Gift resolution guidelines lacking clarity

The Georgia Senate ethics resolution “doesn’t define cap.” Georgia House Speaker David Ralston

In the past year, the Georgia Legislature has debated its ethics guidelines to counter criticism that it is too beholden to lobbyists. On the first day of the 2013 legislative session, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution aimed at limiting gifts from lobbyists.

Ralston made this claim about the lobbying resolution, which passed in January.

“It doesn’t define a cap,” Ralston said at the Atlanta Press Club last month. “I don’t know if it means $100 a day or if it’s $100 a minute.”

The Senate resolution says: “No senator shall accept any gift, other than those specified in subparagraph (3) of this paragraph, with a value in excess of $100.00 from a registered lobbyist or a single gift from a group of registered lobbyists with a value in excess of $100.00.”

Subparagraph 3 outlined the types of acceptable items without regard to the $100 limit.

The resolution doesn’t clearly define how often a lobbyist can give up to $100 to a state senator. Still, lawmakers and lobbyists understand the resolution’s intent, political science and ethics experts said.

We rated Ralston’s claim Mostly True.

Ralston