Bans gifts; empowers ethics commission

BOSTON–State Representative Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton) joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in passing landmark legislation that strengthens current ethics, lobbying and campaign finance laws, enhancing the integrity of the political process and helping to restore public trust. This completes an historic cycle of legislative reform, which includes recent approval of landmark pension and transportation reforms.

The consensus bill not only bans gifts to public officials, but also increases the authority of the Ethics Commission to investigate and prosecute alleged ethics violations.

“This ethics bill will begin to restore the public’s confidence in government and sends a very clear message to everyone: we are accountable,” House Speaker DeLeo said. “As Speaker, I have turned the attention of the House to the broken and antiquated systems that call out for fixing. Never before has the House taken up so much important reform legislation in such a concentrated period of time.”

“I am proud to have been a part of this sweeping reform effort” said Rep. Alicea. “I feel that passing this bill represents an important step in restoring public confidence in the political system.” 

The legislation bans all gifts to public officials, imposing a hefty civil violation for gifts up to $1,000 and making it a felony for anything with value greater than $1,000. The felony charge for gifts greater than $1,000 would carry a penalty of 5 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both, and would apply to both the recipient of the gift and the giver.

The consensus bill also provides the Ethics Commission with enhanced investigatory power to do its work, including enhanced subpoena power, expanded regulatory authority and an increased statute of limitations. Additionally, the bill allows the commission to impose heftier civil sanctions by increasing penalties for all ethics laws violations.

A new lobbyist classification redefines and clarifies lobbying activities and captures actions that seek to wrongly influence official government activity.

The legislation defines “lobbyist” as anyone paid to promote, oppose or influence, or to attempt to influence the decision of any officer or employee of the executive or legislative branch and requires strict performance rules for lobbyists including registration with the Secretary of State, annual training and detailed reporting. The bill also closes the “success fees” loophole that awards lobbyists for a specific accomplishment, and it protects civic-minded citizens and non-profits from the strictest reporting requirements.

The bill also targets reform of our campaign finance system, eliminating all “special committee” arrangements between a state political party and an elected official, allowing only individual contributions up to $5,000 to a political party.

The bill also requires the disclosure of expenditures and funding for “electioneering communications” (those third-party mailings and ads that support or criticize a candidate or campaign). Furthermore, the bill prohibits individuals from making committee checks payable to themselves or using campaign funds to pay fines brought about by ethics violations.

The bill also does the following:

• Gives the Secretary of State subpoena power;
• Expands the revolving door restrictions on lobbying to the executive branch, establishing a one-year waiting period the same as the Legislature; 
• Increases late filing penalties for lobbyists to $50 per day for the first 20 days and $100 per day thereafter;
• Increases criminal penalties for lobbyist registration violations to 5 years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or both;
• Increases penalties for late-filed campaign reports from $10 per day and not more than $2,500 to $25 per day and not more than $5,000;
•  Increases the number of campaign reports filed by political candidates to twice in non-election years and three times in election years;
• Requires that income derived from bribes, corrupt gifts and illegal activity counts as gross income for tax reporting purposes;
• Gives authority to the Attorney General to regulate and enforce the Opening Meeting Law.