HOUSE BILL No. 6011

 

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.