Bill Text: GA SB391 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Ethics; rename to State Accountability Commission; campaign contributions; change prov.; revise "Ethics in Government Act"
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-07 - Senate Read and Referred [SB391 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2011-SB391-Introduced.html
12 LC 35
2494
Senate
Bill 391
By:
Senators McKoon of the 29th, Gooch of the 51st, Miller of the 49th, Chance of
the 16th, Shafer of the 48th and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Chapter 5 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to ethics in government, so as to substantially revise the "Ethics in Government
Act"; to rename the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance
Commission as the State Accountability Commission; to change certain provisions
relating to campaign contributions; to change provisions relating to public
officials' conduct and lobbyist disclosure; to change provisions relating to
postemployment restrictions on public officers; to amend Title 45 of the
Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to public officers and employees,
so as to conform certain cross-references; to provide for related matters; to
provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
I.
Campaign contributions.
Campaign contributions.
SECTION
1.
Chapter
5 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to ethics in
government, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as
follows:
"21-5-30.3.
(a)
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the definitions set forth in
Code Section 21-5-3 shall be applicable to the provisions of this Code section.
As used in this Code section, the term:
(1)
'Disclosure report' means a report filed with the commission by a political
action committee setting forth all expenditures of more than $100.00 and all
contributions of more than $100.00 for the calendar year in which the report is
filed. Such report shall also include the total amount of all contributions
received or expenditures made of less than $100.00 each.
(2)
'Political action committee' means any committee, club, association,
partnership, corporation, or other group of persons which receives donations
aggregating in excess of $1,000.00 during a calendar year from persons who are
members or supporters of the committee and which distributes these funds as
contributions to one or more campaign committees of candidates for public
office. Such term shall not include a campaign committee.
(b)
Not later than January 3, each year, each political action committee shall be
required to annually file with the commission a disclosure report with
expenditures and contributions made during the preceding calendar
year."
II.
Lobbyist registration, limitations, and disclosures.
Lobbyist registration, limitations, and disclosures.
SECTION
2.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising subsection (f) of Code Section 21-5-71,
relating to registration of lobbyists, applications for registration,
supplemental registration, expiration, docket, fees, identification cards,
public rosters, and exemptions, as follows:
"(f)(1)
Each person registering under this Code section shall pay the registration fees
set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection; provided, however, that a person
who represents any state, county, municipal, or public agency, department,
commission, or authority shall be exempted from payment of such registration
fees.
(2)
The commission shall collect the following fees:
(A)
Annual lobbyist registration or renewal filed pursuant to
this
Code
section $300.00
$150.00
(B)
Lobbyist supplemental registration filed pursuant to
this
Code
section 10.00
50.00
(C)
Each copy of a lobbyist identification card issued pursuant to
this
Code section 20.00
(D)(i)
For reports filed when the General Assembly is not in session, in addition to
other penalties provided under this chapter, a late fee of $275.00 shall be
imposed for each report that is filed late. In addition, a late fee of
$1,000.00 shall be imposed on the fifteenth day after the due date for such
report if the report has not been filed. A late fee of $10,000.00 shall be
imposed on the forty-fifth day after the due date for such report if the report
has not been filed.
(ii)
The commission shall retain $25.00 of the first late fee received for processing
pursuant to the provisions of Code Section 45-12-92.1.
(E)(i)
For reports filed when the General Assembly is in session, in addition to other
penalties provided under this chapter, a late fee of $275.00 shall be imposed
for each report that is filed late. In addition, a late fee of $1,000.00 shall
be imposed on the seventh day after the due date for such report if the report
has not been filed. A late fee of $10,000.00 shall be imposed on the
twenty-first day after the due date for such report if the report has not been
filed.
(ii)
The commission shall retain $25.00 of the first late fee received for processing
pursuant to the provisions of Code Section 45-12-92.1."
