House Passes Set of Ethics Bills! Wow, Are They Ever Afraid of the UEG Initiative Petition!
by Brandon Loomis
Salt Lake Tribune
The Utah House on Thursday approved a set of ethics bills, including one that would place a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot creating an independent commission to review complaints against lawmakers.
HJR15, placing that amendment on November’s ballot, passed 69-3 and now goes to the Senate.
These ethics bills all came about as a direct result of a petition being circulated by the Utahns for Ethical Government. The purpose of these bills is to undercut that petition.
The Utah legislature has vigorously fought off ethics reform for years. Any legislator that introduced ethics bills was quickly ostracized by leadership and many of his fellow legislators and in essence told to go sit in the ‘time out’ corner until he understood.
These bills passed by the House have some of the same limits that would be required by the UEG petition, but there remain several concerns that need to be addressed before anyone thinks we don’t need an initiative petition any more, namely the form and structure of the independent commission.
The UEG initiative petition also bars paid lobbyists from serving in the legislature and places cap on donations instead of disclosure statements.
The UEG petition is proceeding full steam ahead on the assumption that the legislature can’t be trusted. There is very likely some serious skulduggery in there somewhere, just like the ‘term limits’ law that was passed to undercut a petition, and then was later revoked.
“When I was elected speaker, I pledged that we would try to do things differently here in the Legislature,” said House Speaker Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara. “These bills are a major step in that journey.”
An independent panel recommending disciplinary action to the House and Senate, Clark said, would boost the public’s perception of Capitol Hill.
The House also passed bills limiting lobbyist gifts to legislators to $10, requiring lawmaker disclosure of financial interests above $5,000 instead of the current $10,000 and requiring a statement of conflicts by candidates as well as officeholders.
The $10 gift ban, found in HB267, exempts meals but requires disclosure by name of any lobbyist buying a lawmaker a meal that costs more than $10.
The measure will dispel public fears of secret meetings and gift taking, said Rep. Kevin Garn, R-Layton. “This bill changes the way we do business.”
HJR14 requires disclosure of financial interests above $5,000. HB270 requires the conflict statements. All of the bills cleared the House easily and were sent to the Senate.
Rep. Mel Brown, R-Coalville, unsuccessfully attempted to amend the proposed independent-commission bill to remove reference to the panel’s review of “unethical behavior.” He said he did not want the Utah Constitution to imply lawmakers are unethical, but Clark argued that giving the commission authority over any legislative behavior would be too broad.
Several legislators asked Clark whether his bill was meant to supersede a grass-roots initiative that may be on the same statewide ballot in November. He said it was not, although the Utah Constitution takes precedence. Though the constitutional amendment advanced by the House includes a commission that could trump one included in the voter initiative, the rest of the initiative would stand on its own.
Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said he supported the bill because it allowed the other portions of the voter initiative to move forward.
“This takes us in a very positive direction,” King said.
The House on Thursday also passed HB124, a ban on diverting campaign funds for personal use.