by Dana Gentry, Nevada Current

The law that allowed fiscal analyst Jeremy Aguero and Las Vegas tourism chief Steve Hill to avoid registering as lobbyists for the Oakland Athletics when the two advocated for $380 million in public funding for a baseball stadium is a by-product of the pandemic era changes passed by lawmakers in 2021.. 

Among the many effects of COVID-19 was the inability of lobbyists to register for two special sessions in 2020 and the beginning of the regular session in 2021 – when the legislative building was closed to the public.

“The reality is that, for the purposes of registration, our current definition of the term ‘lobbyist’ requires a lobbyist to enter the building,” then-Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson said in 2021 during a committee hearing via Zoom on Assembly Bill 110, a measure designed to address the in-person appearance provision. “In this virtual world—where that is not, at least for the time being, how the Legislature is operating—and for the sake of transparency, we still need to have lobbying activities reported to the public.”

“We are not trying to add more people to the requirement to register, nor reduce the number,” testified Brenda Erdoes, executive director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau. 

Frierson assured his colleagues the measure was “not intended to change who has to register from who had to previously register if entering the building,” adding it was designed to make lobbying “more transparent, whether in the building or not.” 

But in response to concerns that citizens who reach out to lawmakers may be required to register as lobbyists under the new law, an amendment exempted individuals who “confine their lobbying activities to communicating directly with one or more members of the Legislative Branch only on an infrequent or irregular basis and who do not otherwise engage in any lobbying activities, unless those persons engage in a pattern of conduct that is substantially similar to engaging in lobbying activities on a recurrent or regular basis.”

Erdoes defines “a recurrent or regular basis” as more than once in a legislative session.

In addition to the requirement to appear in person, state law previously defined a lobbyist as an individual who “communicates directly with a member of the Legislative Branch on behalf of someone other than himself or herself to influence legislative action, whether or not any compensation is received for the communication.”

“By adding an exception… it is clear that a person whose only lobbying activity is infrequent and irregular is not required to register as a lobbyist unless the person engages in a pattern of conduct that amounts to lobbying over the longer term,” Erdoes told the committee in 2021.

The loophole proved big enough for Aguero and Hill, the president and CEO of the Las Vegas and Convention and Visitors Authority, with Erdoes’ approval, to avoid registering as lobbyists as they advocated for hundreds of millions of dollars in public money for the stadium – one of the biggest bills of the 2023 session.  

“If you’re saying that that’s totally fine within our current laws, then yes, the laws need to be updated,” Assemblywoman Selena LaRue Hatch told the Current. 

Sen. Dina Neal says she never heard Aguero disclose whose interests he represented. “It was assumed because he was testifying on behalf of the bill and explaining it. It would not make sense if it was the Stadium Authority advocating for it and lobbying for the bill.” 

Aguero’s firm, Applied Analysis, serves as staff to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which will negotiate agreements with the A’s. 

Legislative insiders say Aguero has been resistant for years to registering as a lobbyist. Although he appears frequently before lawmakers, he has never registered, according to state records.  

“Aguero speaks with such fervor about the sports growth that he could be mistaken for a local chamber president or a Las Vegas tourism marketing director,” Las Vegas sports observer Alan Snel wrote in May of the ubiquitous Aguero. “His enthusiasm is that unbridled.”

Neal says while she didn’t know during legislative hearings who Aguero and Hill represented, she doesn’t think they acted as lobbyists.

“They were consultants who presented the bill,” she said via email. “Jeremy never tried to persuade me to vote for the bill and neither did Steve Hill. They just presented the bill and worked with the A’s on the amendments that legislators requested.” 

Not required by law

The exemption created in 2021 was not intended to sunset after the pandemic, according to the legislative history. 

“Whether we are in a pandemic or not—there are many folks who are going to continue to meet, lobby, and advocate in this way,” Frierson said. “We want to be able to capture lobbying activity—whether in the building or not—so that we are able to be transparent.”

Another exception in the law allowed Aguero to advocate for a hotel industry-backed facility for individuals experiencing homelessness without registering as a lobbyist. However, he did not say whose interests he was representing, and also failed to disclose his related work on the matter for at least one hotel company. 

Former LCB director Rick Combs, who retired in January 2020, says the statute requires the person “claiming the exception to identify the interests for whom he or she was testifying and did not require the person to provide any additional information.”

While the statute requires individuals to disclose whose interests they represent, failure to disclose other information, such as employment, is not required by the law and “would not result, in and of itself, in the need to register as a lobbyist,” Combs said.

Combs says he “concluded that the intent of the exception was to ensure that any interests of a person testifying were brought to the attention of the committee members and the committee members were given the opportunity to consider those interests or to inquire further regarding those interests.”

Other states have exemptions for who must register as a lobbyist – some based on location, but most predicated on economic consideration. 

In California, anyone who receives less than $2,000 in a month, excluding travel compensation, for influencing legislation is exempt from registering, according to a research document prepared by the LCB that was presented as an exhibit for AB 110. 

In Georgia, a person who earns less than $250 a year in compensation or reimbursement for attempting to influence legislation does not have to register. An individual who spends less than $1,000 a year lobbying also does not have to register.  

Some experts suggest lobbying laws are not keeping pace with the realities of the 21st century.

“Those realities include rapid technological change, global competition for influence and citizens who demand higher standards of integrity and inclusiveness in policy making,” says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries. “Citizens’ trust in institutions, already in decline, is at stake.” 

OECD issued the first global lobbying guidelines in 2010, following the Great Recession.

It says lobbying remains “open to abuse.” 

“Too often, information on who is lobbying and how they influence government decisions is incomplete or subject to insufficient scrutiny,” the OECD says. “Lobbying is also increasingly undertaken indirectly or by proxies. NGOs, foundations, think tanks and research centres are often excluded from the definition of ‘lobbyist’ or are exempt from disclosure requirements.”

Frierson, now the U.S. Attorney for Nevada, did not respond to requests for comment on whether it was his intention to allow would-be lobbyists such as Aguero and Hill to avoid registering when advocating for major legislation. Erdoes also did not respond to follow-up questions.