Bill 44 overhauls the Lobbyists’ Registration Act by collapsing the old division structure and replacing it with a single, registration-and-reporting regime that covers consultant and in‑house lobbyists. It modernizes how lobbying is defined and tracked, gives the Integrity Commissioner authority to create a code of conduct, and equips the office with new investigatory and administrative enforcement powers.
For compliance teams and in‑house counsel, the practical effect is straightforward: more people and organizations will be required to register and deliver routine, structured returns to the Commissioner, and failures can trigger administrative penalties, publication and temporary prohibitions on lobbying. The Act also includes transitional rules and leaves actual commencement to proclamation, so operational timing will depend on when the government proclaims the provisions into force.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill requires consultant and in‑house lobbyists to register before they lobby and to submit regular returns. Consultant lobbyists must file an initial return shortly after entering an undertaking; in‑house lobbyists and senior officers must file initial returns after they begin lobbying. After that, covered individuals must provide monthly returns with details about each communication with a public office holder, corrections to prior returns, and notices of completed undertakings or cessation of employment.
Who It Affects
Consultant lobbyists who enter into undertakings, employees and officers whose duties include lobbying (the newly defined “in‑house lobbyists”), senior officers of organizations that employ such lobbyists, and the Office of the Integrity Commissioner (which gains new rule‑writing and enforcement responsibilities). Private sector compliance teams, small employers who previously had informal lobbying, and watchdog organizations will also be directly affected.
Why It Matters
The Act shifts New Brunswick from an episodic disclosure model to a continuous, transaction‑level reporting model and adds administrative enforcement tools (publication, temporary bans and fines) alongside criminal offences. That raises recordkeeping, privacy and resource implications for employers and the Commissioner’s office while increasing public transparency of lobbying activity.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
Bill 44 starts by changing who counts as an in‑house lobbyist and by removing the old Division A/B/C structure; instead it frames registration and reporting in a uniform way that applies to consultant lobbyists and in‑house lobbyists alike. The new definition of “in‑house lobbyist” covers individuals whose duties include lobbying as employees or compensated officers, and it allows the government to carve out classes of individuals by regulation.
The repeal of the old divisions is mainly structural: the content is regrouped into new sections dealing with registration, first returns and monthly returns.
The core operational regime is threefold. First, no consultant or in‑house lobbyist may lobby a public office holder unless registered in the Commissioner’s registry.
Second, the Act creates deadlines for initial returns tailored to the type of lobbyist: consultants after entering an undertaking; in‑house lobbyists and senior officers within a short window after lobbying begins. Third, the law mandates monthly returns submitted within a short period after the month ends.
Those returns must identify, by communication, the public office holder contacted, the date, subject matter and any additional information the regulations prescribe; they must also correct earlier returns and record completion or cessation events.The Commissioner gains two new, linked tools: a code of conduct that the Commissioner drafts, consults on, tables with the Legislative Assembly and publishes in The Royal Gazette (the Regulations Act does not apply to that code), and revised investigatory and enforcement powers. The Commissioner may investigate on the Commissioner’s own motion or on complaint, use the powers of a commissioner under the Inquiries Act while investigating, and refuse, suspend or refer matters to other bodies when appropriate.
Time limits apply to investigations (a two‑year rule with a public‑interest exception), and the Act sets out informal notice, reconsideration and judicial‑review pathways for affected individuals.If the Commissioner finds non‑compliance the Act authorizes measures proportionate to the public interest: publishing the finding, temporarily prohibiting lobbying (up to two years), and imposing administrative penalties where regulations set amounts or methods. Publication of findings is delayed while a judicial‑review window remains open; some enforcement measures are staged so that certain provisions do not take effect until a year after commencement.
The Act also includes confidentiality protections for investigation files, limited immunities for persons acting in good faith, transitional clauses applying to existing registrants, a six‑month post‑employment restriction for consultant lobbyists seeking public service employment, and a proclamation clause for commencement.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill replaces the old consultant/in‑house division layout with a unified registration regime and a new statutory definition of “in‑house lobbyist” that covers compensated employees and officers but allows regulatory carve‑outs.
