In-depth coverage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has covered the push for ethics reform every step of the way with investigative reporting looking into how our public officials interact with lobbyists, where the system fails and how other states have done it better. As the Legislature wrestles with how to overhaul the system, the AJC will continue to provide in-depth coverage you will not find anywhere else.
Reform advocates have worked on it for years, and voters overwhelmingly signaled their desire for change last summer in questions on the primary ballots.
Even the governor, who rarely comments on pending bills, has urged lawmakers to get moving.
But if state lawmakers are going to limit what lobbyists spend on them in meals, trips and entertainment, they will have to do it Thursday — the final day of the legislative session.
The debate over lobbying reform receded into the quiet corners of the General Assembly on Tuesday as Republican leaders in the House and Senate tried to find agreement on key differences in their versions of House Bill 142.
The key sticking points remain whether volunteer advocates will be required to register as lobbyists and which plan on limiting gifts will prevail.
The Senate insists that Georgia voters prefer a $100 cap on gifts with limited exceptions, while the House claims Georgians would be better served by an outright ban on most individual spending with exceptions for committees and other groups.
House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal, R-Bonaire, said negotiators were making progress, although the talks have so far been informal.
“Everybody has an open attitude to get to a compromise,” O’Neal said.
For the second day in a row, Gov. Nathan Deal said he wants legislators to come up with a “workable, clearly defined” reform bill.
“I think that is what the public wants and that is what I think all of us want,” he said. “How they arrive at it and whether it be a cap or an absolute prohibition — that does not matter to me.”
While the six-member conference committee (three members each from the House and the Senate) has yet to meet in public, some of the conferees could be seen pairing off in anterooms Tuesday.
“We haven’t officially met. I mean, I met with one, or somebody met with the other — we’re just talking,” said Senate Rules Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga. “I still have the utmost confidence that we’ll come to an agreement before we leave this building at the end of the session.”
Advocates who have spent the past three years prodding reluctant lawmakers to the precipice of reform spent Tuesday making emotional appeals and poorly veiled threats if legislators do not act.
In addition, conservative activists demanded a clause requiring volunteers to register as lobbyists be removed.
House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, who sponsored the bill, supports expanding lobbyist registration requirements to capture people who spend significant time at the Capitol trying to influence legislation on behalf of an organization regardless of whether they are being paid. The current version of the bill would require registration if a volunteer spent at least five days at the Capitol working for an organization.
Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party and a regular face at the Capitol on ethics reform and other issues, called the measure “hurtful” to conservative activists who worked to get Republicans elected.
“To be stabbed in the back like this as House members are doing,” she said, holding back tears. “This vote is pivotal. It will follow them no matter where they go. We are not going to forget this. By God, the line is in the sand.”
House officials backing the expanded registration pointed to Dooley’s bio page on the Georgia Tea Party Patriots’ website, which states she is “very actively involved in lobbying at the Georgia Legislature on different issues, including tough ethics reform.” House spokesman Marshall Guest said the lobbyist registration provision is meant to protect the public and lawmakers by clearly identifying who is at the Capitol and whom they represent.
“As much as Ms. Dooley may think this provision is about her, it isn’t about her or any other individual,” he said.
Dooley and others said forcing them to register would open them up to “frivolous ethics complaints.” Guest said there already is a law protecting lobbyists and lawmakers from frivolous complaints.
Senate Republicans have opposed broadening registration requirements. Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, who has emerged as the legislative spokesman for ethics reform, said the issue is non-negotiable for him.
“This is the third session that we’ve been down here talking about ethics reform, and the first I ever heard about anything to do with folks who are not compensated being asked to subject themselves to some government bureaucracy was a few weeks ago,” he said. “That’s outrageous.”
But O’Neal said the House version brings more people into the sunlight.
“Our bill we filed is more transparent,” he said. “We do register more people who are trying to influence legislation.”
O’Neal said he does not, however, believe any one issue is holding up a deal.
“That’s not a feeling I’ve gotten, that there is any prioritization,” O’Neal said.
The Legislature is not in session Wednesday, giving lawmakers an off day to continue to work out an agreement. They will convene the 40th and final day of the 2013 session Thursday.
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