Commission on Ethics adopts amended hearing rules, narrows definition of 'subject' and makes anonymous-complaint rejection discretionary

The Commission on Ethics voted unanimously to adopt two targeted amendments to its administrative regulations, restoring the definition of “subject” to refer to a public officer or public employee and making rejection of certain anonymous or defective complaints discretionary.

Executive Director Armstrong told commissioners the agency’s regulations are procedural rather than substantive: "for the ethics commission, all the actual ethics rules ... are set in statute. Our administrative code really is a procedure manual for how the commission conducts its business," he said.

Why it matters: the changes were crafted to address concerns raised by the Legislative Commission and to improve the chance the regulatory package will be approved there. One change narrows the commission’s regulatory language so that it does not expand the commission’s jurisdiction to all persons or businesses; the other adjusts the agency’s ability to…