Review of Statements, Penalties, Contingency Fees, and Disputed Information

Initial Registration Statements and Updated Registration Statements are reviewed and audited by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission staff.  Filers are given an opportunity to correct errors or clarify discrepancies related to information provided on the statements.

Penalties for Failure to Register or File  Updated Registration Statements


If it is determined that an executive agency lobbyist, employer, or real party in interest has failed to file either an Initial Registration Statement or an Updated Registration Statement or that the filed statement is not complete, the Executive Branch Ethics Commission will send written notification by certified mail to the person or entity who failed to file the Statement regarding such failure. Any person or entity so notified shall, within 15 days after receiving the notice, file a Registration Statement or an amended Registration Statement that includes all required information. Failure to file the requested Statement within the 15 days may result in an investigation of the matter. If an investigation is initiated, the Executive Branch Ethics Commission will also notify each elected official and cabinet secretary.

Any executive agency lobbyist, employer, or real party in interest who fails to file the initial registration statement or updated registration statement required by KRS 11A.211 or KRS 11A.216, or who fails to remedy a deficiency in any filling in a timely manner, may be fined by the commission an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) per day, up to a maximum total fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000). Failure to submit the $500 registration fee will constitute a deficiency in the filing of an updated registration statement for employers and real parties in interest.

An executive agency lobbyist, employer or real party in interest who knowingly fails to register, knowingly fails to keep a receipt or maintain required records or knowingly fails to file an expenditure statement shall for the first violation be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000. For each subsequent violation, he shall be guilty of a Class D felony, and upon conviction is subject to incarceration of not less than one year or more than five years.

Any executive agency lobbyist, employer, or real party in interest who intentionally fails to register, or who intentionally files an initial registration statement or updated registration statement required by KRS 11A.211 or KRS 11A.216 which he knows to contain false information or to omit required information shall be guilty of a Class D felony. An executive agency lobbyist, employer, or real party in interest who files a false statement of expenditures or details of a financial transaction under KRS 11A.221 or KRS 11A.226 is liable in a civil action to any official or employee who sustains damage as a result of the filing or publication of the statement.

(KRS 11A.990. (5)(6)(7))

Contingency Fees

No person shall engage any person to influence executive agency decisions or conduct executive agency lobbying activity for compensation that is contingent in any way on the outcome of an executive agency decision, including payment based on the awarding of a contract or payment of a percentage of a government contract awarded. 

No person shall accept any engagement to influence executive agency decisions or conduct executive agency lobbying activity for compensation that is contingent in any way on the outcome of an executive agency decision, including payment based on the awarding of a contract or payment of a percentage of a government contract awarded. An employer who pays an Executive Agency Lobbyist based on the awarding of a contract or payment of a percentage of a government contract awarded shall be barred from doing business with the Commonwealth for a period of five (5) years from the date on which such a payment is revealed to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.  Violation is a Class D felony.  KRS 11A.236(1) and (2), and KRS 11A.990(8).

No beneficiary of an economic incentive package shall engage any person to influence the decisions of the Cabinet for Economic Development that is contingent in any way on the outcome of the decisions of the Cabinet regarding contracts or agreements and no person shall accept such an engagement. KRS 11A.233(4).​

(KRS 11A.236) (KRS 11A.990. (8))​ 

Disputed Information

If a dispute arises between an elected executive official, the secretary of a cabinet listed in KRS 12.250, an executive agency official, or a member of the staff of those officials and a real party in interest, an employer or an executive agency lobbyist with respect to an expenditure or financial transaction alleged in any statement to be filed under KRS 11A.216 or KRS 11A.221, the official, employee, real party in interest, employer, or executive agency lobbyist may file a complaint with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission. The Commission shall investigate the complaint.

The complaint shall be filed at least three days prior to the time the statement is required to be filed with the Executive Branch Ethics Commission. The time for filing a disputed expenditure or financial transaction on any statement of expenditures or the details of a financial transaction shall be extended pending the final decision of the Commission. This extension does not extend the time for filing the non-disputed portions of an expenditure statement or of the details of a financial transaction. The Commission shall notify the parties of its final decision by certified mail. If the Commission decides that the disputed expenditure or financial transaction should be reported, the employer, real party in interest, or executive agency lobbyist shall include the matter in an amended statement and file the amended statement no later than ten days after receiving notice of the decision of the Commission by certified mail.