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Gifts over $100 are banned now, except for meals that can be consumed at one sitting. In 2004, lobbyists reported $3.5 million in expenses on lawmakers, including food, drink and entertainment. House Speaker Allan Bense said the idea for an outright ban came from the problems of trying to set an appropriately low limit. Too many legislators kept coming up with too many "what ifs," he said. "So, finally, after the 50th 'what if,' I said: Let's just do away with it," Bense said Monday. Lee first pushed his bill during this spring's legislative session but failed when House members allied themselves with lobbyists. That dynamic changed when a loud cheer went up in the rotunda after the House killed Lee's bill. Bense said hearing the lobbyists' celebrating upset him. But both Republicans and Democrats on the House Ethics and Elections Committee called the bill "ridiculous" and overreaching, even as they unanimously approved it Monday. "There are so many gotchas out there for this. It seems to me you're going to be paralyzed when you're in the company of somebody who might be a lobbyist," objected Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka. The Senate had banned all food and drink gifts from lobbyists in 1996 using its internal rules. It quietly undid the ban in 1998 because senators kept complaining to then-President Toni Jennings that House members were able to take free meals but senators were not. Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday he supported Lee's idea, but also supported putting some of the onus on legislators. Both chambers also voted to consider a bill that would make it impossible for lawmakers to go on industry junkets and then have the provider record the value of meals, lodging and transportation as an "in-kind" donation to a political party. This is cache, read story here
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