'Ethics' restored to state commission

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Oregonian

Renamed - The House change makes the Standards and Practices panel's purpose clear The Oregon House decided Tuesday to restore the "ethics" to the state ethics commission. Without debate and by a 58-0 vote, the House approved House Bill 2636 to rename the Oregon Government Standards and Practices Commission as the Oregon Government Ethics Commission. That was what the agency was dubbed when it was created in 1974.

"This makes it much more clear to the public what this commission is all about," House Majority Leader Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, said in the only floor comment on the measure. Referring to the phrase "standards and practices," Hunt said, "whatever that means."

Hunt noted that lawmakers also are preparing to increase the commission's budget to $933,000 for the coming two years to let it hire two more employees to help enforce ethics laws and lobbyist regulations.

This year, a lot of emphasis is being given to beefing up the commission -- and strengthening Oregon's ethics laws over public officials -- in the wake of disclosures about some lawmakers failing to report lobbyist-paid trips to Hawaii and other locales.

The ethics commission became the Government Standards and Practices Commission in 1993 with the passage of Senate Bill 159, which cleared the Senate 24-4 and the House 59-0.

HB 2636 now goes to the Senate and appears likely to be approved.

-- Staff and wire reports

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