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Joint Legislative Ethics Committee asks for flat funding, highlights advisory work
Summary
Tony Bledsoe, executive director of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, told senators JLAC answered more than 1,400 advisory questions in 2024 and requested flat funding as passed by the House to continue its preventive ethics work.
Tony Bledsoe, executive director of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee (JLAC), appeared before the Government Oversight and Reform Committee to summarize JLAC’s duties and request flat funding for the 2026–27 biennium as passed by the House.
Bledsoe described JLAC as a bipartisan, bicameral committee that focuses on preventing inadvertent ethics violations by answering questions from members, staff and candidates. He said JLAC answered “over 1,400 questions” in 2024 and emphasized the committee’s role in working with caucus counsel to provide front‑end guidance on financial disclosure statements and other matters.
Bledsoe told senators that JLAC is not a law‑enforcement agency but is “partially a regulatory agency” responsible for lobbyist registration and reporting for about 1,400 lobbyists representing roughly 2,200 interests. He said JLAC seeks to spend less than its authorized appropriation and requested that funding remain at the flat level approved by the House.
Senator DeMora thanked Bledsoe for the committee’s responsiveness in answering members’ questions.
Bledsoe closed by offering to answer follow‑up questions and reiterated JLAC’s preventive focus.
