Lobbying the General Assembly

With the Indiana General Assembly beginning it’s 2008 legislative session tomorrow, the Indianapolis Star has a great story about what is legal in state lobbying.  The answer, just about anything.  Lobbying firms regularly take legislators out for dinners and lunches, but what else do they do?  Turns out there is no way to tell…and it’s all perfectly legal.

However;

Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, and Rep. John Day, D-Indianapolis — say it’s time for a change, and they’re pursuing legislation to that end.

Under current law, lobbyists must report making a gift of $100 or more, but they don’t have to reveal what the gift is, nor its full value.

Senate Bill 59, filed by Delph, would require reporting of all gifts given in a single day that together are worth $25 or more, or any single gift worth $25 or more.

Day wants to go even further. His legislation, House Bill 1063, would prevent legislators from taking most gifts or meals at all. Day said he would allow legislators to accept only $50 of gifts in a calendar year, enough to cover a couple of lunches or so.

But don’t hold your breath.  This is not the first time this legislation has been tried and it has never gotten a hearing.

Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, has assigned Delph’s bill to the Senate Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee, which Delph acknowledged in the past has been considered a “graveyard” for doomed bills.

And Day’s bill has yet to be assigned to a committee.

Even if it does get a hearing and is passed, both big ifs, it won’t stop the practice;

Delph said he favors more reporting of what legislators accept, rather than barring gifts as a handful of states have done.

“Philosophically, I come down on the side of permitting people to do and give whatever they want,” Delph said. “But the public should be provided disclosure. The idea is to bring more transparency into government.”

He said the proposal has been received better among newer legislators than by those who have served longer terms.

“I hate to say it, but I think there’s a sense of entitlement on the part of some,” Delph said.