beyond a $50 trivial benefit, no misuse of confidential information, no interest in contracts the official makes, and no hiring relatives within the second degree, with a narrow exception for cities under 10,000 people that post the job, find no other qualified applicant and approve the hire in an open meeting. Unless a section says otherwise, a public servant who violates the chapter commits a misdemeanor, punishable under 18-1360 by a fine up to $1,000, jail, or both, and may forfeit the office.

Conflicts of interest: the Ethics in Government Act

The Ethics in Government Act, Title 74, Chapter 4, applies to elected and appointed officials, legislators and public employees, though not judges. A conflict of interest under 74-403 is an official action that would bring financial gain to the official, a household member or a business the official is associated with. Four exclusions keep it workable: interests the law requires for the office, actions that affect a whole class or industry to the same degree, professional interests shared by a large group in the field, and votes on taxes, revenue and appropriations that hit similar members of the public the same way. A rancher legislator voting on a statewide grazing fee bill has no conflict. The same legislator voting on a bill that changes the lease on his own allotment does.

Section 74-404 does not require an official to step aside. It requires disclosure first, in a form that depends on the office:

Official	What 74-404 requires before acting
Legislator	Disclose the potential conflict and follow the rules of the House or Senate
Elected state official	A written statement describing the matter and the conflict, filed with the Secretary of State
Elected county or city official	Disclose the conflict before acting and follow the body's rules
Appointed or employed state or local official	A written statement delivered to the appointing authority

An elected official may ask to be excused from debate and voting. If a legislator or local elected official asks and the body refuses, the refusal shields the member from liability on that issue. The civil penalty under 74-406 for intentionally failing to disclose is a fine up to $500 (it does not apply where the entity runs its own ethics board), without limiting criminal charges or a chamber's power to discipline its own members.

Public money and campaigns

The Public Integrity in Elections Act, Title 74, Chapter 6, was added in 2018 and amended several times since, most recently in 2024. Section 74-604 says no public entity, employee or official may spend public funds "to advocate for or against a candidate or a ballot measure," and bars using public property or resources for the same purpose. Public entities include the state, counties, cities, school districts, colleges and any taxing district that can put a measure on the ballot. "Property or resources" includes goods, services, equipment, software and facilities, unless they are available to the general public on the same terms.

Allowed (74-605)	Not allowed (74-604)
An objective statement of a measure's purpose and effect, including bond or levy cost	A district mailer urging a yes vote
Neutral encouragement to vote	A city email to residents opposing a candidate
Officials and employees campaigning on their own time with their own money	Staff organizing a campaign on paid time or with office equipment
Legally required election notices	College extra credit to influence a student's vote
A balanced classroom discussion or debate	Public facilities offered to one campaign on terms not open to the public
A serving legislator's public correspondence or legislative recordings on an initiative or referendum	Public money for a legislator's travel to campaign on a measure, or for candidate advocacy

Penalties under 74-606 are civil: up to $250 for a violation, up to $1,500 for a knowing one, and up to $2,500 for a knowing repeat within 12 months. The Attorney General enforces against state agencies. County prosecutors enforce against local entities in their counties, and a special prosecutor steps in when a county commissioner is the subject or the prosecutor is disqualified.

The best-known case is from Idaho Falls School District 91. A bond in November 2022 got 58 percent of the vote and failed, because school bonds need two-thirds. The Bonneville County Prosecutor filed a civil action in May 2023 against the superintendent and communications director under 74-604, the Post Register reported, over bookmarks, postcards and mailers, with invoices totaling $14,204.05, that stressed the words "Need," "Aged" and "Overcrowding." Fines totaled $375. The district contested them and settled in December 2023 with the total reduced to $250: the complaint against the communications director was dismissed, and the former superintendent's $250 fine was paid, not with district funds, Idaho Education News reported. The Idaho Statesman and ProPublica put the case's legal cost at $54,000; Idaho Education News, citing district records, reported nearly $90,000 in legal fees from July through October 2023. The Statesman and ProPublica also reported that groups had accused at least four districts of improper bond or levy advocacy, and that prosecutors brought fines only in Idaho Falls. People who backed the complaint saw the case as enforcement of a clear rule; the prosecutor said it sent districts statewide a message to be careful with public funds. District officials saw a costly fight over word choice in factual materials. Both readings explain why public entities now have their factual pieces reviewed before they print. Ballot measure campaigns are covered in lesson 7.

