LANSING – After over a year of inaction, House Democrats today called on the Republican-led Senate to pass ethics reforms designed to restore integrity and accountability to the State Legislature and Michigan residents' confidence in government.
"As state lawmakers, we should be held to the highest ethical standards," said Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman (D-Detroit). "The people of Michigan refuse to tolerate a culture of corruption. An overwhelming majority of the House respects our residents and responded over a year ago by strengthening our ethics policies. Its now time for the Senate to take action."
The five-point plan, which passed the House in March 2007, would:
- 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.
With the passage of the ethics package, House Democrats delivered on a promise made at the beginning of the 2006 that they would raise ethics standards in the House to help restore residents' trust in government.
"As members of the Michigan Legislature, we are here to serve the people," said State Representative Marc Corriveau (D-Northville). "Our ethics reforms restore integrity and accountability to the Legislature. This package makes it clear that we are working for our residents' best interests – creating jobs now and making Michigan a better place to live, work and raise our families. I call on the Senate to act on this package and send the right message to our residents."