After several high profile members of the state legislature left office mid-term to become lobbyists, Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, decided he wanted to stop what he referred to as the “revolving door.”
Marsh’s Senate bill addressing the issue, aptly dubbed “The Revolving Door Act,” also made it into the House GOP’s legislative agenda, and was expected to sail through the legislature without much difficulty.
Here’s a little background from Brandon Demyan of the Alabama Policy Institute:
Currently, former state officials may not lobby their former department or “legislative body” until two years has elapsed; however, the Alabama Senate and Alabama House of Representatives have been determined by the Alabama Ethics Commission to be two separate bodies. In practice, this allows former Representatives to immediately begin lobbying the Senate, or vice versa, without waiting the required two years. This “Legislative Body Loophole” runs contrary to the original intent of the statute and must be fixed.
The Revolving Door Act would simply ban former legislators from lobbying either house of the legislature for two years after leaving office.
But when it came up for a vote on the Senate floor on Tuesday, election year political maneuvering went into full effect.
Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, introduced an amendment to the bill that would significantly broaden its scope.
Phillip Rawls of the Associated Press explains:
It would prevent a former governor or family member from lobbying any entity of state government for four years after leaving office. It would prohibit any public official from lobbying the Legislature for two years after leaving office.
It would also ban businesses with state contracts and employers of state officials from giving campaign contributions to state officials. Another provision would prohibit family members of state officials from getting state contracts for two years after an official leaves office. And it would prohibit a public official or family member from being employed by a state agency or state educational institution during a term of office and for two years after the term ends.
Sanders’ bill would also end the practice of public officials getting tickets to the top college sporting events at face value if the event is sold out and regular priced tickets are no longer available to the general public.
Marsh expressed concerns with the constitutionality of Sanders’ amendment, and also objected to it on procedural grounds because, he argued, portions of the amendment were not germane to the original bill.
Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, the Senate’s presiding officer, agreed and ruled in Marsh’s favor.
However, Ivey could not muster enough votes to sustain her ruling. Republicans were wary of potential campaign ads claiming they had voted against toughening ethics standards, even though they’re the ones who brought the issue up in the first place.
It was a clever move by Sen. Sanders, who’s serving his eighth term in the Alabama Senate and never expressed much concern about Alabama’s ethics laws in his first thirty years in office.
The move was reminiscent of what happened during the 2012 session when Republicans introduced a bill to repeal the 62% pay raise Democrats legislators had voted themselves in 2007.
As the bill came to the floor for debate, Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, jumped into action offering amendment after amendment that, at first blush, seemed to “one-up” the GOP’s pay raise repeal. However, his amendments allowed the legislature to retain control over legislative pay rather then giving that power back to the voters — which was the true spirit of the GOP’s plan.
Bedford’s goal was to be able to say Republicans voted against some version of a pay raise repeal, when he had been one of the main legislators responsible for passing the pay raise in the first place.
The Revolving Door Act ultimately passed unanimously in the Senate on Tuesday, with Sanders’ amendment included. It now goes down to the House, where Sen. Marsh says he hopes it will be passed in its original form.
It has been a pretty uneventful session in the Alabama legislature so far in 2014. But the debate surrounding The Revolving Door Act shows the political maneuvering never stops, especially in an election year.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
