LANSING — A Michigan House committee moved forward what supporters say are critical pieces of transparency legislation, following a series of financial controversies among former lawmakers.
The bills add new requirements to 501(c)(4) nonprofits connected to state politicians, which aren’t required to report their donors. It also applies to 527 organizations, which are only required to report their donors if they bring in more than $25,000 annually.
“We can’t help the people if they are up against the weight of dark money and big corporations,” said Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor. “How can we help the people if they don’t know who is helping us?”
Those organizations would have to file with the Secretary of State and have information about their operators and associated lawmakers made public. The proposals wouldn’t expand requirements for the reporting of donors, but supporters say it’s a sorely needed step toward transparency.
“If these folks are contributing dark money to all these different accounts, there’s a huge possibility that they could have an influence in the decisions that we are making in our government,” Morgan said.
OpenSecrets, a non-partisan organization that examines dark money in politics, says these types of nonprofits are “an inefficient way to spend money politically — unless there is a high premium on keeping the identity of donors secret.”
The bills passed out of the House Ethics Committee with bipartisan support, and supporters are hopeful they will be considered by the full house in the next two weeks.
“We have to avoid the appearance of impropriety, and sometimes, when we don’t have the transparency, people assume the worst, so we need to hold ourselves to the higher standard so that we’re not even open to that criticism,” said Rep. Tom Kunse, R-Clare. “So it’s one of those things — if you can’t disclose it, if you can’t be open about it, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”
The nonprofit bills were added to the already long list of legislation that the House could take up in its final days of Democratic control, known as the ‘lame duck’ period.
Any legislation coming from the House would have to be passed by the end of the day on Dec. 18, when the chamber is set to adjourn for Christmas.
“If we are to leave this session of the legislature without taking any action to stop the corruption in state government, then i think we will have done a great disservice to the people of our state,” Morgan said.
