House passes ethics bill barring current members from becoming lobbyists once they leave office

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Intro:	The Missouri House Thursday changed a few key parts of an original Senate-passed ethics bill and sent it back to the upper chamber.
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Wrap: The bill the Senate passed in February excluded current lawmakers from being subject to a two-year cooling off period before they could become a lobbyist.

House Speaker Pro Tem Denny Hoskins offered an amendment to the bill aiming to include current lawmakers, but lower the cooling-off period to one year.

House Speaker John Diehl commended Hoskins and said current lawmakers shouldn't be exempted.

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Description: "There's no reason if we're going to do ethics reform to start eight years from now. So I think we felt pretty strongly that whatever we do should, at least attempt, to apply to us and not the people that come here after us."

The amendment was approved and the bill passed by a 132-14 vote and heads back to the Senate.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Steven Anthony.

Intro:	Missouri is the only state in the nation without lobbyist gift limits, but a bill the House passed Thursday could change that.
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Wrap: Republican Representative Justin Alferman offered an amendment to an ethics bill that would cap lobbyist gifts at 25 dollars.

Some representatives were not happy the amendment didn't call for a complete ban, but House Majority Leader Todd Richardson said that's not the way members should look at the bill.

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Description: "The Senate sent us a bill that didn't include anything on gifts. We're very proud to be able to take the step of limiting it to 25 dollars and it's something we were fairly confident we could move through the House with a strong bipartisan vote that way and that's what the body did."

The amendment passed and the bill heads back to the Senate after the House passed it by a 132-14 vote.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Steven Anthony.

Intro:	The Missouri House Thursday passed an ethics bill that members say aims to clean up Missouri politics and curb lobbyist influence
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Wrap: Representative Jay Barnes of Jefferson City said the bill is designed to remind members why they were elected to serve in the state government.

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Description: "Our voters when they send us here do not expect us to live completely monastic lives, but at the same time, they don't want people who come up and forget why they're here."

After amendments to institute a 25 dollar lobbyist gift limit and impose a one-year cooling off period before a lawmaker can become a lobbyist were passed, the bill passed by a 132-14 vote.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Steven Anthony.