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In Virginia this year, the Legislative Committee has killed a bill that would require legislators to disclose any cryptor possessions. In New -Mexico, the governor of the democratic legislation had vetoed the legislation that would require lobbyists to be more transparent in what bills they tried to score or adopt. And in Northern Dakota, where voters who are galvanized group Baddy grandmothers for democracy The State Ethics Commission was established almost seven years ago, and the legislators continued the scheme of restriction of the authorities.
At the time when the boundaries of state ethics are stretched in Washington, the Colombia district, this year, hundreds of bills related to ethics were introduced in the state legislative bodies, the National Conference of the State Legislative Bodies reports ” Database of ethics legislation. While the legislation that has enhanced the supervision of the ethics, in some places, the proopublica analysis found that legislators in different states aimed at aimed or disrupted reforms aimed at preserving the public and elected officials to the people they serve.
Democratic and republican legislators tried to promote bills to strengthen the limits of gifts, strengthen the provisions on conflicts of interest, or expand financial disclosure requirements. Times and again the accounts were thwarted.
With the help of local editions, many of which were part of the Prapublica reporting network, we have considered a number of legislative acts that sought to weaken or the Ethics Ethics. Their reception: threats to ethical standards and their implementation grow.
“Donald Trump pursues a new cultural standard in which ethics is no longer significant,” said Craig Holman, a specialist in veterans with a progressive public citizen. He pointed to Trump’s private dinner with the leading buyers of his cryptocurrency and the administration tariff with Vietnam after Greenlit – $ 1.5 billion golf chrome Trump; And in an e -mail, he said that “the most revealing” that the White House “had no ethics policy for the first time in 16 years. Trump 2.0 simply canceled the executive order of” ethics “and replaced it.”
The company’s commercial center, a non -profit organization that prompts ethics, has recorded the risks and problems that specifically resist the State Commission across the country. Such commissions have a number of mandates, but they often fulfill lobbying, financing the company and conflicts of interest. In the center of 2024. Report on threatening assessmentHe warned that “those who want to weaken the ethics commissions are becoming more creative with how they approach their attacks, and all commissions should be ready.”
Delani Marcos, director of ethics and lead author of the report, said Propublica: “Any attempts to reject the bodies of the ethics commission is actually just tearing the right of the public to know what is actually going on in their government.”
Louisiana passed a law that significantly weakens the ethics standards, complicating the launch and investigation of the State Ethics Council. The law raised the bar when a 15-member council can start its own investigation into “reasons to believe” for a “probable cause”. And if the council had to investigate any complaint about the oath, now two -thirds of its members should agree with the probable reason that existed before opening the investigation.
The law that provided preferred two -party support, aimed at processes This led to an accusation of ethics against the then-assembly General Jeff Landra, who is now the governor; A private lawyer who defended him from these allegations helped to draw up the legislation. The ethics commission abandoned the charges last month as part of A deal on settlement.
The Republican Republican, Republican Beau Beaullieu, said the Council’s power was necessary in response to excessive implementation.
But most often the legislators stood on the path of ethics.
In South Carolina, a wide corruption probe in the state home during the 2010s led to the beliefs of several leaders of the legislation and to pass a number of ethics reforms. “It has been radio since then,” said Senator Sean Bennett, Republican Summerville, headed by the House Ethics Committee, said The Post and Courier. “There were attempts to do everything, but they just didn’t get much craving.”
And this year, lawmakers moved there in the other direction, submitting a bill that would release the appointed governments from the need to apply for economic interests. These statementsMost of the candidates for the election position and some high -profile public figures, such as members of the commission or school staff, include disclosure of everything, from the sources of human income, and gifts received from special interests or business interests in their name.
A sponsorship representative Mike Burns, a conservative Republican from the Tigerville College, claimed that the bill would help to protect the unresolved designated ones, which, he said, eventually have fines because they often do not know how to fall properly.
But in an interview with Post and Courier, representative Roger Kirby, a Democrat from Leuk -Sity, pushed back. “Transparency is a goal, right? Why do we try to give up this?”
South Carolina conducts two -year classes, and the bill remains drowning on the committee.
And in another example of the legislation, which sought to weaken the reform, the leader of the Republican Senate at that time Daniel Bonham made efforts and introduced the measure to dissolve the State Ethics Commission and allow the state bodies themselves. The measure did not come out of the committee, which he expected, recognized Bonham in an interview with Public Radio. However, Bonham said he believed that the Ethics Commission and its effectiveness and purposefulness “reliable public discussions”.
