LANSING – State Representatives Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing), Joan Bauer (D-Lansing) and Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) today voted in support of sweeping ethics reforms designed to restore integrity to the State House and Michigan residents' confidence in government.
"This package ensures that our state lawmakers are working on behalf of the state's citizens," Byrum said. "Legislators are here to represent the people, and the provisions in this package will ensure that they do just that."
"Our citizens want representatives who are working for them, not making deals to line their own pockets or voting on a bill with a clear conflict of interest," Meadows said. "Today's vote guarantees that Michigan's House of Representatives has the strongest ethics policy in the nation."
The five-point plan that passed the House will:
- Require elected officials, appointed officials, and statewide candidates to disclose their financial assets.
- Prohibit lawmakers from becoming lobbyists for one year after leaving office.
- Prohibit a legislator from voting on a bill when a substantial conflict of interest is present.
- Prohibit lawmakers from applying for, or accepting, grants from the State while the legislator is in office.
- Require the people or organizations behind automated political phone calls – also known as "robocalls" – to disclose their identities at the beginning of a call.
"Our legislators must focus on the task at hand – making good public policy," Bauer said. "This plan ensures that our elected officials are held to the highest ethical standards and gives our residents the confidence that we're doing the job they sent us to Lansing to do."