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Senate approves lobbyist-activity reporting bill after heated debate and multiple amendment votes
Summary
After intense debate and several failed and adopted floor amendments, the Senate passed House Bill 143 (three times amended) requiring paid lobbyists to report activities on specific legislation. Lawmakers argued about scope, constitutional limits and whether employer disclosure would chill speech; the bill passed 22–15 on a roll call.
The Senate passed House Bill 143, a lobbying‑transparency measure that requires compensated lobbyists to report their activity on specific legislation and disclose the position they take (for, against, monitoring). The bill drew extended floor debate and multiple floor amendments before final passage by roll call.
Sponsor Senator Steinborn described the measure as a modern transparency tool that lets legislators and the public see which paid lobbyists and employers engaged on a bill and whether they supported, opposed, or monitored it. He said the reporting will be integrated into bill pages so the public can see, alongside the text of a bill, who lobbied on it.
Floor debate touched on several themes: whether employer disclosure would expose companies to boycotts or harassment (supporters of employer disclosure pointed to examples of backlash against public corporate stances), whether banning lobbyist personal campaign contributions (proposed in one failed amendment) would be constitutional under Citizens United jurisprudence, and whether the bill would unintentionally push paid advocacy “off‑book” (critics argued companies could re‑characterize paid roles to avoid registration). One floor amendment (Senate floor amendment #1, addressing expenditures on gifts/food during prohibited periods) was adopted on the floor as part of debate. Other amendments seeking to prohibit lobbyist campaign contributions or to require that every organization that brings people to the Capitol register as a lobbyist (or to remove lobbyist‑employer disclosure) failed on the floor after votes.
The Secretary of State’s office participated in drafting changes earlier in the process and the final text delays implementation to allow the office to build the filing system; the sponsor said the Secretary of State indicated the office could comply with the required timings. The bill sets a 48‑hour window for reporting once lobbying activity commences and requires that updates be made if a lobbyist’s position on a bill changes. The bill sets a delayed effective date (the bill’s language as amended specifies a later implementation date to be provided in the statute).
Senator Steinborn moved final passage. After roll‑call voting the clerk announced the result: 22 votes in the affirmative and 15 in the negative; the presiding officer announced House Bill 143 as duly passed the Senate. The roll call list and several recorded floor amendments appear in the session transcript.
Ending — The bill passed on final reading after multiple amendment attempts on the floor and the full roll‑call vote (22–15). The floor record shows sustained disagreement about scope and constitutionality of specific provisions; the Secretary of State and legislative staff will be responsible for implementing reporting forms and online integration.
