All lobbying contracts will be posted on city of Fresno’s website under new law
The Fresno City Council unanimously adopted a plan to post lobbying contracts on the city’s website on Thursday in an effort to increase transparency.
The city has historically not required public reporting of contracts that fall below the $100,000-a-year threshold, which left room for a lobbyist or consultant to exceed the payout if they were paid in multiple contracts that were individually less than $100,000.
The contracts did not appear on a public agenda because any that fall below the threshold do not require a vote for approval by the City Council.
The new policy followed a story from nonprofit newsroom Fresnoland, which found between 2020 and 2025 some city leaders handed out third-party contracts that exceeded the threshold. The story earned media attention and a news conference featuring Councilmembers Brandon Vang and Nick Richardson.
The transparency policy over contracts was sponsored by Councilmember Miguel Arias, who said he believed the policy was good for transparency’s sake and could potentially save the city money.
The city saw nearly 4,700 Public Records Act requests last year, he said, and could potentially save money if the new policy meant fewer requests to be reviewed and vetted by attorneys.
“It creates one single location online for a transparency hub where every contract in the city would be available and searchable and reviewable,” he said.
The City Clerk’s Office already handles a similar process for campaign contribution reporting.
Vang also noted the public records process can be cumbersome and lengthy. “It should not take the public eight months just get their hands on a few contracts by the city of Fresno,” he said.
The policy would also clarify that the $100,000 includes the sum of contracts to a lobbyist during the fiscal year rather than piecemeal on a per-contract basis.
City staffers said dedicating a page to the contracts could easily be done in the 30-day target under the new ordinance, but setting up the searchable and reviewable database would likely take longer.
Vang and Richardson were named during the same meeting to a temporary ad hoc committee, which was set to dissolve after a year, to review policies in the city that may need freshening.
Richardson said the committee will be open to suggestions from the public as well as the City Council.
“I’m a huge fan of moratoria, huge fan of sunset dates on things and legislation from the past,” he said. “Quote, unquote, ‘the way we’ve always done things’ is never the right answer. So we’re excited, and we’re going to take this on with initiative.”
