HOUSE BILL No. 5535

April 12, 2016, Introduced by Rep. Glenn and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Ethics.

 

     A bill to amend 1978 PA 472, entitled

 

"An act to regulate political activity; to regulate lobbyists,

lobbyist agents, and lobbying activities; to require registration

of lobbyists and lobbyist agents; to require the filing of reports;

to prescribe the powers and duties of the department of state; to

prescribe penalties; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts,"

 

by amending section 8 (MCL 4.418), as amended by 1994 PA 412.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 8. (1) A lobbyist or a lobbyist agent shall file a signed

 

report reports in a form prescribed by the secretary of state under

 

this section. A report shall be filed on January 31 covering the

 

calendar year ending on the immediately preceding December 31, and

 

on August 31 covering the immediately preceding December 31 to July

 

31. All of the following apply to a report under this subsection:

 

     (a) A lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall file a report for an

 


annual reporting period, on or before January 31 of the following

 

year.

 

     (b) A lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall file a report for each

 

quarterly reporting period, on or before the last day of the month

 

following the quarterly reporting period.

 

     (c) A report shall be filed by a lobbyist or for the lobbyist

 

by the lobbyist agent who acts on behalf of the lobbyist, and the

 

lobbyist agent who acts on his or her own behalf.

 

     (d) A lobbyist or a lobbyist agent may request from the

 

secretary of state an extension of the deadline for filing the

 

report for a period not to that does not exceed 60 days. The

 

secretary of state shall respond in writing to the request, either

 

approving or disapproving the request, and if approval is granted,

 

the period of the extension, not later than within 9 days after

 

receipt of the request.

 

     (e) A lobbyist or lobbyist agent may file an amended report

 

within 1 year after the date he or she is required to file the

 

report, is required to be filed, including an extension period.

 

     (f) The report shall be on a prescribed form prescribed by the

 

secretary of state and shall include the following information:

 

     (i) (a) A statement updating to the end of the reporting

 

period the information required to be filed under section 7.

 

     (ii) (b) An account of expenditures made by a lobbyist,

 

lobbyist agent, or representative of a lobbyist. The expenditures

 

shall be reported by category, with the report showing the total

 

amount expended in each category during the preceding reporting

 

period and the cumulative amount expended in each category for the

 


current year from January 1 through the last month of the reporting

 

period covered by the report. Expenditures shall be reported in the

 

following categories:

 

     (A) (i) Expenditures for food and beverage provided for public

 

officials as specified in subsection (2).

 

     (B) (ii) Advertising and mass mailing expenses directly

 

related to lobbying.

 

     (C) (iii) Other expenditures for lobbying made or incurred by

 

a lobbyist, a lobbyist agent, or an employee of a lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent, other than expenditures for lobbying made or

 

incurred by a lobbyist, a lobbyist agent, or an employee of a

 

lobbyist or a lobbyist agent of less than $5.00 made for goods or

 

services for which a receipt or proof of purchase is not normally

 

available.

 

     (iii) (c) An account of every financial transaction during the

 

immediately preceding reporting period between the lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent, or a person acting on behalf of the lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent, and a public official or a member of the public

 

official's immediate family, or a business with which the

 

individual is associated, in which goods and services having value

 

of at least $775.00, or travel and lodging expenses paid for or

 

reimbursed to a public official in connection with public business

 

by that public official in excess of $500.00, are involved. The

 

account shall include the date and nature of the transaction, the

 

parties to the transaction, and the amount involved in the

 

transaction. This subdivision subparagraph does not apply to any of

 

the following:

 


     (A) (i) A financial transaction in the ordinary course of the

 

business of the lobbyist, if the primary business of the lobbyist

 

is other than lobbying, and if consideration of equal or greater

 

value is received by the lobbyist.

 

     (B) (ii) A financial transaction undertaken in the ordinary

 

course of the lobbyist's business, in which fair market value is

 

given or received for a benefit conferred.

 

     (iv) (d) A brief description of the lobbying activities

 

engaged in during the previous reporting period.

 

     (v) (e) In the case of For travel and lodging expenses

 

described in subdivision (c) subparagraph (iii), the lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent shall prepare a separate document detailing the

 

expenditure required to be reported. The lobbyist or lobbyist agent

 

shall send, simultaneously with the filing of the report to the

 

secretary of state, a copy of the document to the affected

 

legislator.

 

     (2) Expenditures for food and beverage provided to a public

 

official shall be reported if the expenditures for that public

 

official exceed $25.00 in any month covered by the report or

 

$150.00 during that calendar year from January 1 through the last

 

month of the reporting period covered by the report. The report

 

shall include the name and title or office of the public official

 

and the expenditures on that public official for the months covered

 

by the report and for the year. If more than 1 public official is

 

provided food and beverage and a single check is rendered, the

 

report may reflect the average amount of the check for each public

 

official. If the expenditures are a result of an event at which

 


more than 25 public officials were in attendance, are a result of

 

an event to which an entire standing committee of the legislature

 

was invited in writing to be informed concerning a bill that was

 

assigned to that standing committee, or are a result of an event to

 

which an entire caucus of either house of the legislature was

 

invited in writing, a lobbyist or a lobbyist agent shall report the

 

total amount expended on the public officials in attendance for

 

food and beverage and is not required to report the amount expended

 

on the public officials individually. In reporting those amounts,

 

the lobbyist or lobbyist agent shall file a statement providing a

 

description by category of the persons in attendance and the nature

 

of each event or function held during the preceding reporting

 

period.

 

     (3) A person An individual who, without good cause, fails to

 

report under subsection (1) shall pay a late filing fee of $10.00

 

for each day the report remains not filed unfiled in violation of

 

subsection (1), not to but the aggregate amount of the late filing

 

fee for a single unfiled report shall not exceed $300.00. A person

 

An individual who without good cause is in violation of subsection

 

(1) more than 30 days is guilty of a misdemeanor , punishable by a

 

fine of not more than $1,000.00.

 

     (4) If a lobbyist agent employs another lobbyist agent to

 

engage in lobbying, the employer lobbyist agent shall report the

 

activities of the employee lobbyist agent shall be reported by the

 

employer lobbyist agent under this section.

 

     (5) Within a reasonable time after receipt of a request from

 

an elected public official in regard to a report of a lobbyist or a

 


lobbyist agent, the secretary of state shall report to the elected

 

public official on any reported activity by the lobbyist or

 

lobbyist agent in that report , and shall notify the elected public

 

official of the specific occurrence and the specific nature of the

 

reported activity.

 

     (6) The secretary of state shall preserve statements and

 

reports filed under this act for 5 years after the date of filing.

 

The secretary of state may reproduce the statements and reports may

 

be reproduced pursuant to under the records media act, 1992 PA 116,

 

MCL 24.401 to 24.403. After the required preservation period, the

 

secretary of state shall destroy the statements and reports, or the

 

reproductions of the statements and reports, other than those

 

necessary to complete an investigation by the attorney general or

 

pertinent to a matter being adjudicated in a court of law. , shall

 

be destroyed.

 

     (7) As used in this section:

 

     (a) "Annual reporting period" means a calendar year.

 

     (b) "Quarterly reporting period" means each of the following:

 

     (i) January, February, and March of a calendar year.

 

     (ii) April, May, and June of a calendar year.

 

     (iii) July, August, and September of a calendar year.

 

     (iv) October, November, and December of a calendar year.

 

     (c) "Reporting period" means an annual reporting period or

 

quarterly reporting period.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.