Chamber of Commerce criticizes ethics bill
The ethics proposal being evaluated by a special session of the General Assembly poses a “great risk” to the business community’s ability to interact with the government, the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry said in a newsletter sent to its members.
“At this point, the proposed ethics bill still is not about accountability but is about creating a system that could effectively remove the business community and its employees from the public policy process,” according to the chamber newsletter.
The chamber’s membership includes some of the state’s largest employers, such as FedEx Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and King Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle, who help draft the ethics bill, on Wednesday called the newsletter’s claims “somewhat exaggerated.” The Memphis Democrat said the chamber is “trying to scare every businessman in the state,” and worried that the ethics bill will be difficult to pass if it is opposed by the association.
Gov. Phil Bredesen called the special session to help restore public confidence after last year’s Tennessee Waltz sting operation — in which undercover agents posed as lobbyists — led to five sitting and former lawmakers being charged with taking payoffs.
Deb Woolley, the chamber’s president, said her association supports ethics legislation — just not the proposals for who should be considered a lobbyist.
“The definition of a lobbyist is so broad, and once a person is dragged into that definition of a lobbyist, then their employer gets pulled right into it,” she said.
The original ethics bill removed the provision that allowed for “incidental” lobbying, proposing that anybody who is compensated or reimbursed for trying to influence legislation be considered a lobbyist. The bill would also require all lobbyists and their employers to disclose how much they spend, and say which bills they are tracking. Two percent of them would also be subject to random audits.
“Practically every business person will potentially become a lobbyist if they interact with state government,” the chamber newsletter said. “That is when the meat of the bill would kick in.”
The chamber’s 2006 agenda opposes the disclosure of financial agreements between companies and their lobbyists, calling such requirements “a government intrusion into private business that serves no public purpose.”
That attitude goes against the grain of the ethics proposal, said Kyle.
“The stated goal of the session is that we have more transparency in government,” he said. “It is very important that any money that is being spent to influence public policy needs to at least be reported in some fashion so that the public knows it’s occurring.”
The bill worked its way to the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, the last of three committees it has been assigned to. Committee members did not offer any amendments, but some expressed concern about the lobbyist language.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to set up an impediment to a banker, a pharmacist or farmer communicating about their business with their duly elected representatives,” said Rep. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville.
The proposed ethics bill focuses on three main areas: campaign finance, lobbying disclosures and the establishment of an independent ethics commission.
——
See HB7001/SB7001 and SB7003 at: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/
——
On the Net:
Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry: http://www.tnchamber.org