April 27, 2006, Introduced by Reps. Ward, Stahl, Stakoe, Vander Veen, Huizenga, Taub, Bieda, Sheltrown, Mortimer, Elsenheimer, Ball, Moore, Gaffney, Brandenburg, Casperson, Marleau, Gosselin, Farhat, Kahn, Walker, Caul, Wenke and Van Regenmorter and referred to the Committee on House Oversight, Elections, and Ethics.
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 section 8 (MCL 4.418), as amended by 1994 PA 412.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 8. (1) A 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. A report shall be filed by a lobbyist or for the lobbyist by
the lobbyist agent who acts on behalf of the lobbyist, and the
lobbyist agent who acts on his or her own behalf. 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 60
days. The secretary of state shall respond in writing to the
request, either approving or disapproving the request, and if
approval is granted, indicating the period of the extension, not
later than 9 days after receipt of the request. 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. The report shall be on a prescribed form and shall include
the following information:
(a) A statement updating to the end of the reporting period
the information required to be filed under section 7.
(b) An account of expenditures made by a lobbyist, lobbyist
agent, or representative of a lobbyist. The expenditures shall be
reported by category, with the report showing the total amount
expended in each category during the preceding reporting period and
the cumulative amount expended in each category for the current
year from January 1 through the month covered by the report.
Expenditures shall be reported in the following categories:
(i) Expenditures for food and beverage provided for public
officials as specified in subsection (2).
(ii) Advertising and mass mailing expenses directly related to
lobbying.
(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.
(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 value
of at least $775.00, or any 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 does not apply to the following:
(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.
(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.
(d) A brief description of the lobbying activities engaged in
during the previous reporting period.
(e) In the case of travel and lodging expenses described in
subdivision (c), the lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall prepare a
separate document detailing the expenditure required to be
reported. 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 a public
official
shall be reported. 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, 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 $300.00. A person who without good cause is in violation of
subsection (1) more than 30 days 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 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 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. After the required preservation period, 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.