Council committee advances ethics code revision after hours of public comment and several amendments

The Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee spent its May 22 meeting on Council Bill 120978, legislation amending Seattle's municipal code of ethics. The bill would move the city's elected‑official disclosure and recusal framework toward a system that emphasizes public disclosure of financial interests and gives the Ethics and Elections Commission guidance on when recusal is required. The committee considered multiple amendments and, after debate and public comment, voted to forward the bill as amended to full City Council with a committee recommendation.

Sponsor Councilmember Cathy Moore said the existing code is an evolving instrument and that the measure responds to practical problems the city faces under the current rules. "Nothing is cast in stone," Moore said, describing the proposed changes as part of an iterative effort to keep rules workable. Wayne Barnett, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, told the committee the office recommended changes to reduce instances where the ethics code is used to frustrate a democratic majority: "the ethics code is being employed sometimes to…