Employees in campaigns: Idaho's rule and the Hatch Act

For employees of state departments covered by Idaho's personnel system, Idaho Code 67-5311 bars using official authority to interfere with an election, pressuring other employees to give money for political purposes, and being "a candidate and hold elective office in any partisan election." It then lists what they may do: vote, state opinions in public, wear buttons, join a party and its work, help manage a political organization, attend rallies and fundraisers, sign petitions, give money, actively support candidates, work on ballot measures, serve as an election judge or clerk, and run for nonpartisan offices such as city council or school board. The list ends with a catch-all: employees may otherwise take part fully in public affairs, except as the law forbids, "in a manner which does not materially compromise the neutrality, efficiency, or integrity" of their state work.

The federal Hatch Act reaches state and local employees whose principal job is in a program funded in whole or part by federal loans or grants. The Office of Special Counsel's examples include public health, public welfare, housing, employment security and law enforcement programs, and the law can reach employees of private nonprofits that run Head Start or Community Services Block Grant programs. Under 5 U.S.C. 1502, they may not use their authority to affect an election, may not coerce other employees into giving, and, since the Hatch Act Modernization Act was signed into law on December 28, 2012, may not run in a partisan election only if their salary is paid entirely with federal money. Teachers and staff at state-supported schools and research institutions are generally not covered. If the Merit Systems Protection Board finds a violation that warrants removal, the agency must fire the employee or give up federal funds equal to two years of that person's salary. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel's Hatch Act page explains who is covered, and for state or local political activity rules it points employees to their own state or local ethics office. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Hatch Act's reach into state agencies in Oklahoma v. United States Civil Service Commission (1947), reasoning that Congress may set conditions on the money it gives states.

Neither Title 67, Chapter 66 nor Title 74, Chapter 7 contains a ban on legislators raising campaign money during the legislative session. The limits that apply to officials' fundraising are the contribution limits covered in lesson 2 and the gift and bribery laws above.

Questions and answers

These are the questions residents, candidates, officials and nonprofit boards ask most about lobbying, gifts and public resources. Questions about who may give to whom are collected in lesson 13.

I testified at a committee hearing and emailed my own legislator. Do I need to register?

No. Idaho Code 74-704 exempts people whose lobbying is limited to public committee sessions and public hearings, and anyone who is not paid to lobby. A resident writing to her own legislator about a bill, unpaid, is exercising the right to petition and files nothing. Registration starts when someone is paid more than $250 in a calendar quarter to lobby and the contact goes beyond public hearings.

Our nonprofit's director spends a few days each session meeting legislators. Does she register?

Probably, if lobbying is part of her paid job and the share of her pay for that time is more than $250 in a quarter. The 74-704 test prorates an employee's pay by the hours spent lobbying, so a director who spends a few full days a session in private meetings will usually pass $250. Register through the Sunshine lobbyist portal before the first meeting or within 30 days, and file every month, including "no activity" months.

Does lobbying my city council or county commission count?

Not under Title 74, Chapter 7, which reaches only legislators and the state executive officials listed in 74-702. The criminal gift and bribery laws in Title 18, Chapter 13 do reach local officials, because they cover every public servant. And a council member who would profit from your request still has to disclose that conflict under the Ethics in Government Act.

Can a lobbyist also give a legislator a campaign contribution?

Yes. The gift goes on the legislator's campaign report and counts against the limits in Idaho Code 67-6610A, covered in lesson 2. It does not go on the lobbyist's monthly report. Idaho has no statute barring contributions during the legislative session, though a contribution tied to a vote is bribery under 18-1352 no matter when it is given.

Can a school board member put a "Vote yes on the bond" sign in her own yard?

Yes. Idaho Code 74-605 keeps officials' and employees' rights to campaign as private citizens on their own time with their own money. What she may not do is use the district's email list, a district copier, district staff time or her district account to push the bond.

Can the city post information about its own bond on the city website?

Yes, if it sticks to an objective statement of the measure's purpose and effect, including what it will cost taxpayers, which 74-605 allows. The trouble starts with adjectives that judge the measure and with any form of "vote yes." Neutral reminders to vote and legally required election notices are also fine.

