Lobbyists dole out more than $800,000 a year in free meals, drinks and gifts, or $4,000 per state legislator if the freebies were distributed evenly, according to testimony delivered in Annapolis yesterday.
An official of Common Cause/Maryland, the self-described citizens lobby, cited that statistic in urging a House committee to reform lobbying and ethics laws.
"We have gotten to a point of excessive gift-giving by lobbyists," executive director Deborah Povich said. She supported a bill that would prohibit legislators from taking free meals and sports tickets from lobbyists in most situations.
Baltimore Del. Kenneth C. Montague Jr., the bill's sponsor, said the measure would help restore public confidence in the fairness of the General Assembly. The current system gives citizens "the perception that monied interests are exercising undue influence on the members they've elected," the Democrat said.
Mr. Montague outlined his proposal to the Commerce and Government Matters Committee. The panel will pass some reform measure this year, said its chairman, Baltimore Del. Gerald J. Curran, who has introduced similar legislation of his own.
Mr. Montague's bill would allow legislators to be wined and dined by special interests, but only at events to which at least 25 lawmakers were invited. That way, lobbyists could continue to work in social settings, which many say they prefer, as long as the setting was more public than a small, private dinner, he said.
Lawmakers would have to stop taking free tickets to professional sports events, "a source of embarrassment to this body," Mr. Montague said. They would be allowed to accept two free passes a year to college games. The bill also would require greater disclosure of legislators who accept gifts worth more than $25 from lobbyists.
The current law has such a large loophole that lobbyists rarely have to disclose who received their gifts, Ms. Povich said. In 1992, the top five lobbyists managed to spend more than $200,000 on gifts without reporting the name of a single legislator, she said.
Barbara Steckel of the League of Women Voters of Maryland also testified in favor of the reforms, calling them "an excellent vehicle for letting the public have confidence in elected officials."
A second Montague bill would prohibit legislators from double-dipping on meals. Lawmakers could not accept both their $30 per day meal allowance from the state and a free meal from a lobbyist the same day.
Committee members also heard testimony on several bills that were variations on the same theme.
One would require lobbyists to report the names of legislators to whom they gave gifts worth $1 or more.
Another, alternative bill would force lobbyists to disclose the name of any state official to whom they gave gifts totaling more than $150. Both were introduced by Chairman Curran, a Democrat.
A bill introduced by all 41 Republican delegates would ban gifts and meals completely.
"We need as bright a line as we could possibly find," said Del. John S. Morgan, a Laurel Republican.
Mealtimes are the "only opportunity" lobbyists have to discuss issues with legislators, argued Sheila Sprague, president of the Maryland Government Relations Association, a professional group of lobbyists.
The group favors continuing the tradition of lobbyists paying for meals for legislators, although it has no objections if legislators want to pay their own way, said member J. William Pitcher.
Although the bills did not specifically address it, Ms. Sprague hTC said her group wants to prohibit political candidates from sending lobbyists unsolicited campaign fund-raising tickets.
The last major revision of the lobbying disclosure law took place 16 years ago, she said.