AS AMENDED, a bill for an ordinance amending Article V of Chapter 2 of the Revised Municipal Code pertaining to financial disclosure. Revises the Denver Revised Municipal Code regarding financial disclosure including eliminating the requirement that candidates for municipal office make financial disclosures, modifying the definition of “gift”, “immediate family” and “officer”, modifying the date for submitting the annual financial disclosure statement for city officers, requiring semi-annual gift disclosure reports by officers and annual gift disclosure reports by employees, modifying reportable gifts and increasing the reporting threshold from $25 to $50; making the financial and gift reports of officers publicly available online and the gift reports of employees publicly available on request, and modifying the remedies for violations of the ordinance. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 11-29-16. Amended 1-3-17 to remove the minimum $50 threshold for reporting gifts in the covered categories, resulting in the reporting of all gifts received in the designat
Did. Okay, great. Thank you. I just letting the public know. Great. All right, Councilwoman, can you please put. Actually, you don't have to put that on floor. We're going to go straight to your your bail councilwoman can each, which is 919. Would you like to make a comment first or would you like to. Thank you, Mr. President. I will be offering an amendment on this bill to which pertains to financial disclosure to first remove the minimum $50 threshold for reporting gifts in the covered categories, resulting in the reporting of all gifts received in the designated categories, regardless of value. And the amendment also clarifies, number two, that the new rules for gift reporting will not apply to gifts already received in 2016, but which won't be reported until our 2017 report. Rather, the new rules will take effect upon passage in 2017 and will be applicable for all gifts received from this time forward, but not retroactively to prior years that have already concluded. The first time gifts will be reported under the new rules will be in the reports due in July of 2017 for officers and in January of 2018 for employees. Great. Councilwoman, can you please put the bill on the floor? Yes, I move that council bill 19 place be placed upon final consideration and do pass. All right. It has been moved and seconded. Counsel, can each your motion to amend. Thank you. I move that council bill 919 be amended in the following particulars on page one, delete lines 37 and 38, and on page two, delete lines one through five, striking in its entirety the definition of gift and remembering subsections as appropriate on page two Line 28. After the word required, ADD officers shall file their annual financial report for calendar year 2016, no later than January 31st, 2017. Under the reporting requirements in effect during 2016, beginning in 2018, comma on page two, line 35 after the word required. Add the following beginning in 2018. Comma online to line I'm sorry on page two, lines 39 and 40. Delete the words in excess of $50 comma, either individually or in the aggregate period. And then on page two, line 40, delete the word only on page four, line 24, add the following before the first word. Every employee shall file their annual gift report for gifts received in calendar year 2016, no later than January 31st, 2017. Under the reporting requirements in effect during 2016, beginning in 2018, comma on page four, lines 27 and 28. Delete the words in excess of $50, either individually or in the aggregate. All right. It has been moved. I'm looking for a second. All right. It has been moved. And second, it comments from members of council. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm going to take the simplest change first, which is just making sure that we aren't trying to re collect data that has already occurred in 2016 under new rules that we didn't know were coming or in effect, when you create a new rule, it's generally easiest to apply it going forward. So that's what this the timing changes involve. The other change regarding the $50 threshold, this has been a really long conversation in committee for those who've been following the committee conversation. And I want to commend, first of all, Claire Johnson and her staff and the city attorney's office for really bringing this issue to the council and really causing us to have this conversation. We thought that it was most important to report to the public things that were coming from folks who may have an interest in the city. And so we did that narrowing. We also thought, oh, you know, we have these other, you know, types of categories. And so we had a discussion about raising the threshold to 50 to keep up with the cost of living having changed, not really realizing that with the new reporting, it's very difficult to talk about value in the aggregate when you have two reporting periods in the year. So is it the aggregate within one six month period? Is it the aggregate within the two six month periods? Even though they cross different reports, it would be very difficult for the public to monitor whether or not we were keeping up now that we're going to do multiple reports each year. So, you know, our city attorney made the point, you know, if you're going to limit the gifts that be accepted, it's impossible to monitor whether you're exceeding the limit or not if you are not reporting all of the gifts. So that was the simple kind of logic behind just eliminating the $50 threshold. Many of us, you know, receive, you know, gifts of small value that we'd struggle to value anyway. We don't know the value of the flowers that show up or the, you know, the tickets to to the zoo lights that may show up. And so rather than, you know, trying to guess, is it below or above $25 or $50 in this case, you just report them all. So one of the things I wanted to clarify for both the public and my colleagues is that the amendments that I'm suggesting for tonight are really necessary for the bill in front of us . And I think to make the law that is in place clearer. Should Councilman Flynn bring forward a bill later? We have drafted these amendments to be consistent with his bill, but they are necessary. Even if his bill doesn't come forward or doesn't pass, they really are for the bills before us. But we did try to anticipate and make as much consistency as possible. With that, I'm happy to take questions, but I hope that my colleagues will approve these amendments tonight for a simpler, clearer, more transparent reporting process going forward. