Seeking Transparency, House Bill 142 Passes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHaatFgdX9U

Atlanta, GA- Last year the General Assembly passed House Bill 142 which placed new regulations on lobbyists. This year they were enforced.

Here is a link to the bill: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/display/20132014/HB/142

This included a gift cap to politicians to $75. We talked to a group called Common Cause Georgia who said that any gift cap was a good start to a more transparent government, but that there were loop holes. The assistant director of Common Cause, Ryan Splitlog, told us that an example of a loop hole would be multiple people paying at a restaurant, not surpassing $75.

Splitlog said he would expect some tweaking to be made to the same bill this session.

On the theme of transparency, we talked to Splitlog about upcoming elections and ways to track campaign financing.

We talked to Senator Frank Ginn of the 47th District who told us he is all for more transparency.

“My mom named me Frank for a reason,” he told us. “It’s better for the voters to know everything.”

Websites to visit to track campaign financing, politicians’ voting record, etc. are:

votesmart.org

followthemoney.org

ethics.ga.gov