Georgia Watch, in collaboration with fellow members of the Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform, avidly supports House Bill 798, which would strengthen Georgia’s ethics laws by imposing a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers, along with other key provisions. Currently, Georgia law allows lobbyists to lavish our state’s lawmakers with unlimited gifts, which run the gamut from expensive dinners to extravagant trips around the world, as long as they disclose the amounts of these gifts. Georgia is the only southeastern state without a limit on the amount of money lobbyists can spend on legislators. Every one of our neighboring states – Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida – has adopted strict caps or outright banned lobbyist gifts. Georgians also overwhelmingly recognize the need to reign in the moneyed special interests. In a recent Mason Dixon poll, 72 percent of registered voters in Georgia support a cap on lobbyist gifts.
“If the legislature wants to restore integrity in the political process, as Georgians have overwhelmingly asked them to do, they should stop passing the buck, and find the political courage to pass this bill,” said Georgia Watch Executive Director Angela Speir Phelps. “If our lawmakers choose to not place a cap on gifts, it will be clear that their sense of entitlement far outweighs their sense of duty to the people they serve.”
The Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform includes Georgia Watch, Common Cause, the Georgia Tea Party Patriots and the League of Women Voters. House Bill 798 was introduced by Rep. Tommy Smith (R-Nicholls), and would place monetary limits on gifts that lawmakers can receive from lobbyists. Click to learn more.
