HOUSE BILL NO. 5300
A bill to require the tracking and reporting of federal spending bills; to create a federal elected official accountability office; to require certain elected officials to file annual federal spending disclosure reports; to create a federal spending disclosure form; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state departments and state officials; to provide for the levy, assessment, and collection of a surcharge on certain elected officials; and to prescribe penalties for violations of the provisions of this act.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1. This act may be cited as the "federal elected officials accountability act".
(a) "Deficit spending" means money spent exceeds money received. For purposes of this subdivision, both of the following apply:
(i) Money received includes all income from taxes and fees paid to the federal government, but does not include surplus from any previous fiscal year unless the federal government has no debt. If the federal government has no debt then surplus from any previous year that has not already been budgeted or allocated may be added to money received.
(ii) Money spent includes all funds that are budgeted or allocated for spending whether or not the money has actually been disbursed.
(b) "Department" means the department of treasury.
(c) "Federal elected official" means an individual who serves or has served as a member of the United States Congress representing this state after the effective date of this act.
(d) "Federal fiscal year" means the annual accounting period for the federal government.
(e) "Income tax act" means the income tax act of 1967 PA 281, MCL 206.1 to 206.847.
(f) "Office" means the federal elected official accountability office created in section 5.
(g) "Spending bill" means a bill enacted in the United States Congress that authorizes, dictates, or otherwise allows the spending of federal funds and includes, but is not limited to, appropriations bills, continuing resolutions, and omnibus spending bills.
Sec. 5. (1) The federal elected official accountability office is created in the department to track total spending by the federal government by identifying and tracking all federal spending bills, recording how federal elected officials voted on federal spending bills, and providing data and reports on federal spending.
(2) The state treasurer shall appoint the office director. The office director shall manage the operations of the office.
(3) The office shall do all of the following:
(a) Identify and maintain a list of all spending bills for the most recent federal fiscal year in which the federal government had no deficit spending. The list must denote for each spending bill the amount of money allocated and the actual amount spent, if known.
(b) Identify and maintain a list of all spending bills for the immediately preceding federal fiscal year. The list must denote for each spending bill the amount of money allocated and the actual amount spent, if known, and how each federal elected official voted. If the office determines that there is a corresponding equivalent spending bill on the list created under subdivision (a), the office must also include a cross-reference to that bill. For purposes of determining whether there is an equivalent spending bill, the office shall do both of the following:
(i) Consider the primary purpose for which the vast majority of the funds were allocated under the spending bill.
(ii) Consider spending bills as a whole and not combine or separate spending bills to identify an equivalent spending bill.
(c) Compile and report to the department on the spending and income of the federal government each fiscal year.
(d) Not later than December 1 of each year, determine if the federal government spent more money than it received in the previous fiscal year. For purposes of making the determination under this subdivision, the office shall consider all funds that are budgeted or allocated for spending regardless of whether the money has actually been spent.
(e) Make available on the department's website the process and sources used for making determinations regarding federal income and spending under this act.
(f) Create a federal elected official spending disclosure form. The form must include, at a minimum, a table listing all spending bills on which the federal elected official voted that allocated money for the immediately preceding federal fiscal year and the amount of money allocated or, if known, the actual amount spent. The form must also include space for the federal elected official to do both of the following:
(i) List additions to or subtractions from the list of spending bills.
(ii) Indicate how the federal elected official voted on each of the spending bills identified if serving in office when the bill passed.
(g) Create any other forms, petitions, and reports as needed to implement this act.
(h) Make all lists, forms, and determinations made under this section available to the public on the department's website.
(4) If the office determines under subsection (3)(d) that the federal government spent more money than it received, the office shall do all of the following:
(a) Make a list of all of the spending bills that spent more than the corresponding equivalent spending bill identified under subsection (3) and include all other spending bills that did not have a corresponding equivalent spending bill identified under subsection (3).
(b) For each spending bill listed under subdivision (a), identify each federal elected official that voted in favor of each of those spending bills.
(c) Update the list under subdivision (a), as necessary, if a vote in favor was justified and the bill was removed from the list as provided under section 11, including the date of the removal.
Sec. 7. (1) Not later than January 1 of each year, each federal elected official shall complete a federal spending disclosure form and file that form with the office. The federal elected official shall also attach the form to the federal elected official's annual return filed under the income tax act.
(2) Upon review of the completed forms received under subsection (1), the office shall review all additions and subtractions identified and determine if there are any spending bills that should be added or removed from the list and update the lists and disclosure form accordingly.
(3) The office shall make all federal spending disclosure forms filed with the office accessible to the public on its website.
Sec. 9. (1) A federal elected official accountability 2-year surcharge is levied and imposed as provided in this section if the office determined under section 5 that there was deficit spending for the immediately preceding federal fiscal year. Unless each spending bill identified in the written notice issued under section 5(4)(d) is removed as provided in section 11, the federal elected official accountability surcharge is levied and imposed for 2 consecutive years on each federal elected official who voted in favor of 1 or more of the spending bills that are included in that notice and not removed under section 11.
(2) The department shall levy and impose the surcharge on each federal elected official in an amount equal to 75% of the federal elected official's taxable income, as determined, and required to be reported on the federal elected official's state income tax return, under the income tax act for the tax year during which that fiscal year ended.
(3) The surcharge must be collected at the same time and in the same manner as the tax imposed under the income tax act.
Sec. 11. (1) If at least 4 federal elected officials, 2 of whom have a different party affiliation, voted in favor of a spending bill identified in the written notice issued under section 5 and assert that the vote in favor of that spending bill was justified, those federal elected officials may request to have the spending bill considered justified and removed from the written notice by filing a petition, in a form and manner as prescribed by the office, with the office and both the speaker of the house of representatives and the senate majority leader.
(2) Only 1 petition may be filed under subsection (1) for a single spending bill. A separate petition must be filed for each spending bill proposed for removal under subsection (1). Each petition must include the specific reasons and the rationale supporting the assertion that a vote in favor of that spending bill was justified and that spending bill should not be a basis for the imposition of the surcharge under section 9.
(3) If the speaker of the house of representatives and the senate majority leader receive a completed petition under this section, the legislature must within 21 days after receiving the completed petition introduce a concurrent resolution for the spending bill identified in the petition that declares that spending bill as justified and removes that spending bill from the list of spending bills identified by the office as contributing to the deficit spending and triggering the imposition of the surcharge. The concurrent resolution must be considered by the legislature not later than 14 days after it is introduced. If that concurrent resolution is approved on a record roll call vote by a 3/4 majority vote of the members elected to and serving in each house of the legislature, then the vote in favor of that spending bill is justified and that bill must be removed from the written notice issued under section 5. A federal elected official is exempt from the surcharge only if a concurrent resolution is adopted for each spending bill on the list in the written notice issued under section 5 that the federal elected official voted in favor of.
Sec. 13. A federal elected official that fails to comply with this act is subject to the same penalties under section 24 of 1941 PA 122, MCL 205.24, that a taxpayer would be subject to for failure to file a return.