SECTION
3.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising paragraph (1) of Code Section 21-5-70,
relating to definitions for provisions relating to public officials' conduct and
lobbyist disclosure, as follows:
"(1)
'Expenditure':
(A)
Means a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit, or conveyance
of money or anything of value made for the purpose of influencing the actions of
any public officer, specifically including any such transaction which is made on
behalf of or for the benefit of a public employee for the purpose of influencing
a public officer;
(B)
Includes any other form of payment when such can be reasonably construed as
designed to encourage or influence a public officer;
(B.1)
Includes reimbursement or payment of actual and reasonable expenses provided to
a public officer for transportation, travel, lodging, registration, food,
beverages, and other activities related to attending a meeting or conference so
as to permit such public officer's participation in such meeting or
conference;
(C)
Includes any gratuitous transfer, payment, subscription, advance, or deposit of
money, services, or anything of value, unless consideration of equal or greater
value is received;
(D)
Notwithstanding division (x) of subparagraph (E) of this paragraph, includes
food or beverage consumed at a single meal or event by a public officer or
public employee or a member of the family of such public officer or public
employee;
and
(D.1)
Includes any such transaction or expenditure as provided in subparagraph (A),
(B), (B.1), or (C) of this paragraph made to a family member of a public officer
or made to an employee or a staff member of such officer who works in support of
the public office in which such officer serves; and
(E)
The term shall not include:
(i)
The value of personal services performed by persons who serve voluntarily
without compensation from any source;
(ii)
A gift received from a member of the public officer's family;
(iii)
Legal compensation or expense reimbursement provided to public employees and to
public officers in the performance of their duties;
(iv)
Promotional items generally distributed to the general public or to public
officers and food and beverages produced in Georgia;
(v)
An award, plaque, certificate, memento, or similar item given in recognition of
the recipient's civic, charitable, political, professional, or public
service;
(vi)
Legitimate salary, benefits, fees, commissions, or expenses associated with a
recipient's nonpublic business, employment, trade, or profession;
(vii)
Food, beverages, and registration at group events to which all members of an
agency, as defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code Section 21-5-30.2,
are invited. An agency shall include the Georgia House of Representatives, the
Georgia Senate, committees and subcommittees of such bodies, and the governing
body of each political subdivision of this state;
(viii)
Campaign contributions or expenditures reported as required by Article 2 of this
chapter;
(ix)
A commercially reasonable loan made in the ordinary course of
business;
(x)
Food, beverage, or expenses afforded public officers, members of their immediate
families, or others that are associated with normal and customary business or
social functions or activities; or
(xi)
Transportation unless a lobbyist arranges for or participates in such
transportation."
SECTION
4.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising subsection (a) of Code Section 21-5-73,
relating to disclosure reports, as follows:
"(a)(1)
No lobbyist shall make at any single event an expenditure to a public officer,
an employee or a staff member of a public officer who works in support of the
public office in which such officer serves, or a member of the family of a
public officer in an amount exceeding $100.00 per such officer, employee, staff
member, or family member; provided, however, that any reimbursement or payment
of actual and reasonable expenses provided to a public officer or a family
member, employee, or staff member of a public officer for transportation,
travel, lodging, registration, food, beverages, and other activities related to
attending a meeting or conference so as to permit a public officer's
participation in such meeting or conference shall be limited to not more than
$750.00. Beginning January 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, the limitation on
expenditures specified in this subsection shall be increased by .03 percent or
by a percentage equal to the Consumer Price Index, whichever is
less.
(2)
There is created a Joint Accountability Review Committee within the General
Assembly consisting of five members of the House of Representatives to be
appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and five members of the
Senate to be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor. The Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the Lieutenant Governor shall each select from the members
appointed a person to serve as cochairperson of the committee. The purpose of
the committee shall be to review requests by public officers for reimbursement
or payment of actual expenses provided to a public officer or a family member,
employee, or staff member of a public officer for transportation, travel,
lodging, registration, food, beverages, and other activities related to
attending a meeting or conference where such expenses exceed $750.00. Such
reimbursements or payments shall only be approved if the attendance at such
meeting or conference is related to education or public policy or economic or
cultural development. Approval shall be given by majority vote of the members
of the committee. The limitation on expenditures provided for in this
subsection shall not apply to any expenditure approved by the
committee.
(a.1)
Each lobbyist registered under this article shall file disclosure reports as
provided for in this Code section in the electronic format specified by the
commission."
III.
The "State Accountability Commission."
The "State Accountability Commission."
SECTION
5.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising paragraph (5) of Code Section 21-5-3,
relating to definitions for general provisions relating to ethics in government,
as follows:
"(5)
'Commission' means the
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance
State
Accountability Commission created under
Code Section 21-5-4."
SECTION
6.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 21-5-4, relating to the
Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, membership,
officers, quorum, and meetings, as follows:
"(a)
The Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance
State
Accountability Commission shall be a
successor to the
State
Ethics
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance Commission, with such duties and
powers as are set forth in this chapter. As the successor commission, it shall
have all the powers and duties granted to the
State
Ethics
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance Commission in all matters pending
before the
State
Ethics
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance Commission and may continue to
investigate, prosecute, and act upon all such matters.
(b)
The commission shall be governed by five members appointed as follows: three
members, not more than two of whom shall be from the same political party, shall
be appointed by the Governor, two for terms of three years and one for a term of
two years; one member shall be appointed by the Senate Committee on Assignments
for a term of four years; and one member shall be appointed by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives for a term of four years. Upon the expiration of a
member's term of office, a new member, appointed in the same manner as the
member whose term of office expired as provided in this subsection, shall become
a member of the commission and shall serve for a term of four years and until
such member's successor is duly appointed and qualified. If a vacancy occurs in
the membership of the commission, a new member shall be appointed to the
unexpired term of office by the state official or the committee that appointed
the vacating member. Members of the commission shall not serve for more than
one complete term of office.
(c)
All members of the commission shall be residents of this state.
