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State senators on Monday took a significant step toward undoing a substantial portion of the ethics reform law they grudgingly passed last year.

In a bipartisan vote in which eight Democrats joined 21 Republicans, members passed Senate Bill 692, which exempts food and beverages from disclosure counting toward the $100 annual gift limit imposed last year.

Meals accounted for nearly half of the gifts lawmakers disclosed last year, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

The omnibus bill, carried by Sen. Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, also exempts any gifts less than $20 in value from counting toward the $100 gift limit, and raises the threshold for disclosure from $50 to $100. It would also exempt from disclosure the name of any official who pays their own way at a lobbyist event.

The measure also changes the time frame in which lawmakers and lobbyists must file disclosure reports, and exempts from disclosure trips paid for by membership organizations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures or the American Legislative Exchange Council, or any nonprofit group designated by the General Assembly’s Joint Rules Committee.