Touted as landmark ethics legislation, HB345 requires a one-year cooling-off period before former lawmakers become professional lobbyists.
However, exceptions written into the bill could render it largely ineffective.
"HB345 would not have prevented Greg Curtis from becoming a lobbyist," said Joe Demma, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert.
Former House Speaker Curtis lost his seat in last year's election, but returned to Capitol Hill in January as a paid lobbyist for Intermountain Health Care, Utah Transit Authority, a tobacco company and several other clients.
"If Curtis were to have applied after this bill passed, we would have accepted and processed his registration," Demma said. "I have to administer the law and that's how I perceive it."
Exempted from the one-year waiting period are former state officials who lobby on their own behalf or for a business with which they are associated -- unless its primary purpose is lobbying or government relations.
"I was aware of this giant loophole -- I believe that most legislators were," said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who voted against HB345 for several reasons, as did a dozen others in the 29-member Senate.
"The bill was plain on its face," Bramble added.
In the House, 71 of 75 members signed on as sponsors of the measure. To Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, the intent was clear.
"I hope that this sends a signal to those legislators who are lobbying in 2009 and sat on this floor last year," Johnson told fellow House members in February, "that they understand that it's the will of the Legislature and the will of the people to have a cooling off period."
The bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, doesn't believe the bill is fatally flawed. He's surprised at how the Lt. Governor's Office interpreted the bill and said he plans to discuss it with Herbert.
"If I need to tighten the language, I'll do it. I'm passionate about it," Dee said. "It wasn't a feel-good bill -- it had some teeth in it and got it done."
Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, sponsored HB345 on its rough ride through the Senate.
"I tried to make it crystal clear that what was prohibited was the garden variety contract lobbyist," Bell said, "those guys in the hall who are there for three different businesses."
Frank Pignanelli, an attorney, lobbyist and former House minority leader, acknowledged the loophole under a strict reading of the bill.
"The intent does not match the language," Pignanelli said.
The state's top legal authority, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, said his office had no involvement with HB345 and therefore had no knowledge of its legislative intent. If the measure faces a legal challenge, his office will have to analyze that intent.
HB345, along with other remaining bills, awaits the Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s signature by Wednesday.
The former state official who lobbies on behalf of himself or a business with which he is associated, unless the "primary activity" of the business is lobbying or governmental relations.
