Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ethics Act Amendments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Legislative Ethics Board advances Ethics Act amendments and asks staff to draft immunity language for citizen members
Summary
The Legislative Ethics Board reviewed a new draft of Ethics Act amendments and voted to submit executive-request legislation, contingent on circulating immunity language for citizen board members; staff will circulate edits and seek Senate sponsorship.
The Legislative Ethics Board reviewed a code-reviser draft of proposed amendments to the Ethics Act and voted to submit the package as an executive-request bill, subject to approval of immunity language for citizen board members.
Jennifer (board staff) walked members through the draft, saying it reorganizes definitions, adds a definition for "beneficial interest," removes obsolete references to SERTI, restores the term "individual" in place of "natural person" and consolidates repealers. On the gift section she said the draft adds an explicit exclusion for "gift cards received by legislative employees in an amount of $25 or less." "So that's the bill," Jennifer said, and noted she would circulate a third draft with additional edits.
Board members focused discussion on a proposed immunity clause to protect citizen members who serve on investigative panels. "The executive ethics board has experienced some litigation," Jennifer said, and proposed modeling the language on the Commission on Judicial Conduct. Ohad (board member) cited RCW 4.92's volunteer-protection provisions, distinguishing immunity (which can remove a member from the process quickly) from merely covering defense costs. "Immunity gets you out of the process faster versus just being paid your expenses," Ohad said.
Chair moved that the Board submit the executive-request legislation "as described by Jennifer, subject to everyone's approval with the immunity language." Speaker 2 moved; the motion was seconded and members voted in favor. The motion passed; Jennifer will draft and circulate proposed immunity language for board review and staff will prepare the green sheet and coordinate sponsorship. The Board identified Senator Gildan as the prime Senate sponsor and discussed contacting House leaders to seek a companion bill.
The Board did not finalize statutory text at the meeting; members asked staff to circulate the immunity proposal and the next formal step will be green-sheet submission once the board approves the circulated language. The board scheduled follow-up work and expected to be ready for the upcoming legislative session.
