Hall's Revolving-Door Restrictions Head To Whitmer

The Senate passed three bills that were part of House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township)'s transparency and ethics platform, prohibiting lawmakers who take office after Jan. 1, 2027, from registering as lobbyists for two years after leaving office.

The bills passing the Senate around 4:11 a.m. Friday morning were HB 4062, HB 4063 and HB 4604, part of Hall's Ethics, Accountability and Transparency (HEAT) list of priorities to minimize special interest influence in the state Capitol.

The bills would also subject former governors, lieutenant governors and department directors to the same two-year prohibition on registering as lobbyists.

Critics of the "revolving door" argue that, especially because of Michigan's term limits, legislators can be easily persuaded by special interests if they believe working and voting on certain issues will result in lobbyist job opportunities after they leave Lansing. Right now, legislative tenures are capped at 12 years total between the House and Senate.

Following a substitute added in the Senate, violations would be a 90-day misdemeanor and a $1,000 fine. Also, the bill makes it clear that a former House member or Senator could still run for elected office.

“I was really proud that we finally got a victory on another element of HEAT, the Hall Ethics, Accountability and Transparency plan, to close this revolving door and stop the politicians from being lobbyists when they leave office,” Hall said. "This is just another example of me leading on ethics and transparency, and this is going to be a big change.

Hall observed that he's “the only one who would trade for stopping the politicians from becoming lobbyists. I'm the only one who would do that.”

Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp.) was vehemently opposed to the bills, calling them an "egregious violation" of each legislator's First Amendment rights – freedom of speech and of association.

"These are just virtue-signaling bills that take away our rights, especially in an era where we're term limited and members lose their job," McBroom said. "They lose their credentials, their certifications, their licenses…their assets that they may have had in whatever business they owned or operated before this."

He said lawmakers gain a set of skills while they're serving, with the bills suddenly telling them they can't take on a job they'd be "very well prepared to do."

McBroom described the legislation as eliminating the opportunity for farmers serving in the Legislature to join the Michigan Farm Bureau's board of directors upon leaving, which he noted would require registering as a lobbyist. 

Sens. Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon), Kevin Daley (R-Lum), Roger Hauck (R-Union Twp.), Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton), Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp.), Rick Outman (R-Six Lakes) and Roger Victory (R-Hudsonville) voted against the bill.