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.