A consultant lobbyist must file an initial return within 15 days after entering into an undertaking to lobby for a client; an in‑house lobbyist (and senior officer for certain organizations) must file an initial return within two months after beginning lobbying activity.
Covered individuals must file monthly returns no later than 15 days after the end of each month; each return must list, for every communication during that month, the public office holder contacted, the date, the subject matter and any other information regulations prescribe.
The Commissioner must develop a code of conduct for consultant and in‑house lobbyists, consult stakeholders, table it with a committee of the Legislative Assembly and publish it in The Royal Gazette; the Act expressly removes the code from the Regulations Act process.
The Commissioner may investigate alleged breaches, use Inquiries Act powers, publish findings (after the judicial‑review period lapses), prohibit lobbying for up to two years and impose administrative penalties (amounts to be set by regulation); administrative penalties are recoverable to the Consolidated Fund and can be filed as court judgments.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Redefining who is an in‑house lobbyist
This section repeals the prior definition structure and inserts a new definition of “in‑house lobbyist” with two paragraphs: one that applies when the employer is an individual or partnership and one that applies to organizations. Both paragraphs capture employees and officers who are compensated for lobbying duties, and both permit the Lieutenant‑Governor in Council to prescribe exclusions by regulation. Practically, that means more employees whose day‑to‑day work includes lobbying could fall under the registration regime unless regulations exempt specific classes (for example, frontline staff or particular job titles).
Structural cleanup: removing old divisions
The bill repeals the headings and the three prior divisions that separated consultant and two flavors of in‑house lobbyists and consolidates the rules into new sections. This is largely organizational but matters because it replaces multiple parallel regimes and deadlines with a single set of registration and return rules; compliance programs must therefore map previous obligations to the new consolidated requirements rather than rely on legacy section numbering.
Registration, first returns and monthly returns
Section 18.1 makes registration a precondition to lobbying. Section 18.2 sets staggered initial‑return deadlines: consultants after entering an undertaking, employee‑lobbyists and senior officers within specified short windows after lobbying starts. Section 18.3 mandates monthly reporting due within 15 days after month end and prescribes minimum content (name of public office holder contacted, date, subject matter and other regulatory fields), error corrections and a process to report periods of inactivity after five months. Section 18.4 gives the Commissioner 30 days to request clarifying information. Together, these mechanics demand that organizations keep transaction‑level logs and build routines to produce month‑end reports and ad hoc clarifications on short notice.
Code of conduct: Commissioner drafts and publishes
The Commissioner must develop a code of conduct setting expected ethical standards and behavioural obligations for consultant and in‑house lobbyists. The statute requires consultation, tabling to a Legislative Assembly committee and publication in The Royal Gazette. Notably, the code is carved out of the Regulations Act, meaning it follows a distinct process and may be harder to challenge through ordinary regulatory processes; however, the Act also makes compliance with the code mandatory and provides that where the code conflicts with the Act or regulations, the Act/regulations prevail.
Investigations and enforcement measures
The Commissioner may investigate on the Commissioner’s own initiative or following a complaint, and generally has a two‑year limitation measured from when the Commissioner first became aware of the facts, subject to a public‑interest exception. While investigating, the Commissioner enjoys the powers of a commissioner under the Inquiries Act. After investigation the Commissioner must notify the individual, allow an opportunity to be heard, and may find non‑compliance. The Act authorizes publishing the finding (subject to timing rules), prohibiting lobbying for up to two years, and imposing administrative penalties in amounts or by formulas the regulations will define. Publication and some enforcement measures are delayed until appeal windows expire or after a one‑year staging period, which limits immediate use of the new sanctions.
Administrative penalties, debt recovery and review rights
Administrative penalties become a debt to the Province, recoverable and fileable in the Court of King’s Bench as if a judgment. The Act sets time limits for payment (30 days after notice) and provides specified routes for reconsideration by the Commissioner and judicial review in court (short statutory timelines for both). It also allows the Commissioner discretion to stay enforcement pending reconsideration or judicial review. Section 37.1 parallels administrative measures for convictions: post‑conviction publication and temporary bans, applied only if the Commissioner considers it in the public interest and subject to staged commencement for some measures.
