Oct 23
Proposal…New Legislative Independent Ethics Commission
2009 at 11:07 am | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 3 comments
During its monthly lunchtime meeting on Wednesday, a new Independent Ethics Commission proposal was introduced to the Utah State House Majority Caucus. Rep. John Dougall (R-Highland), Co-Chair of the House Ethics Committee, presented a draft outline of a proposal crafted by the entire Bi-partisan House Ethics Committee.
You can read the Independent Ethics Commission proposal by linking HERE. (Go to “Related Materials” for the October 21st meeting and choose the third item on the list.)
The Ethics Commission would work as an advisory panel to review ethics complaints and make recommendations to the House Ethics Committee before proceeding with actions against legislators. A number of states have Ethics Commissions similar in structure to the body in this proposal. Further deliberations will take place before a bill is drafted for the Utah State Legislature to consider in the upcoming 2010 General Legislative Session.
Because many people throughout the state feel the current legislative ethics initiative introduced by the group Utahns’ for Ethical Government ‘ just goes too far,’ the bi-partisan committee has chosen to take a proactive approach to address sensible legislative ethics measures.
Related stories: Deseret News & Salt Lake Tribune
Governor Herbert on Ethics Initiative: Deseret News
3 Responses to “Proposal…New Legislative Independent Ethics Commission”
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October 23rd, 2009 at 2:51 pm
The legislature is to be commended for taking such a proactive approach to ethics reform. : ) A quick reading of the proposed legislation raised 3 red flags for me immediately. There may be more after a more careful study.
1) All of the hearings by the independent commission are held in private—even after the initial screening process for complaints.
2) It would take a vote of 4 out of 5 members to move a complaint on to the legislative ethics committee.
3) If ANYONE were to leak information about the ethics complaint against a legislator, then that complaint would be immediately dismissed. All any legislator would have to do is get a buddy to “leak” for him and he is off scott free.
Another area of concern is that the staff of the independent committee would be selected and hired by the legislature. They in fact would work for the legislature and not for the independent committee under those terms.
The REAL litmus test Rep. Frank, will be to see if the legislature comes up with a legislative Code of Conduct that in any way resembles the code proposed by the Utahns for Ethical Government in their initiative. My guess is that they will NOT. What good will it do to have a system of hearing ethics complaints if there are no ethics rules that the legislators must follow in the first place.
Rather than hearing the Legislature babble about Czars, Super Czars, and how the Ethics Reform Initiative “goes too far”, it would be refreshing to hear some honesty and specificity for a change and have those in the legislature come out and list those parts of the initiative that go too far in their opinion.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:18 am
weak, I would rather the proposal involving zombie Romanov’s.
But I suppose its only proper to hold judgment for a complete proposal. If it all possible I would like to request updates on this as it proceeds.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:54 am
I’ll give you everything I have when I get it. Because of the nature of drafting this proposal, we probably won’t see anything til next Interim, which will be the third Wednesday in November. We’re all anxiously waiting.