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Thank you. You know, I've I have appreciated very much all the discussion we've had in committee, and it's very serendipitous and very fitting that we are doing this on this day. The City Council of Denver is strengthening its ethics rules, ethics rules and its transparency. Right as some members of the U.S. Congress were trying to make their is less transparent and less strong. And so I couldn't think of a better night to bring one of, I think, several bills that Councilman Flynn has worked on and Councilwoman Kennish to bring it on this night to show that it's just another example of cities leading the way in many policy decisions and in many innovations. And I am very proud of what we are doing, although I know I argued a lot in committee about various detail things. I am very proud that we are strengthening our ethics rules and strengthening the transparency of those and appreciate the work that my colleagues have done on this. And I'll be voting for this tonight. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to amplify just briefly. Councilwoman finishes remarks. When the committee adopted the initial amendments to the clerk's disclosure bill, I think it inadvertently had created less transparency by raising the threshold to $50 and then also narrowing the field of people for whom we would report going to lunch, etc.. If, you know, heaven forbid my church choir would ever give me a $50 gift certificate to a restaurant for my birthday, I would under the old rules, I would have to report that. But the public's not really interested in that. They're interested in the lobbyist lunch or the contractor lunch. And so I think the Councilwoman Canisius amendment rightly removes any threshold. The threshold is now zero. So that means every time. And every six months the public will get to see online our financial disclosures. So I think this amendment is a necessary step to to clean up some of the the some of the opaqueness that may have inadvertently been put into this bill in committee. So I urge every one of my colleagues to vote yes and support this. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Flint. Councilman, can you back up? Yes, thank you, Mr. President. My apologies for chiming in a second time. First, I just want to thank all the members of the committee, enormous amounts of time spent thinking about these topics. And secondly, before we vote to make sure folks understand that because this amendment does affect the title of the bill, it's going to require republishing afterwards. I just want to make sure folks knew that before we voted that that will be the result and we will then have this bill would be back for final reading next week. So I just wanted that to be on the record. Thank you. All right. Amendment is on the floor. 919. Madam Secretary, roll call. Can each. I. Lopez I. Knew Ortega. Sussman Black eye. Clark All right. Espinosa Hi. Flynn Hi. Gilmore. Herndon. Cashman. Hi, Mr. President. I please close voting, announce the results. 3913 Eyes Council Bill 919 has been amended. Councilman can each. We will need a motion in order to order it published as amended. Thank you, Mr. President. I move that council Bill 919 be published as amended. All right. It has been moved in second to. Madam Secretary, roll call. Sorry. When? Moment. Can each I. Lopez I knew. Ortega Assessment. Black eye. Clark. All right. Espinosa. I. Flynn I. Gilmore, i. Herndon Cashman, I. Mr. President. I. Please close voting in as results. 13 Ice. 13 Eyes Council Bill 919 has been ordered. Published as amended. As amended. All right, Madam Secretary, this will come back January 9th, correct? Yes, that's a consideration. Okay. This concludes the items that need to be called out. We will now move to the block votes. All other bills for introduction will be published. Council members, please remember, this is your last. This is a consent or block vote and you will need to vote. Otherwise, this is your last chance to call it an item for a separate vote. Someone can each where you please put the resolutions for adoption and the bills for final consideration on final passage on the floor, please. Yes, Mr. President. These are all series of 2016 still. So I have 1291, 1292, 13, 11, 13, 13, 13, 14, 12, 68, 1271, 1272 1304 1305 1308 953 1132 1206 1208 1210 1267 1275 1307 920 1172 1258. All right. Oh. Well, I couldn't see which I'm sorry my screen didn't distinguish. Which are for a final consideration. Which for adoption. I'm sorry. That's okay. That's okay. You're supposed to read them all. Okay. All right. It has been moved and seconded. Madam Secretary, Roll Call Black Eye. Clare Espinosa, i. Flynn, I. Gilmore, Herndon. Catherine I. Carnage, I. Lopez I. Knew Ortega. I. Susman Mr. President. I just close the voting and announce the results. 13 813 As the resolutions have been adopted and the bills have been placed upon final consideration and do pass. So there are no public hearings and there are no objections from members of Council. We will not take a recess on Monday, January nine, 2017. Council will hold a required public hearing on Council Bill 1071, adopting a new Article 17 of Chapter 53, the Revised Municipal Code concerning property taxes dedicated for the purpose of purchasing services for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.