Transition and proclamation‑based commencement
The Act contains transitional clauses that carry forward existing registrants into the new return framework so that ongoing undertakings and previously required returns map into the new section 18.3 obligations. The Act does not set a fixed coming‑into‑force date; instead, most provisions come into effect on proclamation, and certain enforcement powers are explicitly staged to begin only after one year. That combination creates an implementation window but also legal uncertainty until the government proclaims the Act in force.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on this topic across all five countries.
Explore this topic in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Public office holders and the public — more granular, periodic disclosure creates an auditable trail of who contacted whom, when and about what, making it easier for watchdogs and citizens to scrutinize influence on government decision‑making.
- Watchdog organizations and journalists — the monthly reporting regime increases the frequency and specificity of disclosure, providing more timely data for research, reporting and FOI‑type inquiries into influence campaigns.
- Compliance officers and in‑house legal teams — clearer statutory obligations (standardized initial and monthly returns, a published code of conduct) let compliance teams design repeatable processes, train staff and reduce uncertainty about what must be disclosed.
- Office of the Integrity Commissioner — the Act centralizes authority and gives the Commissioner statutory tools (code‑making, Inquiries Act powers, administrative penalties) that improve the office’s capacity to enforce standards without relying solely on criminal prosecution.
- Smaller public interest groups and advocacy organizations — regularized reporting levels the informational playing field by exposing corporate and third‑party lobbying activity that may previously have been opaque.
Who Bears the Cost
- Consultant lobbyists — new administrative deadlines, structured monthly returns, and exposure to administrative penalties and public naming increase compliance costs and legal risk for small consultant firms.
- In‑house lobbyists and senior officers — employees and certain senior officers must now report communications at the transaction level, creating recordkeeping burdens, potential disclosure of internal strategies, and new administrative overhead for employers.
- Small employers and NGOs — organizations without established compliance functions will need to invest in record systems and training to meet initial‑return and monthly‑return timelines and to respond to Commissioner information requests within 30 days.
- Office of the Integrity Commissioner — the broadened mandate, new investigative powers and expanded reporting flow will increase caseload and resource requirements; the statute does not itself appropriate funds, so the office may need additional budget or reprioritization.
- Former consultants seeking public service employment — the six‑month restriction on becoming an employee in specified public‑service parts after ceasing to be a consultant creates a post‑employment limitation that may affect recruiting and mobility.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between two legitimate objectives: maximizing transparency and accountability of lobbying through frequent, detailed reporting and strong administrative enforcement, versus minimizing regulatory burden and preserving legitimate, routine communication between stakeholders and public office holders; the bill advances the first objective while delegating many practical trade‑offs to regulations and Commissioner practice.
The bill boosts transparency but raises tension between disclosure and practical compliance. The monthly, transaction‑level returns require organizations to capture and retain detailed logs of every communication with public office holders; that can expose strategic subject matter and impose substantial administrative costs, particularly on smaller employers.
The Act allows regulations to prescribe additional required fields, which could expand disclosure obligations further and create privacy and competitive‑sensitivity issues that are not fully resolved in the text.
The code of conduct provision sits outside the Regulations Act and is subject to a distinct consult‑and‑publish process. That accelerates the Commissioner’s ability to set ethical expectations but reduces the usual regulatory oversight and procedural checks—raising questions about how binding standards will be challenged, amended or reviewed.
Enforcement tools combine discretionary measures (publication and temporary bans) with administrative penalties recoverable as public debt; the Act stages the use of some measures and preserves judicial review, but the discretion it grants the Commissioner could produce uneven application across cases. Finally, several key items (penalty amounts, prescribed return fields, classes excluded from the in‑house definition) are delegated to future regulation, so the most operationally significant details remain to be decided and could materially change compliance demands.
There's more to this law than the bill.
Codify Laws traces every connection across the legislative lifecycle.