Some background on the ethics issue

The conviction of  former state treasurers resulted in the appointment by the Governor of a bipartisan Ethics Commission. The resulting report is available (use your back button to return here)

There were several recommendations, four of which are listed here.

• gift restrictions
• limits on campaign contributions
• ethics commission
• public campaign financing

The legislative response (regular session)

The total response was very disappointing. The only bill that passed made it more difficult for people to track the passage of money from lobbyists to legislators.

The house passed three good bills

• HB 818 - public financing for judicial elections (41-28)
• HB 821 - restrict campaign contributions to federal level (51-16)
• HB 822 - to create an ethics commission (58-4)

Senate Action - All bills failed. Most died in committee.

Legislative response (special session)

House - has started to reintroduce their bills

Senate - adjourned sine die. If the house does not concur, the senate will have to meet again (at the end of the week). It is not expected that the house will concur.