House Bill 320 would require legislators to disclose travel paid by outside groups; committee holds bill for redraft

Representative Stephanie Mickelson told the House State Affairs Committee that House Bill 320 would require legislators to disclose travel "where they're going, what the purpose of their travel was" when the travel is paid for by outside groups. "We are taxpayers, that we are transparent to our taxpayers and they recognise who may be helping influence policy in our state and that's the purpose of this," Mickelson said.

Mickelson said personal travel paid for entirely by a legislator would not need to be reported, but travel paid by outside groups that may seek to influence policy would: "If you're spending your own money going to conferences and things you would not be required to disclose. If you're having it paid for by outside groups ... then you need to report." She said campaign-funded travel would be disclosed through campaign finance reports and therefore would not require duplicate reporting under the bill.

Committee members raised several points for clarification: whether the rule should apply equally to the executive branch and legislative staff, how to define "travel" and the appropriate level of cost detail to report (itemized receipts versus approximate ranges), and whether the reporting requirement would create unequal burdens for legislators with different personal resources. Representative Barbieri said she disliked the idea of itemizing costs and preferred reporting that identifies the sponsor and purpose rather than exact cost; other members asked the sponsor to consider adding executive-branch officials or expanding definitions in a redraft.

The committee voted to hold House Bill 320 subject to the call of the chair to allow the sponsor time to redraft language (for example, to define travel and consider inclusion of executive or judicial officials). The chair said the bill will return to the agenda when the sponsor provides the redraft.