Bill Text: MI HB6088 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Occupations; lobbyists; lobbyist and lobbying expenditure database; establish. Amends secs. 8 & 12 of 1978 PA 472 (MCL 4.418 & 4.422).

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-12-12 - Printed Bill Filed 12/12/2012 [HB6088 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HB6088-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 6088

 

December 12, 2012, Introduced by Rep. Brown and referred to the Committee on Redistricting and Elections.

 

     A bill to amend 1978 PA 472, entitled

 

"An act to regulate political activity; to regulate lobbyists,

lobbyist agents, and lobbying activities; to require registration

of lobbyists and lobbyist agents; to require the filing of reports;

to prescribe the powers and duties of the department of state; to

prescribe penalties; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts,"

 

by amending sections 8 and 12 (MCL 4.418 and 4.422), section 8 as

 

amended by 1994 PA 412.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 8. (1) A Each lobbyist or a lobbyist agent shall file a

 

signed report in a form prescribed by the secretary of state under

 

this section. A report shall be filed on January 31 covering the

 

calendar year ending on the immediately preceding December 31, and

 

on August 31 covering the immediately preceding December 31 to July

 

31. report with the secretary of state that covers the first 6

 

months of each calendar year and a report that covers the entire

 

calendar year. All of the following apply to a report described in

 

this subsection:

 

     (a) The lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall submit the report in

 

writing, in the form prescribed by the secretary of state and

 

signed by the individual who is submitting the report, and submit

 

the report electronically, in the manner prescribed by the

 

secretary of state.

 

     (b) The lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall file a report that

 

covers a calendar year by January 31 of the next calendar year and

 

a report that covers the first 6 months of a calendar year by

 

August 31 of that year.

 

     (c) A report for a lobbyist shall be filed by a the lobbyist

 

or for the lobbyist by the lobbyist agent who acts on behalf of the

 

lobbyist. , and the A report for a lobbyist agent who acts on his

 

or her own behalf shall be filed by that lobbyist agent.

 

     (d) A lobbyist or a lobbyist agent may request from the

 

secretary of state an extension of the deadline for filing the

 

report for a period not to exceed of not more than 60 days. The

 

secretary of state shall respond in writing to the request, either

 

approving or disapproving the request, and if approval is granted,

 

the period of the extension, not later than within 9 days after

 

receipt of the secretary of state receives the request.

 

     (e) A lobbyist or lobbyist agent may file an amended report

 

within 1 year after the date the report is required to be filed,

 

including an extension period granted under subdivision (d). The

 

     (f) Each report shall be on a prescribed form and shall

 

include the following information:

 

     (i) (a) A statement updating to the end of the reporting period

 

the information required to be filed for registration under section

 

7.

 

     (ii) (b) An account of expenditures made by a lobbyist,

 

lobbyist agent, or representative of a lobbyist. The accounting

 

shall report the expenditures shall be reported by category, with

 

the report showing in the following categories, show the total

 

amount expended in each category during the preceding reporting

 

period, and show the cumulative amount expended in each category

 

for the current year period from January 1 through the month

 

covered by the report. Expenditures shall be reported in the

 

following categories end of the reporting period:

 

     (A) (i) Expenditures Subject to subsection (2), expenditures

 

for food and beverage provided for public officials. as specified

 

in subsection (2).

 

     (B) (ii) Advertising and mass mailing expenses directly related

 

to lobbying.

 

     (C) (iii) Other expenditures for lobbying made or incurred by a

 

lobbyist, a lobbyist agent, or an employee of a lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent, other than expenditures for lobbying made or

 

incurred by a lobbyist, a lobbyist agent, or an employee of a

 

lobbyist or a lobbyist agent of less than $5.00 made for goods or

 

services for which a receipt or proof of purchase is not normally

 

available.

 

     (iii) (c) An account of every financial transaction during the

 

immediately preceding reporting period between the lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent, or a person acting on behalf of the lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent, and a public official or a member of the public

 

official's immediate family, or a business with which the

 

individual is associated, in which goods and services having that

 

have a value of at least $775.00, or travel and lodging expenses

 

paid for or reimbursed to a public official in connection with

 

public business by that public official in excess of $500.00, are

 

involved. The account shall include the date and nature of the

 

transaction, the parties to the transaction, and the amount

 

involved in the transaction. This subdivision subparagraph does not

 

apply to the following:

 

     (A) (i) A financial transaction in the ordinary course of the

 

business of the lobbyist, if the primary business of the lobbyist

 

is other than lobbying, and if consideration of equal or greater

 

value is received by the lobbyist.

