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                            -- Government - Lobbyists

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--Lobbying regulation

         Under state law and regulations adopted by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), any person who is compensated directly or indirectly, or reimbursed more than $100 in any three-month period, to influence legislation, regulations, or governmental processes by communicating with (for more than 20 hours in a calendar year), or providing a benefit to a state official, is required to register as a "governmental affairs agent." Registered agents must submit periodic reports with ELEC on their receipts, spending, clients and matters on which they have been retained. "Governmental affairs agents" are more commonly known as lobbyists, and those who are available for retention by others to represent their interests--typically companies, labor unions or other special interests--are sometimes referred to as "contract lobbyists" whose clients are designated  under the statute as "Represented Entities."

        Lobbying also is conducted directly by a variety of associations, business and labor entities and individuals on their own behalf, who also must register as agents. The average number of lobbyists dropped slightly to 935 in 2016 from 937 in 2015, a total well below the peak of 1,043 in 2008, according to the annual report released by ELEC in March 2017. The number of clients fell from 2,010 to 1,950- a 3% decline.
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​        In addition to lobbying with public officials, campaigns to influence the general public ("grassroots lobbying") to contact state executive officials or legislators on legislation or regulations are also subject to reporting requirements if they exceed $2,500.

​       Gifts to public officials--once common in the form of honoraria for speeches, free tickets for entertainment and sports events, and travel, dining and lodging for dinners, conventions and conferences--have been restricted by legislation and are now limited to $250 per year to officials and their immediate families. In most cases, even at the $250 level, lobbyists and officials have concluded that the potential adverse publicity relating to such gifts outweighs any benefit to either the donor or recipient. 

 --Expenditures and campaigns

​      Lobbying expenditures totaled $68.3 million in 2016, a 2.5% decline from the previous year but still the third highest total ever, according to an analysis of annual lobbying reports released March 2, 2017 by ELEC. The Engineers Labor Employer Cooperative, a coalition of construction industry, labor unions and others supporting the renewal of funding for the state Transportion Trust Fund, was the leading spender with $4,392,830. The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), which represents statewide over 195,000 teachers and other education workers, was second with $2,996,028. Prior to 2016, the NJEA had ranked first in spending for four of the previous six years, primarily on advertising seeking changes to ease state teacher performance and student testing standards and to fully fund teacher pensions.

​       Other major spending campaigns in 2015 were conducted by coalitions of labor and business interests supporting new financing to replenish the state's depleted Transportation Trust Fund. Hospitals, traditionally one of the most active lobbying groups, also were large spenders, both collectively through industry associations led by the New Jersey Hospital Association and individually, particularly on issues which divided their members such as the OMNIA insurance plan created by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey to establish tiered networks among hospitals. In Camden County, both Cooper University Hospital (chaired by the powerful Democratic leader George Norcross) and Virtua Health Systems spent heavily supporting and opposing, respectively, a new law enacted to allow Cooper to take over paramedic emergency services previously operated by Virtua. Issues on which hospitals advanced more industry-wide positions included the impact of a tax court ruling that Morristown Medical Center was subject to local property taxes for facilities such as for-profit medical offices and other services and proposed legislation to restrict how providers and insurers charge patients for services of out-of-network physicians and others.
--Events
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         Lobbyists attend a diverse range of meetings, conferences and conventions throughout the year to keep informed of legislative and governmental actions and to take the opportunity to develop relations with public officials. The largest events are the annual "Walk to Washington" chartered train trip and dinner in Washington in February sponsored by the State Chamber of Commerce and the annual Legislative Correspondents Club Show and Dinner in May sponsored by the New Jersey Press Association and Legislative Correspondents Club which features skits parodying issues and political leaders.

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Video parody featuring Governor Christie and Senator Cory Booker produced by Governor's office shown at 2012 Legislative Correspondents Club Dinner
 Lobbyists Financial Report Summary 2016
​(Top ten firms ranked by receipts)
Source: New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission
   * 2016 Annual Lobbyist Expenditure Report
   * 2016 Annual Lobbyist Expenditures Ranking
   * 2016 Annual Lobbyist Receipts Ranking
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