Rep. Posthumus moved that the bill be given immediate effect.
The motion prevailed, 2/3 of the members serving voting therefor.
______
Rep. Jaime Greene, having reserved the right to explain her protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:
“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:
I voted NO because this ban is unnecessary government overreach that restricts career freedom and violates free-market principles. Conservatives believe in limiting government, not individual opportunity. Former legislators should be able to use their expertise in the private sector without excessive regulation. If the concern is undue influence, the solution isn’t banning careers—it’s making government smaller and more transparent. The bigger the government, the more lobbying exists. Instead of limiting people’s choices, we should be limiting government power.”
Rep. Weiss, having reserved the right to explain her protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement:
“Mr. Speaker and members of the House:
I believe that there are several steps we need to take in Michigan to improve transparency in government and to limit the influence of powerful special interest groups over individual constituents. I appreciate the effort here to limit the ability of elected officials becoming lobbyists soon after they end their term. However, without larger ethics reform, particularly the FOIA package that the senate recently passed, this legislation is only a half measure that will accomplish nothing more than requiring a different job title such as ‘consultant’ instead of ‘lobbyist’ within that two year timeframe after a member of the legislature completes their term.”
House Bill No. 4063, entitled
A bill to amend 1978 PA 472, entitled “An act to regulate political activity; to regulate lobbyists, lobbyist agents, and lobbying activities; to require registration of lobbyists and lobbyist agents; to require the filing of reports; to prescribe the powers and duties of the department of state; to prescribe penalties; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts,” (MCL 4.411 to 4.431) by adding section 6b.
Was read a third time and passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, by yeas and nays as follows: