The Athens Banner-Herald endorses lobbying reform in Georgia with the current legislative session ending soon.

Briefly, the bill – which, again, imposes no gift cap on lobbyists, although it does require them to report gifts to legislators more frequently – does include more stringent financial reporting requirements for legislators, and would prohibit lobbyists from e-mailing or sending text messages to lawmakers while those lawmakers are in committee meetings or while the legislature is convened in session.

Obviously, the bill falls far short of any meaningful ethics reform, in terms of curtailing the influence that lobbyists can wield over legislators. Still, there are seven days remaining in the legislative session, which is plenty of time for Ralston and other lawmakers to beef up the bill – if, that is, they want to do so.