Use of state funds for lobbying prohibited; penalty.

(1) No funds, exclusive of salaries, travel expenses, and per diem, appropriated to, or otherwise available for use by, any executive, judicial, or quasi-judicial department shall be used by any state employee or other person for lobbying purposes, which shall include the cost for publication and distribution of each publication used in lobbying; other printing; media; advertising, including production costs; postage; entertainment; and telephone and telegraph. Any state employee of any executive, judicial, or quasi-judicial department who violates the provisions of this section shall have deducted from her or his salary the amount of state moneys spent in violation of this section.

(2)(a) A department of the executive branch, a state university, a community college, or a water management district may not use public funds to retain a lobbyist to represent it before the legislative or executive branch. However, full-time employees of a department of the executive branch, a state university, a community college, or a water management district may register as lobbyists and represent that employer before the legislative or executive branch. Except as a full-time employee, a person may not accept any public funds from a department of the executive branch, a state university, a community college, or a water management district for lobbying.

(b) A department of the executive branch, a state university, a community college, or a water management district that violates this subsection may be prohibited from lobbying the legislative or executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years.

(c) This subsection shall not be construed to prohibit a department of the executive branch, a state university, a community college, or a water management district from retaining a lobbyist for purposes of representing the entity before the executive or legislative branch of the Federal Government. Further, any person so retained is not subject to the prohibitions of this subsection.

(d) A person who accepts public funds as compensation for lobbying in violation of this subsection may be prohibited from registering to lobby before the legislative or executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years.

(e) A person may file a written complaint with the Commission on Ethics alleging a violation of this subsection. The commission shall investigate and report its finding to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Governor and Cabinet. Based upon the report of the Commission on Ethics or upon its own finding that a violation of this subsection has occurred, a house of the Legislature may discipline the violator according to its rules, and the Governor or the Governor and Cabinet, as applicable, may prohibit the violator from lobbying before the executive branch for a period not exceeding 2 years after the date of the formal determination of a violation. The Commission on Ethics shall adopt rules necessary to conduct investigations under this paragraph.