In addition to bills looking to overhaul the membership and structure of finance committees, State Rep. Mike Smith (R-Pike Creek Valley) introduced a bill that would establish the Office of Legislative Ethics for the General Assembly.
The office would be overseen by a board of five appointed volunteers and managed by a full-time executive director who would be an attorney and serve as the agency’s lead investigator.
The agency would allow any member of the public to request an investigation if they believe a legislator has engaged in unethical or illegal conduct while in office.
House Republican Director of Policy and Communications Joe Fulgham explains currently, only legislators, and in some cases staff members, can file an ethics complaint against lawmakers.
“Even when a member of the public has a valid concern that there may be an ethical or even legal violation, they really don’t have any convenient place to turn.”
Smith believes the political and partisan nature of the current legislative ethics committees can keep certain investigations from coming to fruition.
“I don’t think anybody wants to waste their own time knowing what the outcome is when we’re only judging each other, or one side’s judging the other or one side’s judging themselves, and that’s what this office would hopefully try to help combat," Smith says.
He adds the office would work in partnership with the Attorney General's Office, as well as the Inspector General if such a position were to be created.
Under this bill, if an investigation yielded credible results, reports would then be sent to the appropriate legislative ethics committee. Once the committee completed its review, the report would be made open to the public.
The bill was filed over the summer and currently awaits a hearing in the House Administration Committee.
