Demos issue 4 proposals for ethics reform

Asked to define what an "expensive" lobbyist gift to a legislator may be, Jones said one of her bills, which was killed, put that level at $5. "To me, that is an expensive gift," she said, "especially in this economy."

Yet to be decided, Jones said, is whether Democratic legislators will put all of their ethics changes into one bill or run a series of bills.

Also undecided is if any gift ban bill will actually be a true ban — lobbyists can't give, and legislators can't accept — a defined gift, or whether the current reporting level of $50 should just be lowered. Now a lobbyist has to list by name on their financial disclosure report any legislator who accepts a gift from them over that amount.

While more than $200,000 was given to the 104 part-time legislators last year by lobbyists, only a small percent of that amount came with the accepting legislators' names made public.

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