Conflict of Interest Reforms Reported by Committee

Liz Gullett

May 14, 2021

A bipartisan bill package making changes to conflict of interest and financial disclosure laws for state legislators was reported by the House Elections and Ethics Committee this week. The legislation creates a joint committee, composed of three members of the Senate and three members of the House of Representatives, with one member of the minority party for each chamber. The committee would be tasked with enforcing ethics and conflict of interest laws, initiating investigations into complaints, and making recommendations for disciplinary actions.

The legislation also requires legislators to file annual conflict of interests reports for themselves and immediate family members, which would include:

- Employment information if they earned $5,000 per year or more. Additionally, they would have to include the source and type of income received.
- The source and type of all other income that’s more than $5,000 in the covered year.
- Parcel, real property, and property (other than primary residence) that is valued at $50,000 or more.
- Description of stocks, bonds, commodities, futures, shares, or other forms of securities valued at $10,000 or more.

The bill package has been sent to the House floor for consideration.

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