In July, 1998 a prominent California winery agreed to pay $150,000 in fines and other penalties for making a total of $374 in illegal gratuities to a Federal official. Since providing meals, beverages or entertainment is a common practice among corporations and their customers, the following is a brief overview of the limitations and prohibitions concerning the making of business gifts and gratuities to Federal, state and local public officials. These limitations include executive gifts in various:
Generally speaking, a "gift" is a payment which benefits a public official. Examples include, meals, lodging, flowers, bottles of wine, tickets to cultural or sporting events, travel expenses, etc. Although the making of gifts to clients or prospective clients may be standard practice in the private sector, such activity is highly regulated when the corporate gift is made to a public official.
According to federal laws, just because a gift falls within permissible, legal limits does not mean that the gift could be not be deemed a bribe or illegal gratuity (although that possibility is reduced). If a gift is made "for or because of any official act"—whether in the past or future—then the official who receives the benefit (and in many cases the entity making the gift) could be subject to criminal prosecution.
Generally on the state level, with certain, limited exceptions, gifts to state and local officials are limited to $290 per official per calendar year from a single source. A state or local official also may be disqualified from making a governmental decision if he or she receives a gift of $290 or more during any 12 month period. A separate $10 per month limit applies to gifts made by lobbyists and lobbying firms to state officials for whom they are registered to lobby.
In addition to the limitations applicable to local officials under state law, many local jurisdictions have enacted their own, more restrictive gift rules. These jurisdictions include the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County MTA and the City and County of San Francisco (which has a combined gift/political contribution limit of $500). Other localities expressly prohibit gifts from vendors or contractors to public officials in their jurisdiction.
Keep these factors in mind when presenting gifts to the public sector of business.
Be familiar with all state and local laws in your area before offering any corporate
gift ideas. The $100 corporate gift
basket could turn into a $100,000 fine. For more interesting articles, please
visit Corporatesnobs.com.