Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Legislature is getting closer to ending unlimited wining and dining for public officials.
A House committee voted Monday to put tougher spending limits on lobbyists and the people who hire them to influence public officials.
The Senate had passed a bill to prohibit lobbyists from spending money entertaining a public official, but it put no spending limit on the people who hire the lobbyists. The House Ethics Committee rewrote the bill Monday to keep lobbyists at zero and place a $100 a year limit on the people they represent.
Legislative committees also approved the other six bills in Gov. Bob Riley's ethics package, and they could be up for final votes Tuesday in the House and Senate.
The governor says the Legislature is closer than ever before to enacting meaningful reforms that will change Alabama forever.
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