I work for a county program paid partly by a federal grant. Can I run for county commissioner?

Under the federal Hatch Act, the ban on partisan candidacy applies only if your salary is paid entirely with federal loans or grants, since the 2012 amendments to 5 U.S.C. 1502. Partly federal pay does not trigger it. You still may not use your job to affect the election or press coworkers for contributions. Idaho Code 67-5311 covers state personnel system employees, not county staff, so also check your county's own personnel policy. The Office of Special Counsel handles Hatch Act questions.

A council member voted on a contract with her own company. What happens?

Two laws apply. Under 74-404 she had to disclose the conflict before acting, and intentionally failing to disclose carries a civil fine up to $500 under 74-406. Separately, 18-1359 bars a public servant from having an interest in a contract made by a body she sits on, except as 18-1361 allows, and a violation is a misdemeanor that can cost her the office. The county prosecutor decides whether to charge.

Where do I see what lobbyists spent on my legislator?

Search the Sunshine lobbyist report search by lobbyist or employer, and read the itemized section of each monthly report. Single-occasion spending over $135 per person is listed by the official's name. Spending under that line appears only in category totals, so a lobbyist's many small lunches will not show who ate them.

Who do I complain to about public money spent on a campaign?

Under 74-606, the Attorney General enforces against state agencies and the county prosecutor enforces against local entities. Send the prosecutor the piece itself, the date it went out, and any invoice or purchase record showing public money paid for it. The full complaint process is in lesson 11.

Hard questions

Why should a lobbyist be allowed to buy a legislator a $150 dinner at all?

Idaho's Legislature chose disclosure over a ban. Lobbyist meals and entertainment are legal, reported monthly under 74-705, and named by official above $135 per person, and the gift statute exempts properly disclosed lobbying spending. Defenders of that choice say legislators in a part-time Legislature learn a great deal over meals, and that sunlight lets voters judge. People who want a ban point out that small meals stay anonymous in category totals and that access bought over dinner is access most constituents never get. The hard limit both sides accept is in 18-1356: no disclosure covers a benefit given in return for action on a bill.

Isn't forcing advocates to register and report a burden on the right to petition?

It is a burden, and the law tries to keep it on the people paid to lobby. Unpaid citizens, people who only testify at public hearings, and those paid $250 a quarter or less are exempt under 74-704. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld federal lobbyist disclosure in United States v. Harriss (1954), reading the law narrowly to cover paid efforts to influence legislation through direct contact and saying Congress wanted "to know who is being hired, who is putting up the money, and how much." The $10 fee is small. The monthly filing, including "no activity" months, is the real cost, and it falls hardest on small groups with one part-time advocate.

Doesn't the public-funds ban gag school districts from explaining why they need a bond?

The statute does not bar explanation. 74-605 allows objective statements of purpose, effect and cost, and trustees and staff may campaign on their own time. The fight is over where explanation ends. In Idaho Falls, a prosecutor treated words like "Need" and "Overcrowding" as advocacy, and the district spent far more defending its materials than the $250 fine, as Idaho Education News reported. Supporters of the law say taxpayers who oppose a bond should not pay for the other side's mail. Districts say a vague line makes them say less than voters need to hear. Both concerns are real, and the safe practice is plain numbers and no adjectives.

Why can't a state employee run for the Legislature when a teacher can?

Because the rules aim at people who administer state programs. Idaho Code 67-5311 covers employees in the state personnel system and bars them from being a candidate for and holding partisan office, on the theory that an agency employee who is also a party's legislator could not run a program neutrally for everyone. Teachers work for school districts, outside that system, and the federal Hatch Act generally exempts educational institutions. State employees keep a long list of rights, including running for nonpartisan office and campaigning for others. The U.S. Supreme Court accepted this kind of tradeoff for federally funded state jobs in Oklahoma v. United States Civil Service Commission (1947).

If misusing public money costs $250, why would anyone obey the law?

The first fine is small on purpose; the statute escalates. 74-606 allows up to $1,500 for a knowing violation and up to $2,500 for a knowing repeat within 12 months. The bigger costs are the ones around the fine: legal bills, a public court file and news coverage. Using public funds or property for personal gain is a separate crime under 18-1359. Whether $250 is enough to deter a district facing a close bond vote is a fair argument, and lawmakers can change it.