An Act To Strengthen the Integrity of the Legislature by Extending the Waiting Period before Legislators May Engage in Any Amount of Compensated Lobbying
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 1 MRSA §1024, sub-§1-A is enacted to read:
1-A. Actions precluded beginning with the 130th Legislature. Beginning with the convening of the 130th Legislature, a person who has served as a Legislator may not engage in compensated lobbying until 4 years after that person's term as a Legislator ends.
Sec. 2. 1 MRSA §1024, sub-§4 is enacted to read:
4. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.
A. "Compensated lobbying" means lobbying conducted by an individual who is specifically employed by another person for that purpose or lobbying conducted by an individual as a regular employee of another person. "Compensated lobbying" does not include activities for which the individual receives no compensation other than reimbursement for lobbying-related travel within the State and reimbursement for other out-of-pocket expenditures made by the individual for printing, postage and food and lodging connected with lobbying activities paid for by the individual. For the purposes of this paragraph, "reimbursement for other out-of-pocket expenditures" does not include reimbursement for the individual's time spent lobbying that would have been otherwise compensated by an employer or in the course of the individual's employment.
B. "Lobbying" has the same meaning as in Title 3, section 312-A, subsection 9.
SUMMARY
This bill prohibits a former Legislator from engaging in any compensated lobbying activities for 4 years after that person's term as a Legislator ends rather than for one year as in current law. This extended prohibition begins with the convening of the 130th Legislature. The bill also removes the safe harbor in current law that allows a former Legislator to engage in up to 8 hours of compensated lobbying per calendar month without violating the prohibition.