A bill that would create a state ethics commission was overwhelmingly approved in the House today, but now heads to a Senate that has been reluctant to move on any ethics-reform proposals.
House Bill 822, sponsored by Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, would create a state ethics commission that has the authority to subpoena and investigate complaints against state officials, lobbyists and contractors.
It was approved on a vote of 58-4.
The bill originally funded the commission in fiscal year 2008 with $500,000, but the Appropriations and Finance Committee cut that provision from the bill on Tuesday. Garcia had previously told me there was a problem because the funding was not included in the budget bill, so I’m still trying to get an answer on how the commission would be funded.
The bill will likely go, along with the rest of the ethics reform proposals, to the Senate Rules Committee, whose chair has worked hard to avoid hearings on the proposals this session.
The committee hasn’t moved any of the House ethics bills. It has begrudgingly approved Senate versions of proposals to place limits on gifts to public officials and campaign contributions, whose sponsors are members of the committee. It has also approved the Senate version of a proposal to expand the system to publicly finance elections.
The Senate versions of three other reform proposals, including the ethics commission, have remained untouched by the committee, and the Senate version of the proposal to provide expense accounts for legislators was tabled and effectively killed.
With 10 days left in the session, it seems clear that not all bills in the ethics reform package will make it to the governor’s desk for a signature.
Update, 2:20 p.m.
Garcia said she was concerned when the funding for the commission was cut out of the state budget bill, but said she has a pledge from Gov. Bill Richardson to secure funding.
House Bill 2 has already been approved by the House and Senate, without funding for the commission – perhaps revealing many lawmakers’ true feelings on the topic, in contradiction to the widespread support Garcia’s bill had in the House today. A conference committee is currently working to resolve, in secret, the differences between the two versions of the budget bill.
“We’re now working to get that restored,” he said.
Garcia said she will continue to push the bill in the Senate, even though the Senate Rules Committee has stalled ethics reform bills.
“I have a very open dialogue with a lot of the members there,” Garcia said.