Across the country, even when some legislators tried to promote ethics reforms, their efforts were largely blocked:
- Virginia: The owners of the offices would have to disclose digital assets, specifically defined as cryptocurrency, on their state materials on ethics. The disclosure of information would be mandatory for any employee or elected official required to apply for economic interests in Virginia’s conflict of interest and the Ethics Advisory Council. Among the covered: governor, members of the Cabinet of Ministers, members of the General Assembly, state officials and employees, judges and constitutional officers. The sponsor of the bill claims that without public disclosure, Virginia’s legislators, cabinet officials and judges who have digital currency may have a potential conflict of interest in creating new laws and regulating the industry. But The bill has failed Among the two -party opposition. Several legislators were asked if the door will open this to further demand disclosure.
- Texas: Many state legislators have launched legislation on the fight against misinformation and misinformation in political advertising and make it clearer who pays for advertising that could contain changed images or audio. The legislation was followed by the primary campaign in 2024, in which the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Texas Dede Fenlan, the Republican, encountered a flurry of false and misleading. One showed that Felon’s face was imposed that a democratic hockey leader Jeffreis, who was shown in the US, hugging former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosy. Related The bills failed both in the ward and in the SenateWhen opponents rejected the arguments that voters fought for determining the fact of misinformation. Conservative critics of measures refer to free speech problems.
- Northern Dakota: Legislators stopped efforts to provide more power and resources of the state ethics commission that created a successful initiative for voting Almost seven years ago. The Commission demanded more freedom over how and when it conducts investigations, including the opportunity to investigate, even if the official complaint does not file. The commission staff stated that the requirement for official complaints was being dissuaded by some people. But almost all legislators, almost all of them republican, said Strong counteraction to the governor And the Attorney General.
- New -Mexico: Democratic legislators conducted two jogging transparency. First Labels are required to disclose accounts and their position on these accounts within 48 hours after launching this lobbying or changing position. The legislation was adopted, but a veto was imposed on the Democrats Governor, which stated that the bill had no clarity, and the reporting window was too restrictive. Another ethics bill aimed at preventing non -profit organizations that force independent political expenses to use a slot in the 2019 campaign financing law, which requires them to publicly disclose donors, addresses and deposits. This bill was ultimately Killed under pressure From the non -profit organizations that feared its consequences.
- Connecticut: State Ethics Office sought to expand the conflict of interest Provisions that prevent government officials and employees take official actions, such as rewarding contracts that will benefit their private employers or private employers of the couple. The bill would also require state officials to abandon themselves if they have “actual knowledge”, what companies for which they or their husband and wife would benefit. The legislation has stopped as it has been repeatedly in the last decade. This time, the executive director of the office, Peter Lewandowski, said that the objections came from those who claimed that the legislators’ demand was to abandon themselves as the vote could benefit the private employer of the couple.
- Meng: The bill was killed in a committee that demanded that the state’s legislators disclose donations made by the Labi or lobby organizations on behalf of the legislator. Proponents, including sponsored Senator David Hoggan, said the bill would increase transparency and would allow the society to determine how common this practice is. Critics called this impractical and questioned its necessity. The bill “adds a level of complexity that is not justified by any behavior that has been able to lead specifically,” said Senator Jill Dusson, a Democrat who voted against him.
But the propublica analysis found some states, both red and blue, which successfully adopted the reforms. For example, in Maine, A A two -party push for a period of waiting In one year, for the legislative staff who want to become lobbyists, they have received prevailing support. Democratic Legislative Supermament Rod -Aienda and His Democratic Governor agreed to Ban against the bid application for state contracts. And in Oklahoma legislators went so far that they overturned veto the governor To make a state of health officials a crime punishable by a fine of up to $ 10,000 and up to five years in prison. The governor stated that in his report veto the legislation “to create an excessive bureaucracy with little impact.”
In Washington, legislators adopted a preliminary state requirement to legislators Report on their forms of financial disclosure Any interest exceeded 10% in company or property. Despite the fact that the bill was set as a cleaning measure, critics noted that local officials adhere to a much tougher standard. Local officials must disclose any financial interest rate in excess of 1% when voting under a government contract and should refuse themselves.
What if “real estate company offers a legislator 5% interest in property that can take advantage of a state project such as the highway junction?” Res. Jerry Polleta, a Democrat in Seattle, asked the example reported by the Times.
Standard 10%, he said, “undermines the trust in the legislative body.”
