Lobbyists, legislators will take ethics training

To the spontaneous applause by some House members, a bill that would require ethics training of both legislators and lobbyists passed the Legislature Wednesday.

HJR14 by Rep. Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, was amended in the Senate to include registered lobbyists, along with legislators, who must take an online ethics course each year.

When House members heard that registered lobbyists had to take ethics training courses also, more than a few started clapping and cheering. Such demonstrations by House members are not allowed during a vote, so House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, had to hush the outburst. "But I share the sentiment," he smiled.

"This is a great thing," said Shelly Cordon Teuscher, who has been a lobbyist for 20 years. "I think this could be very beneficial for us to regularly review proper practices."

In fact, some lobbyists have complained for years about some of the "unethical" conduct of fellow lobbyists.

Several lobbyists called the Deseret News earlier this year to say that in reviewing other lobbyists' new financial disclosure statements, they didn't see reporting of some gifts they knew were given to legislators.

And attorney/lobbyists have complained for some time that they are constrained by Utah State Bar ethics rules in what they can and cannot do (like try to woo clients away from other attorneys). But, they complain, non-attorney lobbyists go after their clients all the time, trying to lure them away with lower fees or other claims.

Since the training sessions for legislators and lobbyists have not yet been written (that falls to legislative staffers), it is unclear if accurate gift reporting, not trying to steal another's lobbying clients or other such questions will be included in the training sessions.

HJR14 as amended, however, does say that if a lobbyist doesn't take and complete the online ethics course he can have a complaint filed against him under House or Senate rules. And in theory, such a lapse could result in losing one's lobbyist license.

The new rule applies only to registered lobbyists, those who are paid to lobby the legislative or executive branches of government. Volunteer lobbyists, state executives, local government officials and others are exempt from lobbying rules.

There were more than 450 registered lobbyists in the 2009 session.

E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com