The good news: our State House passed House Bills 4381, 4378, and HJR N today – better known as the ethics legislation to help reform Michigan’s state government. For those of you not too terribly familiar with this measure, here’s a brief overview. If written into law, the bills would:

• Require Michigan’s state and local officials to disclose all their financial assets publically and abstain from voting on potential conflicts of interest;

• Prohibit state office holders and administrators from becoming lobbyists for at least two years after they are voted or termed out of office;

• Dock the pay of any state legislator who misses a session.

Sounds like a good deal, right? This could just prove the shot in the arm our state government so desperately needs. After all, 47 other states already have laws in place to ensure that their elected officials represent the best interests of the people they are supposed to be serving, not powerful special interest groups and greedy private assets. Seven other states bar legislators from becoming lobbyists for two years after leaving office (21 states uphold a one-year ban), and, well, why shouldn’t state lawmakers miss out on their pay if they miss out on an important session? Honestly, isn’t that one of the first lessons we have pounded into our skulls from the moment we take that first after school babysitting job in eighth grade? Don’t show up for work, and don’t expect to get paid. It’s time for lawmakers to stop being exempt from these rules of the world, too.

Now, of course, on the flipside of good news, there’s almost always bad to accompany it. In this case, it’s that the decision on the fate of these bills is now left in the hands of the Republican-controlled State Senate, who have a long and even more recent history of stonewalling on important measures until the bills effectively die a slow and painful bureaucratic death. Let’s hope, in this instance, that Senate Majority Leader Bishop sees the light of day and brings the bills to vote, just as he should.

And there you have it. Either Michigan’s government is on the verge of a full frontal, all-ethical overhaul, or else we may be hearing from Special Interest Representative Mike Bishop at some point in the near future. Here’s hoping our leaders in Lansing spring for the former outcome.