HB101 to boost reporting of gifts to lawmakers

Public opinion polls show the general public thinks state legislators take too many gifts from lobbyists, Utah House members were told Thursday.

And by passing HB101, legislators could help dispel that wrong impression by expanding the reporting of some of those gifts, House Majority Leader Jeff Alexander said of his bill.

HB101 passed 68-4 after a heated debate, during which some legislators blamed the media for their poor public standing.

Alexander's bill requires greater reporting of non-food gifts by lowering the disclosure threshold from $50 to $5 for any non-food gifts lawmakers accept. But HB101 keeps the current $50 level of naming legislators who accept lobbyist-paid-for meals.

Rep. Pat Jones, D-Cottonwood Heights, unsuccessfully tried to substitute Alexander's bill with her own bill that would ban most gifts.

Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV surveys conducted by Dan Jones & Associates find that Utahns do indeed believe lobbyists have too much influence over the 104 part-time legislators. Fifty-nine percent in an early January survey say lobbyists "have a great deal" of influence over lawmakers' votes.

In addition, most Utahns favor both more disclosure of gifts — as Alexander's bill does — and the outright banning of gifts — as Rep. Jones' bill would do. (Rep. Jones is the wife of Dan Jones and a principal in Dan Jones & Associates. The newspaper and TV station staff write all the poll questions, the polling firm under contract with the news outlets conducts and tabulates the surveys.)

The survey for the newspaper and TV station found that 68 percent of Utahns favor more disclosure of gifts; 76 percent favor banning most gifts to legislators from lobbyists.

On related ethics issues, the new survey shows that three-fourths of Utahns say retiring legislators shouldn't become lobbyists for one year after leaving office, and 71 percent say legislators shouldn't use their election campaign funds for personal use.

Both of those latter two items are routine — more than 2 dozen former legislators are now registered lobbyists and current and former legislators have routinely paid for items out of their campaign accounts. Sometimes the expenditures are tied to their public service, like paying cell phone bills, sometimes they are not.

Bills on legislator/lobbyist revolving door and personal use of campaign funds will likely come up later in the 45-day general session.

On his HB101, Alexander, R-Provo, said: "We begin to see exactly how much is being spent to lobby the Legislature." His bill also contains a section on lobbyists' conflict of interests and how they should be dealt with.