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Legislative ethics committee says Yale intern meets requirements; forwarded to rules chair for staffing sign-off
Summary
The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics reviewed and approved an internship for Jake Bernstein of Yale UniversityDepartment of Political Science, noting the intern completed required ethics training; the committee forwarded the approval to the rules committee chair for staffing authorization.
Chair Joyce, chair of the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, said the committee had received a request from Representative Hall's office to approve an internship for Jake Bernstein and that the committee's role is limited to assessing the internship itself. Kevin Reeve, the committee administrator, told members, "We did approve it after cons after consultation with the chair. The internship was approved, and it has been forwarded back the approval had been returned to the representative's office and also forwarded to the rules committee chair, for her approval as well since it affects staffing, and we are pending response on that."
The committee record shows the internship began on June 19 and is expected to continue into August and September; Reeve said the intern is affiliated with the Yale University Department of Political Science. Chair Joyce said the committee examines internships to ensure they are not a cover for lobbying or similar activity and that interns must complete specified elements of statutory ethics training. She told members the intern completed required ethics training on July 25.
Committee members clarified administrative limits: the ethics committee approves internships under statute and not staffing decisions. As Chair Joyce said, after the committee's approval the matter is forwarded to the rules chair and then to the appropriate house or senate office for any staffing approvals. Committee members also noted there is no salary associated with this internship; Reeve described the placement as a university internship in a legislative office rather than an employment contract.
No formal motion or roll-call vote on the internship appears in the public record; the administrator reported the internal approval and that the rules committee chairhad been notified and that final staffing authorization was pending. The committee did not discuss substantive details of the intern's research beyond Reeve's statement that Bernstein will perform research and present a white paper to Representative Hall's office.
The committee moved on to other business after noting the internship approval and the outstanding rules-chair staffing step.