 

     (B) (ii) A financial transaction undertaken in the ordinary

 

course of the lobbyist's business, in which fair market value is

 

given or received for a benefit conferred.

 

     (iv) (d) A brief description of the lobbying activities engaged

 

in during the previous reporting period.

 

     (v) (e) In the case of For travel and lodging expenses

 

described in subdivision (c), subparagraph (iii), paid for or

 

reimbursed to a public official who is a legislator, the lobbyist

 

or lobbyist agent shall prepare include with the report a separate

 

document detailing the expenditure required to be reported.

 

expenditures the lobbyist or lobbying agent is required to report.

 

The lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall send, simultaneously with the

 

filing of the report to the secretary of state, a copy of the

 

document to the affected legislator.

 

     (2) Expenditures for food and beverage provided to a public

 

official shall be reported under subsection (1)(f)(ii) if the

 

expenditures for that public official exceed $25.00 in any month

 

covered by the report or $150.00 during that calendar year from

 

January 1 through the month covered by the report. The report shall

 

include the name and title or office of the public official and the

 

expenditures on that public official for the months covered by the

 

report and for the year. If more than 1 public official is provided

 

food and beverage and a single check is rendered, the report may

 

reflect the average amount of the check for each public official.

 

If the expenditures are a result of an event at which more than 25

 

public officials were in attendance, are a result of an event to

 

which an entire standing committee of the legislature was invited

 

in writing to be informed concerning a bill that was assigned to

 

that standing committee, or are a result of an event to which an

 

entire caucus of either house of the legislature was invited in

 

writing, a lobbyist or a lobbyist agent shall report the total

 

amount expended on the public officials in attendance for food and

 

beverage and is not required to report the amount expended on the

 

public officials individually. In reporting those amounts, the

 

lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall file a statement providing a

 

description by category of the persons in attendance and the nature

 

of each event or function held during the preceding reporting

 

period.

 

     (3) A person who, that, without good cause, fails to report

 

under subsection (1) shall pay a late filing fee of $10.00 for each

 

day the report remains not filed in violation of subsection (1),

 

not to exceed subject to a maximum late filing fee for that unfiled

 

report of $300.00. A person who without good cause is in violation

 

of that violates subsection (1) for more than 30 days without good

 

cause is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more

 

than $1,000.00.

 

     (4) If a lobbyist agent employs another lobbyist agent to

 

engage in lobbying, the employer lobbyist agent shall report the

 

activities of the employee lobbyist agent shall be reported by the

 

employer lobbyist agent under this section.

 

     (5) Within a reasonable time after receipt of receiving a

 

request from an elected public official in regard to a report of a

 

lobbyist or a lobbyist agent, the secretary of state shall report

 

to the elected public official on any reported activity by the

 

lobbyist or lobbyist agent in that report, and shall notify the

 

elected public official of the specific occurrence and the specific

 

nature of the reported activity.

 

     (6) The secretary of state shall preserve statements and

 

reports filed under this act for 5 years after filing. The

 

statements and reports may be reproduced pursuant to the records

 

media act. Statements and reports preserved by reproduction under

 

the records media act, 1992 PA 116, MCL 24.401 to 24.403, comply

 

with this subsection. After the required preservation period, the

 

secretary of state shall destroy or arrange for the destruction of

 

the statements and reports, or the reproductions of the statements

 

and reports, other than those necessary to complete an

 

investigation by the attorney general or pertinent to a matter

 

being adjudicated in a court of law. , shall be destroyed.

 

     Sec. 12. (1) The department 2 times Twice a year and annually

 

the department shall prepare and publish summaries of the

 

statements and reports received under this act. The summaries shall

 

include a list of the names of the lobbyists and lobbyist agents.

 

The summaries shall be given wide public dissemination.

 

     (2) The department shall include all reports received under

 

section 4 in a searchable database and make that database available

 

to the public on an internet website.