Senator Moss’ statement is as follows:
Today is one of those few institution-changing days in the Legislature as we are finally taking action on some much-needed, long-awaited improvements to government transparency—specifically financial disclosure. There are several of us—from both sides of the aisle, especially my friend from the Upper Peninsula—who have been in this years-long journey of pushing for more transparency from legislators and other office holders.
After several of our legislative initiatives were blocked at every turn, and the seemingly insurmountable goal of getting lawmakers to regulate and reveal ourselves, Michigan voters took this issue into their own hands and acted where previous Legislatures refused to. I think that has to be acknowledged in the context of what we’re doing here today. The Legislature failed to be responsive to the people, so the people demanded their power back.
Proposal 1 was placed on the ballot last year and was supported by 2.8 million Michigan voters with 65 percent support. From those demands, however, the process has worked. This has been a fulfilling bipartisan effort to see this issue through, and I want to thank our leadership, the Republican leadership, our majority staff, and our minority staff—especially our majority legal counsel who helped to put in the hours and weeks and months of work to get us here. Previous Legislatures and legislators have been marred by scandals in recent years, and we have strong agreement across the aisle, together, to move forward, regardless of party, to strengthen our laws on financial disclosure and the reputation of this institution.
After going through the new language in our Constitution, divining how the terms would be implemented and building upon the ballot proposal, and the extensive work by our bipartisan, bicameral, and stakeholder-informed workgroup, this legislation achieves the goals we set out years ago to enact Michigan’s first-ever financial disclosure law. And this bill checks off every box outlined by Proposal 1. Starting next year on April 15th, each lawmaker must disclose: Every source of income; assets held for investment or production of income; significant liabilities; positions held in organizations; future employment agreements, and more. In fact, this legislation goes further than Proposal 1 by subjecting candidates to financial disclosure requirements, and requiring spouses of officeholders to reveal pertinent financial information.
Currently, Michigan is one of only two states where lawmakers don’t have to file any type of public report about their personal finances. These bills objectively are a huge step forward compared to the current system of self-policing that does not hold our elected officials accountable, but it is one step. I talk often about the Center for Public Integrity ranking that places Michigan dead last in the nation in terms of ethics and accountability. That study ranked and measured 13 functions of state government across 50 states, and Michigan failed ten of those metrics. Financial disclosure is among dozens of bullet points within those ten categories of ethics failures in state government.
This is the beginning of our work on these issues, not an end, and we will continue to make important improvements around government transparency and accountability. But this path is forged today, for the first time since I’ve been here—not just among us as lawmakers, but between us and our constituents who demanded it—and we must continue to travel down that path together. Anything less than further progress betrays the trust the voters placed within us. We cannot let them down. But for today, this action is significant, it changes our institution for the better, it gives our constituents more tools to hold us and future lawmakers accountable, and we should savor this moment as we begin to open up state government. I urge a “yes” vote on the package.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 614, entitled
A bill to require certain candidates for state elective office to file financial disclosure reports; to create a financial disclosure form; to prescribe penalties and civil sanctions; and to provide for the powers and duties of certain state and local governmental officers and entities.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: