Alabama Governor Riley Asks Legislators to Debate Anti-Corruption Bill

March 06, 2009 -- MONTGOMERY - Alabama Governor Bob Riley has formally asked the chairmen of two legislative committees to bring his anti-corruption proposal up for debate.

“Alabama needs to declare war on corruption. The proposal I’ve submitted is a sweeping anti-corruption bill that increases transparency and will change the political culture of our state forever,” said Governor Riley.

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The Governor’s proposal has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Representative Marcel Black and the Senate Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Election Committee chaired by Senator Quinton Ross.

In a letter to the chairmen, Governor Riley asks for prompt consideration of the proposal, which is HB 594 sponsored by Representative Mac Gipson and SB 440 sponsored by Senator Ben Brooks.

Governor Riley wrote the proposal is “extremely important to rebuilding the people’s trust in government and their elected officials” and that it would “apply equally to all public officials and employees of every branch of state and local government.”

“It holds all of us accountable to the people we serve,” the Governor wrote.

Among the proposal’s provisions are:

· Requiring lobbyists to fully disclose to the Ethics Commission any and all gifts, meals, travel, tickets to sporting events, and other things of value provided to public servants and members of their household.

· Requiring lobbyists to fully disclose to the Ethics Commission any and all financial transactions between lobbyists and public servants and their household members.

· Requiring lobbyists who lobby the executive branch for grants and contracts to register with the Ethics Commission.

· Requiring public servants and their household members to disclose to the Ethics Commission all jobs and consulting contracts they have with any business, nonprofit or other entity that receives public funds, and all household income derived from any state or local government entity or institution.

· Requiring the Ethics Commission to post on the Internet all lobbyists spending on public servants and their household members. The disclosures will be searchable on the Internet by the name of the public servant and the lobbyist.

· Subpoena power for the Ethics Commission.

Source: Alabama Governor