Bills to reshape ethics policies in Lansing to get hearing next month
Lansing — Ethics bills that would change how some Michigan lawmakers operate, amid a series of criminal investigations, will get a committee hearing next month, and House Speaker Joe Tate said his caucus members want to "see what we can get done" on the matter.
State Rep. Erin Byrnes, D-Dearborn, chairwoman of the House Ethics and Oversight Committee, said Friday her panel will begin taking testimony on the proposed reforms in April. A day earlier, Tate, D-Detroit, the top lawmaker in the House, said the bills will go through a "deliberation process."
House Democrats last week introduced the so-called BRITE Act — Bringing Reforms in Integrity, Transparency and Ethics Act. The bills would require nonprofit organizations, directed by lawmakers, to register with the Secretary of State's office, revealing connections between fundraising accounts and decision-makers that have previously been hidden.
For years, officeholders in Lansing have quietly used nonprofits to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors whose names don't have to be publicly disclosed, unlike donations to regulated campaign committees.
Others BRITE Act bills would require officials to disclose all of the travel payments and free sports or concert tickets they benefit from.
"I think there are some items that we can and we will look at," Tate said of the proposals. "This is something that has been a part of our values as House Dems, and we're going to continue to do that work."
The House speaker didn't commit to holding votes on the ethics reform legislation in the full House in his brief comments Thursday about the bills after a press conference in Lansing.
"We want to see what we can get done," Tate said.
Some Michigan Democrats who won control of the state Legislature in November 2022 have been calling for a major overhaul of the state's campaign finance laws after a wave of criminal charges and investigations involving Republican former state leaders.
Former Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson pleaded guilty in April to accepting bribes as the chairman of the state medical marijuana licensing board. Attorney General Dana Nessel has also been investigating former House Speaker Lee Chatfield's use of his political funds. Nessel announced embezzlement charges against two of Chatfield's aides in December, alleging they financially exploited and defrauded Chatfield's accounts. Chatfield has not been charged with a crime.
More:How Chatfield aides allegedly used secret political cash for Hawaii trip, Gucci, meals
One of Chatfield's nonprofits, the Peninsula Fund, reported spending $142,266 on travel and entertainment for public officials in 2020 alone. It raised $753,483 from secret donors that year, his final year as the House's leader.
A nonprofit group led by Johnson secretly gave $80,000 to an account connected to then-Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, a West Olive Republican, in 2016 and 2017, just as Meekhof was pushing to get Johnson a seat on the state's medical marijuana licensing board, The Detroit News reported in October.
House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, told reporters on Wednesday that he doubted a measure requiring the registration of nonprofit organizations would gain support from Democratic leaders who have their own nonprofit accounts.
A nonprofit organization closely tied to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, raised $12.9 million in 2022.
When functioning properly, Hall argued, the nonprofits operate independently without direction from any lawmaker and shouldn’t be required to register. But he acknowledged some lawmakers have micromanaged the fundraising and spending of the organizations to the point where they were directing them.
The challenge is separating the lawmaker-directed funds from truly independent charities, the House minority leader said.
“How do you work through the mechanics of that? Where you’re not sweeping in a United Way?" Hall asked.
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