For
immediate release:
Contact:
March
26, 2007 Janice
Thompson 503-283-1922
Democracy Reform Group Applauds Ethics Reform Bill,
Swift Action Needed by Full Senate
The Oregon Senate should take quick action to pass the far-reaching and effective ethics reform legislation, SB 10, developed after extensive committee discussion.
“Senate Bill 10 provides an independent and adequate funding source for our state’s ethics commissions and moves Oregon into the 21st century with electronic filing of ethics reports made available online to the public,” said Janice Thompson, executive director of the Money in Politics Research Action Project (MiPRAP.) “MiPRAP has advocated for these reforms since 2003 and it is great that they are accompanied by strict limits on meals and other gifts given to public officials by lobbyists.”
“Budget independence is achieved by obtaining financial support from the large number of public entities served by the Government Standards and Practices Commission,” commented Thompson. “Enough money is raised while eliminating the inherent conflict of interest that results from legislative control of the purse strings of the ethics agency that monitors legislators.”
The full Senate should take quick action on this reform package that passed out of Senate Rules with similar swift support from the House. The House is also working on other needed ethics reforms that merit support from the Senate. Both SB 10 and anticipated House legislation builds on recommendations from the Oregon Law Commission’s Ethics Work Group that met throughout 2006. MiPRAP’s executive director, Janice Thompson, served on the Advisory Committee to this interim Work Group.
“Oregon is poised to return to its historic leadership role in governmental transparency,” summarized Thompson. “Swift legislative action on this bill is needed to realize this opportunity to restore public trust in government.”
Full details of SB 10 are provided below. MiPRAP is a non-partisan, not-for-profit group whose goals are to increase accountability and opportunities for participation in politics.
Summary of Senate Bill 10
- Independent
and adequate funding of the Government Standards and Practices Commission
(GSPC)
- Financial support would come from the many political jurisdictions ranging from local governments to school districts to state agencies and the legislative branch, all of which refer ethics complaints to the GSPC.
- There is an efficient administrative process for securing support from these jurisdictions by increasing fees assessed in an existing fee for auditing service program of the Secretary of State.
- Strict
limits on gifts, meals, entertainment and trips.
- Public officials couldn’t accept a gift or gifts with an aggregate value greater than $50 from any single source with an administrative or legislative interest per calendar year. Gifts include entertainment as well as meals.
- Gifts do not include campaign contributions or contributions to legal expense trust fund, personal gifts, an unsolicited award of appreciation such as a plaque, unsolicited publications or informational materials, or admission to and cost of food consumed at event when recipient is on the scheduled program to speak.
- Reasonable food, travel, or lodging expenses are allowed for meetings or trips paid for by other units of government including trade missions and meetings by Treasury Department staff involved in investment research, or by non-for-profit groups that receives less than five percent of funding from for-profit groups, or by membership groups to which the unit of government is a dues paying members. This last provision allows trips paid for by the National Conference of State Legislatures and similar groups that provide assistance to local governments.
- Quarterly online reporting of ethics reports with online public access.
- Improves Statements of Economic Interest by replacing confusing requirements on reporting income sources on a percentage basis with more straightforward provisions.
- Allows a public official to establish legal defense funds. Fines and legal fees related to ethics violations or other legal difficulties facing a public official are to be paid for from this fund rather than using campaign funds for these purposes. Fundraising into this fund must be disclosed on a quarterly basis.
- Increases maximum civil penalties for ethics violations from $1,000 to $5,000 while also allowing the GSPC to issue a written reprimand or explanation.
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