House plans a new ethics-reform panel

Utah GOP House leaders will try an experiment — reforming state government ethics via an equally membered, bipartisan internal committee.

"It has never been done before. We'll see how it works, I'm optimistic," said Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, a House conservative who will chair the new House Ethics Standing Committee.

Among the government reform measures Dougall says his new committee will undertake is drafting some kind of ethical investigation/hearing process for members of the executive branch of government, including complaints against elected officials like the governor and attorney general.

The legislative and judicial branches currently have ethical conduct investigative processes — although they, too, may be overhauled. But there is no such process for the executive branch, Dougall said.

"I think no one believes our current ethics (hearing process in the Legislature) is working well," said House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, a member of the new ethics panel.

By tradition, the House Ethics Committee is evenly split, four Republicans and four Democrats. But its duties were restricted to infrequent meetings to hear formal ethics complaints, which can only be brought by three House members against another members.

However, House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara, said the new four-four split Ethics Committee will become a standing committee — meaning it will hold public hearings on bills assigned to it and will amend, kill or pass the 30-odd ethics bills now being drafted by lawmakers for the 2009 Legislature.

The makeup of all other House standing committees is proportional, with their memberships roughly the same percent of Republicans and Democrats as in the 75 member House — where Republicans hold a two-thirds majority. Thus, the majority Republicans can, and do, by party-line votes push bills through standing committees that Democrats may strongly object to.

In addition to the equal makeup of the House Ethics Standing Committee, its new membership is heavily stacked with GOP House leaders, also an oddity.

Besides Dougall, who is considered a trusted House insider, Republicans on the committee include Garn, R-Layton, the second most powerful House member; House Majority Whip Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, the third most powerful House member; and Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George, who as the incoming Executive Appropriations vice chairman is also a powerful appointed member of GOP leadership.