House panel debates financial disclosure bills that wouldn’t make sitting lawmakers’ finances public
Updated May 04, 2021;
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A Michigan House committee took up a proposal that would require lawmakers to disclose their personal finances Tuesday, debating the merits of a plan that would subject elected officials to new disclosure requirements without allowing the public to see it until they’re out of office.
The legislation, House Bills 4680 through 4686, would compel lawmakers to submit financial information for themselves and immediate family members including income sources over $5,000, properties valued over $50,000 excluding their primary residence, and stocks, bonds and annuities valued at $10,000 or more to a new, permanent legislative ethics committee in their chamber.
Proposed financial disclosure bills wouldn’t make current lawmakers’ finances public
Today 10:00 AM
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A new proposal in the Michigan House would compel lawmakers and state officers to disclose their personal financial interests for the first time but that information wouldn’t be public until after they leave office, an arrangement that if signed into law, would diverge significantly from the 48 other states that currently require financial disclosure.
Michigan has long been an outlier when it comes to identifying and regulating potential financial conflicts of interest for elected officials. It’s one of two states – and the only one with a full-time legislature – with no requirement for state public officials to disclose basic financial information, including income sources, business investments, gifts and travel compensation.
Republican leaders suggest expanding metrics for lifting COVID-19 restrictions if vaccination rates plateau
Updated 8:33 PM;
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Legislative Republican leaders said Friday they appreciated Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision to provide metrics for lifting COVID-19 restrictions, but expressed concern that basing it solely on vaccination rates could pose issues should rates plateau before 70% of the population is vaccinated.
During a Detroit Regional Chamber panel featuring the four members of Michigan’s legislative quadrant Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, and House Democratic Leader Donna Lasinski, D-Scio Township Shirkey and Wentworth said they would like more discussions on additional metrics for easing pandemic-related restrictions.
Docking the pay of wayward lawmakers, curbing the legislative revolving door and new standing ethics committees highlight some of the proposals included in a slate of bipartisan bills unveiled Tuesday.
The measures track with a series of other proposals offered by Republicans and Democrats earlier this year, moves aimed at reversing Michigan s oft-criticized standing as one of the least transparent states in the nation.
“When you get outside of the small Lansing and Capitol community and tell people back home how their state government operates, you really see how bizarre some of our rules are and why so many people are losing their faith in government,” House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, said in a statement.
Lansing The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Michigan House revealed a plan Tuesday to institute wide-ranging government ethics reforms, targeting policies that have been ranked worst nationally for transparency.
At least some of the bills are proposing fundamental changes for lobbying and disclosure laws, which have been agreed on by House members on both sides of the aisle. They will be introduced later this week and discussed in committee beginning next week.
If all of them became law, they would alter how Lansing operates, providing additional oversight, de-emphasizing the so-called lame duck period and changing the House process for deciding when bills take effect. Similar reforms have been debated in Michigan for years.