An ethics reform bill that started in the Senate has been voted out of the House's committee, and is ready for its debut on the House floor.
A seven-member quorum of the Government Oversight and Accountability committee voted unanimously to pass Senate Bill 11 with no amendments. It was sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Ron Richard.
"We are the only standing committee that reports to no select committee, we do not have House substitute available for our use," said Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, the committee chair. "So any amendment we do in committee has to be taken up by the House as a whole. So in some circumstances it makes more sense for us to pass the bill as is and make the amendments on the floor, rather than make amendments here."
Barnes said passing the bill without modifying it saves time for debate on the House floor, because they would have to approve or reject all the committee amendments individually, before adopting their own amendments.
"On this and other subjects, I have always been one to say you should not let perfect be the enemy of good, so I reject harsh criticism when the Legislature is taking a step forward," he added, "which is one reason why you have seen no progress on ethics bills ... because legislators feel that there is nothing they can do that would be seen as good. Just because you cannot reach the highest bar does not mean the Legislature shouldn't pass a bill that moves the law in the right direction."
Richard's bill bars members of the Legislature from acting as paid political consultants for a candidate and establishes a two-year waiting period for exiting legislators to become lobbyists. It also requires lobbyists to report expenditures to each individual legislator in a committee, rather than just the committee. It also bans lobbyists from paying for plane tickets or other expenses incurred for out-of-state or out-of-country travel, Richard said.
"However, it exempts not-for-profit agencies from paying for travel and lodging for educational summits," Richard said during testimony to the committee. "This bill creates what we believe is transparency on the dinners and gifts legislators are receiving. ... It also allows and requires ethics training for elected officials and their staff members upon 120 days in their first term."
Before this, the committee heard testimony from Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Union, on his bill that adds disclaimers to advertisements and educational communications paid for by state departments. The "Taxpayer Transparency Act of 2015" dictates how and when certain governmental communications should include they were paid for and disseminated at taxpayer expense.
The bill summary states it does not apply to advertisements regarding information or a solicitation for a state contract, bid, grant, or state funding and employment opportunities.
Aaron Malin, director of research for Show-Me Cannabis, spoke in support of Curtman's bill.
"In the past two years, we have come across multiple, multiple examples of taxpayer funds used to campaign against various drug policy reform efforts," Malin said. "While taxpayer-funded entities often claim these campaigns are for educational purposes, they likely run afoul of Rev. Statute 36.157, which prohibits state employees from engaging in political activity with any state revenue sources."
Examples Malin gave the committee were taxpayer-funded campaign ads against a ballot initiative in 2014 and publicly-funded drug abuse seminars that served as strategy meetings for opponents of drug policy reform.
The committee also discussed HB 678, which requires each session, joint session and committee meeting of the House to broadcasted in video and live streamed online. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, added the footage will be kept for archive purposes.
"I thought it was the right thing to do last year, and it didn't make it through the process, so we reintroduced it and hopefully we can make it through," Rowden said.
Opeoluwa Sotonwa, executive director for the Missouri commission of the deaf and hard of hearing, testified through a translator in favor of the bill. He said using captions would help include the hard of hearing into the legislative process better than the current system, an audio-only broadcast.
The fiscal note attached to the bill reported the cost of implementation as roughly $1 million, but Rowden and Barnes both agreed the bill can be implemented for far less. Rowden added the high cost came from getting the equipment in place and maintaining the archives. Barnes also suggested removing committee meetings from the broadcast to abate the high price.
Barnes and other members of the committee questioned whether technical problems could slow down the legislative process.
"I think ... if we put this in statute and there is some sort of technical glitch with the equipment, (whether) we are able to go into session is a really good question." Barnes said. "It leads me to think the proper route for this is the House starting to do it without needing legislation, or without legislation being in place."