(d)
Any person who:
(1)
Has qualified to run for any federal, state, or local public office within a
period of five years prior to such person's appointment;
(2)
Has held any federal, state, or local public office within a period of five
years prior to such person's appointment;
or
(3)
Serves as an officer of any political party, whether such office is elective or
appointive and whether such office exists on a local, state, or national
level;
(4)
Is currently a lobbyist;
(5)
Is receiving compensation from a lobbyist group, organization, or firm or
another lobbyist; or
(6)
Has a family member who is currently a lobbyist
shall
be ineligible to serve as a member of the commission.
(e)
The commission shall elect a chairperson, a vice chairperson, and other officers
as it deems necessary. The members shall not be compensated for their services
but they shall be reimbursed in an amount equal to the per diem received by the
General Assembly for each day or portion thereof spent in serving as members of
the commission. They shall be paid their necessary traveling expenses while
engaged in the business of the commission.
(f)
A majority of the members of the commission constitutes a quorum for the
transaction of business. The vote of at least a majority of the members present
at any meeting at which a quorum is present is necessary for any action to be
taken by the commission. No vacancy in the membership of the commission impairs
the right of a quorum to exercise all rights and perform all duties of the
commission.
(g)
Meetings of the members of the commission shall be held at the call of the
chairperson or whenever any two members so request."
SECTION
7.
Title
45 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to public officers and
employees, is amended by revising paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code
Section 45-1-6, relating to gifts to employees by vendors, disclosure, and
reports, as follows:
"(1)
'Commission' means the
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance
State
Accountability Commission created under
Code Section 21-5-4."
SECTION
8.
Said
title is further amended by revising Code Section 45-7-7, relating to
compensation and allowances of certain officials not to be changed without
giving public notice, as follows:
"45-7-7.
(a)
The compensation or allowances of the officials listed in subsection (b) of this
Code section shall not be changed by the governing board or body having the
authority to do so unless public notice of such proposed action and amount shall
have been given at least 30 days prior to the date such board or body shall
consider such action and unless notice of such proposed change shall have
likewise been given to the Governor by the board or body at least 30 days prior
to the date of such proposed change.
(b)
Subsection (a) of this Code section shall apply to the compensation and
allowances of the commissioner of community affairs, the director of the
Employees' Retirement System of Georgia, the director of the State Forestry
Commission, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the executive
director of the Georgia Franchise Practices Commission, the commissioner of
human services, the commissioner of economic development, the commissioner of
natural resources, the commissioner of public safety, the chancellor of the
University System of Georgia, the president or executive director of the Georgia
Student Finance Commission, the executive director of the State Soil and Water
Conservation Commission, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Teachers
Retirement System of Georgia, the commissioner of transportation, and the
executive director of the
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance
State
Accountability
Commission."
SECTION
9.
Said
title is further amended by revising subsection (a) of Code Section 45-10-26,
relating to public officials and employees to file yearly disclosure statements
concerning business transactions with the state and statements to be public
records, as follows:
"(a)
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, any public official
or employee, whether for himself, herself, or on behalf of any business, or any
business in which such public official or employee or any member of his or her
family has a substantial interest who transacts business with the state or any
agency thereof shall disclose such transactions. Such disclosure shall be
submitted prior to January 31 each year to the
Georgia
Government Transparency and Campaign
Finance
State
Accountability Commission on such forms as
it shall prescribe and shall include an itemized list of the previous year's
transactions with the dollar amount of each transaction reported and totaled.
Such disclosure statements shall be public records."
IV.
Conduct of public officials.
Conduct of public officials.
SECTION
10.
Said
chapter is further amended in subsection (a) of Code Section 21-5-50, relating
to filing financial disclosure statements by public officers, candidates for
public office, elected officials and members of the General Assembly, electronic
filing, and transfer of filings from the Secretary of State to the commission,
by adding a new paragraph to read as follows:
"(7)
Any public officer or any person serving as the head or executive director of a
state department, bureau, agency, authority, or other similarly designated state
entity shall file with the commission not before the first day of January nor
later than July 1 of each year in which such person holds office a financial
disclosure statement for the preceding calendar year. In addition, each such
public officer shall file with the commission, together with the financial
disclosure statement, an affidavit confirming that he or she took no official
action in the previous calendar year that had a material effect on such public
officer's private financial or business
interests."
SECTION
11.
Said
chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 21-5-75, relating to
postemployment restrictions on public officers, as follows:
"21-5-75.
(a)
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, on and after
January 8,
2007
July 1,
2012, persons identified in subparagraphs
(A) through (D) of paragraph (22) of Code Section 21-5-3 and the executive
director of each state board, commission, or authority
and any
employee of the Governor's office or the Lieutenant Governor's
office shall be prohibited from
registering as a lobbyist or engaging in lobbying under this article for a
period of one year after terminating such employment or leaving such
office.
(b)
The lobbying prohibition contained in subsection (a) of this Code section shall
not apply to persons who terminate such employment or leave such office but who
remain employed in state government."
V.
Effective date and repealer.
Effective date and repealer.
SECTION
12.
This
Act shall become effective on July 1, 2012.
SECTION
13.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.