Here’s a question about the Legislature’s web site: When members of the House or Senate disclose a conflict of interest, is there a record of that conflict which is accessible to the public? The question occurred to me after a recent post about the bills impacting Olelo and the other community access television providers. I [...]
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Both the State Ethics Commission and the Campaign Spending Commission have upcoming vacancies, and the Judicial Council is trying to drum up last minute applicants. Applications are available online. Those appointed will be eligible to serve 4-year terms. The problem is that time is short. Applications, along with three letters of reference, must be postmarked [...]
Tags: Judicial Council
There are large red flags waving over the House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, February 21, at 2 p.m. Several bills of note are included on the long afternoon agenda. HB2742 is yet another attempt to exempt the county councils from the reach of the sunshine law. This bill simply amends the definition [...]
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Bills are moving in both the House and Senate that would remove members of a wide range of appointed committees, task forces, advisory boards and panels from the reach of the state’s ethics laws. HB 2455 and SB 2240 would create a broad exception from conflict of interest provisions and other parts of the ethics [...]
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Here’s another quick look at ethics issues that have come up in other parts of the country. In Missouri, the state supreme court struck down reforms implemented by the legislature two years ago on procedural grounds, leaving campaign disclosure and ethics enforcement in trouble. The Missouri Ethics Commission lost some of its investigatory powers Tuesday [...]
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The House Judiciary Committee yesterday deferred action on HB2457, which would have removed restrictions on solicitation or receipt of gifts from charitable organizations, effectively killing the measure for the time being. It isn’t known whether the Senate will try to move its companion bill, SB2719. But the Ethics Commission has noted a number of other [...]
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The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to decide later today whether to gut the heart of the state’s ethics law by allowing charitable organizations to legally “bribe” lawmakers or other state employees by giving unlimited gifts of tickets to gala fundraisers or “educational” events. HB2457 is on the committee’s 2 p.m. agenda for decision making. [...]
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Here we are again, three weeks into the legislative session, and the latest personal financial disclosures of our legislators aren’t due at the State Ethics Commission until May 31, nearly a month after the session is scheduled to end. This allows legislators, and other elected officials, to simply delay their annual filing until the deadline [...]
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