The state Senate's newly formed ethics committee picked its leaders Thursday and then began asking about the particulars of that chamber's revised ethics rules, approved last week by senators.
The committee picked as its first chairman Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View.
The eight-member panel approved a work plan to clarify and recommend any needed changes to the code of ethics; create an effective and reasonable financial-disclosure process and appropriate disclosure forms; and help create an ethics training course by the end of October. The committee will seek input from senators from Monday to July 23.
"There is a degree of anxiety out there" with the overhauled ethics rules, Irvin said during the Select Committee on Senate Ethics' first meeting. The Senate will consider the committee's recommendations for rule changes during its organizational session after the Nov. 6 general election, she said.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, said he worried the rules could lead to people who work for a living not being able to serve in the Senate.
There is a big difference between part-time citizen lawmakers and full-time lawmakers, he said, and nobody wants full-time state lawmakers in Arkansas.
The Senate's overhaul of its code of ethics created the committee and prohibits members from certain activities that involve conflicts of interest. They also require more disclosure of other conflicts and of the personal finances of members.
Senate legal counsel Steve Cook told the panel that the rule changes were "fast-tracked' by Senate President Pro Tempore-elect Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, after different senators separately asked Bureau of Legislative Research Director Marty Garrity and Cook to review other states' ethics laws. Cook said he intended to develop rule changes to consider this fall, and he and bureau legal counsel Jill Thayer worked together on the revisions.
Thayer said the rule changes are based in part on Alabama, Alaska, Ohio and Texas' ethics laws, which "were the four that had the strongest ethics laws that seemed to go along with the directive that we were given."
Federal investigations in the past few years have led to convictions of five former state lawmakers: Sen. Jake Files, R-Fort Smith; Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale; Rep. Micah Neal, R-Springdale; Rep. and Sen. Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff; and Rep. Eddie Cooper, D-Melbourne.
Cook said the Arkansas Senate originally adopted its code of ethics after the 1997 regular session to implement starting in the 1999 regular session, and the changes approved last week are the first major overhaul since then.
Under the new rules, any senator who believed there was a violation of the code of ethics could file a complaint with the committee, which will investigate.
The complaint will list the name of the accused, the accuser, the provision violated and a description of the suspect activities. The committee could recommend that the Senate punish any violator with penalties ranging from a letter of caution to expulsion.
The new rules require any senator under felony criminal indictment in any federal or state court to relinquish any leadership position, including committee chairmanships and party leadership positions. Under the rules, if the indictment is dropped or the senator acquitted, the senator will resume the leadership posts.
A senator who is found guilty or pleads guilty to felony charges and certain other offenses is prohibited from serving under Article 5, Section 9, of the Arkansas Constitution.
Sen. Bruce Maloch, D-Magnolia, who was elected as the committee's vice chairman, asked whether the committee wants to allow for anonymous reporting of ethics code violations that the committee would consider confidentially to determine if there are any merits to the complaints.
Rapert said he doesn't want anonymous complaints to bog the committee down.
Sen. Will Bond, D-Little Rock, said there needs to be a way for legislative staff members, representatives and possibly others to make complaints.
The new rules go into more detail about what activities involving conflicts of interest are prohibited.
The provision barring senators from paying below-market value or charging "above fair market value for any goods, products, services or rents from a lobbyist or entity that does business with the state of Arkansas" was added at Hendren's request, Thayer said.
The rules ban members from participating in discussions and voting on proposals in committee and in the Senate on matters that financially benefit them, their families or associated businesses.
A senator would be able to participate if the interest is disclosed in a written statement ahead of time and read aloud by legislative staff members in a committee meeting or on the floor.
Rapert said the new rules defining a consultant "as a person who provides expert or professional advice" will be "catching everybody in that."
Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said he's an insurance agent and that half of his votes in the Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee are on insurance-related bills, so he questioned whether he would have to disclose that before each of those votes.
The Senate could require a single general disclosure that Teague is in the insurance business under its rules applying to all senators, Cook said. Bond said the Senate could require these disclosures to be posted on the Internet to make it easier for the public to access that information.
The rule changes also require senators to file annual financial-disclosure statements with the secretary of the Senate with more detail than is required on the state's annual Statement of Financial Interest, which goes to the secretary of state's office. The Senate statement would list sources of income in categories of less than $1,000; from $1,000 to less than $12,500; from $12,500 to less than $50,000; and of at least $50,000. The Statement of Financial Interest has two categories: sources of income above $1,000 and sources above $12,500.
Thayer said Alabama requires lawmakers to disclosure income in categories up to $250,000 a year, so the Arkansas Senate's new rule is "more middle of the road."
These new reports won't have to be filed until Jan. 31 under the rules.
Metro on 06/29/2018