Senate approves tighter gift-reporting rule, passes Senate Bill 156

Senators passed Senate Bill 156, a measure that tightens disclosure of gifts and aggregate reporting for public officials, after adopting an amendment that clarifies exemptions for events provided to the entire legislature and certain official committees. Sponsor Senator Bell said the bill reduces the gift-reporting threshold and aggregates legislative expenditures so constituents can see what was spent for each legislator.

Senator Bell, the bill sponsor, said the measure "reduces the gift reporting threshold to $25 across the board without exception" and explained an amendment (Amendment No. 2) to exempt events provided to the entire legislature, caucuses or official committees. The floor adopted that amendment by voice vote. Senator McCoy offered a substitute to lower the threshold further to $5 and add tighter prohibitions; the substitute failed on a roll-call vote, 8–20. Senator McCoy argued the $5 level "is what the public wants," while Bell said the adopted approach strikes a practical balance between disclosure and ordinary constituent engagement.

Floor questions focused on whether routine meals or community-hosted events would be reportable, how the bill handles identification of recipients, and whether the bill created loopholes. Senator Hilliard and others pressed for clarity about line references that delete redundant name-identification language; Bell said the information remains required elsewhere in the bill. Senators explaining their votes repeatedly emphasized transparency to constituents and the desire not to criminalize routine civic engagements.

The Senate recorded the final passage of Senate Bill 156 as amended by a roll-call vote of 27 yea, 2 nay, 0 absent. The bill will be transmitted to the House for consideration. No additional statutory citations or implementation dates were specified on the floor.