Outgoing senate president Tom Niehaus has introduced a bill to overhaul the state’s ethics law. Senate Bill 391, if passed, will:

• Increase the lobbyist registration fee to $35 (will take effect 12/1/14 if passed);
• Change the registration period for executive and retirement system lobbyists to two years, expiring on December 31 of even-numbered years (will take effect 12/1/14 if passed);
• Codify the percentage of time a lobbyist must spend on lobbying before being required to register;
• Increase the itemizing threshold for lobbyist expenditure reporting to $100;
• Exclude maintenance of office facilities and compensation paid to legislative agents from the definition of expenditure; and
• Increase the limit on gifts to public officials to $250, aggregated per calendar year.

The bill also provides additional requirements for financial disclosures from public officials.