Legislative amendment restores corporate fund-raising potential

The General Assembly last week passed an amendment that allows companies to contribute goods, services, and financial resources to state entities, even if they are companies that are registered as lobbyists or are doing business with a specific state agency.

The amendment reverses a ruling by the State Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board that interfered with the ability of all state entities – but most directly with the ability of UConn, the vocational technical schools and the other public colleges – to raise private funds, by prohibiting gifts from any vendor doing business with the state agency to which it plans to give funds or from any company registered as a lobbyist.

The advisory board’s ruling prohibited gifts from nearly every major corporation in the state.

It meant, for example, that Pfizer, General Electric, and other major Connecticut corporations could not contribute to UConn or any state agency or public higher education institution, because they are deemed lobbyists under state law.

Likewise, a gift of land United Technologies planned to give to the state to provide additional parking at Rentschler Field would not be permissible.

The legislation, not yet signed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, continues the prohibition on gifts to individuals, but specifically allows employees to receive product training in certain cases from state vendors.

The legislation was enacted to clarify the original intent of previous legislation that prohibited gifts to individuals from certain donors.

Donors are still prohibited, as was originally intended, from sending state employees to conferences, seminars, and other events, even if those activities would be helpful to them in their jobs.