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Santa Clara committee defers ethics commission decision, asks staff for options and expert input
Summary
After a consultant surveyed ethics commissions in major U.S. cities, Santa Clara’s Governance and Ethics Committee unanimously asked staff to return with a report outlining options — including an ethics commission and alternatives — with expert witnesses and clarification of staff roles.
Santa Clara’s Governance and Ethics Committee heard a consultant review of ethics‑commission models on Jan. 16 and voted unanimously to ask staff for a follow‑up report that lays out options, costs and the role of staff.
Maureen Jacob, managing partner in the San Francisco office of the law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, told the committee she focused her presentation on “the potential adoption of an ethics commission,” surveying models in San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and other U.S. cities and describing differences in investigative, advisory and enforcement authority. Jacob said commissions can be advisory or endowed with the power to hold hearings, issue subpoenas and impose fines depending on how a city structures them.
The committee’s request for more information grew out of concerns…
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