Utah Legislature: Senate committee approves ethics resolutions

SALT LAKE CITY — The Senate's package of ethics legislation passed unanimously out of committee Monday despite concerns raised by the group behind a citizens initiative and others.

"Our system is broken. It does not work right. It requires all investigations to be held in the open," Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, the sponsor of a resolution creating an independent ethics commission and two companion bills told the Senate Government Operations Committee.

Valentine said under his proposed legislation, allegations of ethical violations by lawmakers would be conducted in private and, if found to have merit, hearings would be held in public. Now, investigations are public and the hearings are private.

In addition to SJR3, the resolution creating the independent ethics commission, he is sponsoring two bills exempting the new body from the state's open meetings law, SB136 and SB138.

Dixie Huefner of Utahns for Ethical Government, the group collecting signatures to get an ethics initiative on the November ballot, testified that the legislation could make the investigative process worse.

"It seems to us it's pretending to be something that it isn't and the fox is guarding the henhouse," Huefner said, warning residents would effectively be shut out of the complaint process.

Sherilyn Bennion, co-legislative director of the Utah League of Women Voters, expressed concern about exempting the commission from the state's open meetings law.

So did Frank Pignanelli, who represents the Utah Media Coalition, a group that includes the Deseret News and other news outlets.

Committee member Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful, said the legislation is the best way to provide due process protections for accused lawmakers.

"Their character is on trial," Liljenquist said, noting the new process would "weed out frivolous complaints" and prevent them from being battled out in the press, as has happened in recent ethics cases.

Valentine said his resolution has been amended to take effect immediately upon passage by at least two-thirds of both the House and the Senate.

The commission would exist, he said, even without passage of the House's proposed constitutional amendment establishing an independent ethics commission.

The resolution and the bills now go to the Senate. They already have the support of the majority GOP caucus.

The committee also passed a pair of resolutions sponsored by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, that would allow senators to recuse themselves from voting when they feel they have a conflict of interest. Currently, lawmakers can only declare a conflict before casting a vote.

"Part-time legislators may have conflicts of interest, and when they do, there should be a provision for legislators to recuse themselves," Bramble said, noting 45 other states do allow some type of recusal from voting.

SR1 and SJR8 both allow senators to be counted toward a quorum even if they choose not to cast a vote. Currently, Bramble said, senators often step out to avoid voting. He said similar measures are being carried in the House.

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