press Release

House, Senate File Sweeping Ethics Reform Legislation

Bans gifts; empowers ethics commission

(BOSTON) – Completing an historic cycle of legislative reform, which includes recent approval of landmark pension and transportation reforms, the House and Senate today filed sweeping legislation that strengthens current ethics, lobbying and campaign finance laws, enhancing the integrity of the political process and helping to restore public trust.

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.”
“This ethics reform includes the best provisions of all three original proposals from the Senate, House and Governor,” Senate President Therese Murray said. “It sends the message that we are serious about ethics reform, and that violations of ethics and campaign finance laws come with steep consequences. Our intention has always been to craft a strong bill with input from a variety of stakeholders and constituents, and that’s what the conference committee has done.”
“Our common goal is simple. We want the people of Massachusetts to have confidence in their political system,” said the House co-chairman of the joint committee on ethics, Rep. Peter Kocot. “These reforms demonstrate that our political system in Massachusetts is not for sale.”
“Restoring public trust and confidence in state government is paramount,” said Senate Majority Leader Frederick Berry, a lead conferee on ethics reform. “This bill is the most far-reaching we’ve had in this arena in more than a decade. In addition to increasing civil and criminal penalties for violations of our state ethics laws, the bill gives enforcement agencies enhanced investigatory powers to prosecute violators. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature to pass this sweeping ethics reform so that it may be signed into law by the Governor.”
The legislation bans all gifts to public officials, imposing a hefty civil violation for gifts up to $1,000 and makes it 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 target reforms 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;
  • Increased 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.

The bill will be voted on by the House and Senate tomorrow.