Bond wants an eight-year checkup on Atlanta’s lobbying safeguards

Are officials getting their lobbyist-law training? Can the public search lobbyist disclosures? Councilmember Kelsea Bond wants Atlanta to document whether the safeguards described in a 2018 ordinance have been put into practice.⁠[1]

Council referred Resolution 26-R-4334 without objection on Nov. 2; it did not adopt it. The measure is listed on the Finance/Executive Committee’s Nov. 10 agenda and would go to Committee on Council after a Finance/Executive recommendation.⁠[1][2]

The proposed report would ask the mayor or a designee to confirm annual lobbying-law training for elected officials and employees required to file financial disclosures—and provide completion rates for every year from 2019 through 2026.⁠[1]

It would also check whether procurement contracts and source-selection forms carry notices of state lobbying requirements, whether lobbyist disclosure reports can be filed online and searched by the public, and whether City Hall has the required notice signs. For any unfinished provisions of Ordinance 18-O-1522, Bond wants an implementation timetable.⁠[1]

A second part would urge Georgia’s General Assembly, during its 2027–2028 session, to let municipalities adopt stricter rules on lobbying related to city affairs. The resolution says state law does not currently permit that step; the proposal itself would not create tougher lobbying regulations.⁠[1]

The text requests presentations to Finance/Executive by its Dec. 16, 2026, meeting and to Committee on Council by its Jan. 4, 2027, meeting. Those are proposed reporting deadlines, not evidence that a report has been delivered.⁠[1]

The proposal seeks answers, not a finding of noncompliance. The records reviewed do not establish whether all four safeguards have been implemented or supply the annual training completion rates.⁠[1]