{"id":2294,"date":"2025-09-30T10:14:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/?post_type=press&p=2294"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:14:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:14:16","slug":"ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff"},"template":"","class_list":["post-2294","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":" Today the Rhode Island Ethics Commission voted to amend the Code of Ethics to close a loophole that allows public officials and employees to take unlimited gifts from lobbyists. The Commission did this at the request of Common Cause Rhode Island which filed a petition to close the loophole. This is the first time since 2012 that the Commission has voted to strengthen the state\u2019s ethics laws.","featured_image":"","press_type":146,"authors":"","related_issues":[426,106],"related_work":false,"location":42},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":"","name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Providence, RI\u00a0<\/strong>- Today the Rhode Island Ethics Commission voted to amend the Code of Ethics to close a loophole that allows public officials and employees to take unlimited gifts from lobbyists. The Commission did this at the request of Common Cause Rhode Island which filed a petition to close the loophole. This is the first time since 2012 that the Commission has voted to strengthen the state\u2019s ethics laws.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is a good move towards more ethical government in Rhode Island,\u201d\u00a0said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWe are grateful to the Commission for taking this important step to strengthen our ethics laws and reduce the influence of special interests in Rhode Island politics.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn December 2024,\u00a0Common Cause Rhode Island petitioned the Rhode Island Ethics Commission<\/a>\u00a0to, among other things, categorically include registered lobbyists among those whose gifts public officials and employees are limited in accepting. Before today\u2019s change, gifts were only limited if they came from someone who is an \u201cinterested person\u201d because they may benefit financially from decisions made by the public employee or official. Common Cause Rhode Island believes that gifts from lobbyists are a conflict of interest regardless of whether the lobbyist or their employer benefits financially.\r\n

###<\/p>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_add_component":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_work","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_work":{"heading":"Work","manually_curate":false,"work":null}}]},"yoast_head":"\nEthics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff - Common Cause Rhode Island<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thanks to Common Cause Rhode Island's advocacy, public officials and employees can no longer take unlimited gifts from lobbyists.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to Common Cause Rhode Island's advocacy, public officials and employees can no longer take unlimited gifts from lobbyists.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Rhode Island\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lobbyist-Loophole-ActionNet-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/\",\"name\":\"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff - Common Cause Rhode Island\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-30T14:14:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Thanks to Common Cause Rhode Island's advocacy, public officials and employees can no longer take unlimited gifts from lobbyists.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause Rhode Island\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff - Common Cause Rhode Island","description":"Thanks to Common Cause Rhode Island's advocacy, public officials and employees can no longer take unlimited gifts from lobbyists.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff","og_description":"Thanks to Common Cause Rhode Island's advocacy, public officials and employees can no longer take unlimited gifts from lobbyists.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/","og_site_name":"Common Cause Rhode Island","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Lobbyist-Loophole-ActionNet-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/","name":"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff - Common Cause Rhode Island","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-30T14:14:16+00:00","description":"Thanks to Common Cause Rhode Island's advocacy, public officials and employees can no longer take unlimited gifts from lobbyists.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/press\/ethics-commission-adopts-major-reform-to-close-the-lobbyist-loophole\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ethics Commission Adopts Major Reform to Close the Lobbyist Loophole\ufeff"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/","name":"Common Cause Rhode Island","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Common Cause Rhode Island","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/2294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/2294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/2294\/revisions\/2295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/rhode-island\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}