Aug. 22, 2005
Lobby Reform Tries to Beat Adjournment Clock
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - It's show time for the legislature on the lobby reform bill.
Both chambers approved reform legislation by overwhelming margins. The 50-member Senate voted 48-0 in favor, and the House, after making changes, voted 99-3. Mom and apple pie could hardly do better.
The bill, however, is held-up in conference, awaiting a final concurring vote before it's sent to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature. Objections have been raised at the last minute over disclosure requirements for executive branch lobbying.
Some of Easley's officials, especially those engaged in economic development in the Commerce Department balked at reporting contacts with business prospects.
Supporters are concerned that if a compromise is not reached by early this week, the bill will be swept up in the adjournment tsunami.
“We're working very hard to pass this. How far this bill has come, all the vetting that's happened. This is a bill that deserves to be passed this session,” says Marc Siegel, director of a bipartisan and widespread coalition for lobbying reform.
The legislation is a case study in the push and pull of lawmaking. Sec. of State Elaine Marshall, whose office monitors lobbying, named a blue ribbon commission to study current law and make recommendations.
A national election watchdog group had given the state a flunking grade on its lobbying laws. Marshall recognized the system's weaknesses.
“We've looked at compliance and the inability to get behind it, and it drives home how our law was a gaping piece of Swiss cheese,” says Marshall.
One of the current law's loopholes allows lobbyists to avoid reporting their sometimes extravagant lobbying expenses if they do not discuss a specific bill with their legislator guests. Such entertainments as golfing trips to resorts and prime rib dinners do not have to be reported if their purpose is limited to “goodwill” fellowship.
Right.
Marshall's office has few resources to enforce compliance, and a recent check showed many lobbyists have been late in filing reports.
As the costs of running for office have increased, so too has the influence of lobbyists who can arrange for campaign fundraisers and meetings with special interest donors. The clubby relationships feed a money culture that entwines legislative politics like poison ivy.
Marshall's commission made four prime recommendations:
1. Close the goodwill loophole and require disclosure of all lobbyists' expenses.
2. Slow down the revolving door used by legislators who go from elected office to lobbyist suite, sometimes overnight.
3. Ban gifts from lobbyists.
4. Provide money for enforcement.
Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, put forward legislation incorporating such changes, SB612, that was adopted and sent to the House. House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, introduced a companion bill.
The gift ban was dropped as the bill moved through House committees, and the recommendation for a year delay between elective office and lobbyist suite has been trimmed to 60 days.
Secretary Marshall says her office will receive $160,000 to upgrade regulatory technology in 2005-06 and more money for staff in 2006-07.
The centerpiece of the conference bill is the disclosure requirement. If it doesn't deter lobbyists' spending, it will at least permit the public to know what's going on.
“This new version will be a big improvement,” says Marshall, comparing Rand's and Hackney's proposal to current law.
Right before the General Assembly took a recess and a vote on the bill, a memo from Commerce Department executives posed questions about the impact of disclosure reporting on the state's often-confidential discussions about new industry locations.
Alice Garland, the Easley point person on the bill, says privacy of such talks is at stake, but she reports, “We're having conversations every single day. Our goal is to have this worked out so the executive branch is comfortable with this bill.”
Hackney, who has been talking to the bill's supporters, believes the bill accommodates economic development. “If it's not over six hours [of contacts] a quarter, they don't have to register. There's also a delayed provision for reporting,” he explains.
Meanwhile, supporters such as Siegel continue to encourage voters to contact legislators. Last week, he reminded the press of past governors' support as well as former Democratic and Republican party chairs and 187 civic leaders from 94 cities throughout the state.
Hackney, a slow-talker who counts his chickens carefully, believes a compromise bill will be adopted before adjournment. “Oh, yeah, it's going to make it.”
Barlow Herget is a former Raleigh city councilman and writes the Follow the Money column for the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
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