Incorrect answer:

YES, because you have been asked to speak at the event about the farmers' market bill you sponsored last session is INCORRECT.

While you are correct that one of the exceptions to the gift bans established in Amendment 41 allows you to accept the cost of food and beverages consumed at a reception, meal, or meeting if you are to give a speech or answer questions as part of a scheduled program, that exception does not apply to gifts from professional lobbyists. In fact, Amendment 41 prohibits professional lobbyists from giving members of the General Assembly (among others) any gift or thing of value of any kind, regardless of the value. This prohibition expressly includes meals and beverages. The only exceptions to this prohibition are for campaign contributions and gifts to the members of the professional lobbyist's immediate family. Based on this gift ban, members of the General Assembly are well advised not to accept gifts from professional lobbyists. Because neither of those exceptions applies in this case, it is inadvisable for you to accept such a gift.

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