Utah Legislature: Lawmaker aims to close lobbyist loophole

A House Democratic leader has introduced a bill that would close a loophole in the new lobbying "cooling off period" law.

Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, the minority assistant whip, said it's wrong that many legislators can skip the current one-year waiting period before they can become a registered lobbyist.

Many legislators thought they had a firm one-year waiting period when they passed a bill in the 2009 Legislature. But after the session ended, they found out that the bill (now a law) said that a legislator could go to work for a business or nonprofit and become a lobbyist right away.

And last summer, former Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, resigned his seat to become the government affairs director for the Utah Education Association, the main teachers' union in Utah. Holdaway did not have to wait a year to lobby his former colleagues, since he went to work for a business or nonprofit.

The new law, apparently, only applies to a former legislator who goes to work as a contract lobbyist — that is, a person who doesn't work for a business, but rather carries individual lobbyist clients under contract.

Moss said it is only right that the one-year "cooling off period" should apply to every legislator/lobbyist.

As of now, a package of GOP-sponsored ethics reform bills does not address the "loophole" in the new lobbyist/former legislator law.

— Bob Bernick Jr.