Capitol News

House Republicans’ transparency requirements for earmarks have been adopted by Senate Democrats as part of ongoing budget negotiations at the state Capitol. The House Republicans initially passed these rules in January and withheld support for adding earmarks to the state budget until the Senate agreed to implement similar standards.

The reforms, introduced through House Resolution 14, mandate that every spending item requested by legislators must be publicly reviewed with a clear justification and listed on a public website before any vote takes place. The new plan also prohibits earmarks for for-profit businesses, raises standards for non-profit recipients, and aims to prevent conflicts of interest involving taxpayer funds. In contrast, the previous Senate proposal would have only disclosed grant recipient names online a year after votes were cast.

Speaker of the House Matt Hall stated, “The Hall Ethics Accountability and Transparency (HEAT) Plan is the most significant transparency and ethics reform in years. It’s no surprise to see it catching on at the Capitol. We are making real progress on budget and spending reforms during this negotiation, and this is the latest win. We already have agreements to cut waste, fraud and abuse, limit the size of state government, eliminate phantom employees hidden in department line items now reform the state’s broken earmark process. This is how we can fund our real priorities and stop the mismanagement and corruption that followed these funds for years.”

As part of this agreement, Senate Democrats have committed to enacting a permanent change in state law to uphold these new rules. The House has already passed legislation aimed at making these changes permanent. Both chambers’ resolutions ensure transparency measures are enforced this year while a permanent legal change is pursued.

“This is how we get better value for the taxpayers,” Hall said. “Far too many of these earmarks have been abused by bad actors in the past, and far too many politicians have abused this process to stuff the budget full of pork projects they can’t defend. That ends now. We are rooting out that bad spending and bringing the HEAT to Lansing.”