Utah law requires a “cooling off period” for former lawmakers looking to become lobbyists. But a loophole lets them leave office one day and lobby the Legislature the next.
Days after wrapping up a 24-year run as a force in the Utah Senate, Curt Bramble has filed to lobby the Utah Legislature, despite a law on the books since 2009 intended to prevent legislators from becoming revolving-door lobbyists.
Bramble said there is a provision in the law that allows him to represent clients through his accounting and business consulting firm, Bramble & Company, which he has owned for decades.
“If lobbying or government relations isn’t your primary business then there’s an exception,” Bramble told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview this week.
In 2009, lawmakers passed a bill that imposed a one-year “cooling off period” for elected statewide officials and legislators before they can become lobbyists. The bill passed during the same session that former House Speaker Greg Curtis returned to the Capitol as a lobbyist after losing his 2008 reelection bid and days after his term as speaker ended.
But the law does not apply if the legislator lobbies on behalf of “a business with which he is associated,” provided the business’ primary activity is not lobbying or governmental relations.
Bramble said he met with representatives of the lieutenant governor’s office, which oversees lobbyist regulations, two weeks ago and lawyers for the office reviewed the issue and gave him approval to represent his clients in the Legislature.
In a Jan. 15 email to Bramble, the lieutenant governor’s office cited the statute and advised him that “If you meet the above exception” — referring to the business exception — ” you may register as a lobbyist with our office on lobbyist.utah.gov and proceed as allowed under state code.”
Bramble registered as a lobbyist the next day.
“Here’s the reality: Do I expect to be doing contract lobbying? No. For this session I expect it will be fairly limited,” Bramble said. “But I do have clients that do have tax issues and we may have clients who say, ‘Here is an issue we need to talk about’ and much of what I do this session will be consulting with other lobbyists where … they want some advice.”
Bramble’s son, Zach, has been a registered lobbyist for several years. Earlier this month, he registered to lobby on behalf of 24 new clients this session.
Thirty-five states have prohibitions or cooling-off periods for former legislators, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A 36th, Missouri, had a two-year cooling-off period until last summer when a federal appeals court struck down part of that state’s voter-approved initiative that imposed the lobbying ban. The judges ruled that it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that the state could not show that it significantly curbed corruption.
There are roughly 20 former legislators who are registered lobbyists — including Bramble, Robert Spendlove and former Sen. Jake Anderegg, who resigned from the body in 2023 after The Tribune reported on a consulting contract he had secured to push for transportation funding for Utah County.
Spendlove, who retired Jan. 1 last year, filed to lobby on behalf of Zions Bancorp, where he is a senior economist. Spendlove said he didn’t plan to register, but some of the economic work he provides could be considered advocacy, so he registered as a precaution.
For years, Sen. Howard Stephenson was a registered lobbyist for The Utah Taxpayers Association while he was a state senator. Stephenson said it was permissible because he only lobbied the executive branch, not the Legislature.
In recent years Bramble has advocated for keeping the herbal substance kratom legal and regulated. Kratom is a plant with origins in Southeast Asia that is promoted as a pain reliever and in low doses can act as a stimulant and in higher doses a depressant. It is also touted as helping ease opioid addiction.
Amid a series of reports of adverse effects, including lawsuits by families who alleged it was responsible for their loved ones’ deaths, some states looked to restrict the supplement and at least six banned the product.
In 2019, Bramble sponsored the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which passed the Legislature to become the first law in the country regulating the preparation, labeling and marketing of the product.
The American Kratom Association paid Bramble $137,500 in consulting fees in 2019 and the following year The Center For Plant Science and Health, which has most of the same executives as AKA, began reporting consulting payments to Bramble & Company that totaled $968,845 over four years, according to tax filings for the organizations. The connection was first reported in 2022 by Courthouse News Service.
Bramble has testified in support of kratom legislation in Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin and Colorado. He was not identified in any of the legislative records as a representative of the industry and under Utah law did not have to disclose the consulting payments to his business.
Bramble said he is not sure if he will disclose his clients on his lobbying reports. He said he would prefer to disclose them for the sake of transparency, but many of the clients have tax issues that can require him to maintain the confidentiality of the companies he is representing.
Source: Utah News
