03/18/1997 03:37 PM Senate STA

            SB 105 LEGISLATIVE ETHICS CODE REFORM                            
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN GREEN  brought SB 105 back before the committee.  She               
 directed attention to a proposed amendment which would include the            
 Executive Ethics Act in SB 105.                                               
                                                                               
  SENATOR WARD  moved the adoption of Amendment No. 2, which would add         
 the Executive Ethics Act to SB 105.   SENATOR MACKIE  objected.               
                                                                               
  SENATOR MACKIE  commented that last year's ethics bill didn't make           
 it through the process so he is concerned with what was contained             
 in that bill that members may have had an objection to.  He said he           
 thinks SB 105 is a good bill as currently written, and he would               
 appreciate some committee time to sit down with the drafter and               
 staff from the Ethics Committee and go through each one of the                
 changes so everyone fully understands what it does.   BEN BROWN ,             
 staff to Senator Kelly, assured Senator Mackie that the amendment             
 would only put the executive branch under an ethics code very                 
 similar to the one the Legislature currently exists under, but the            
 prime difference being the Personnel Board would play the role that           
 the Ethics Committee plays in the legislative branch.  He also                
 clarified that last year's legislation passed the Senate                      
 unanimously, but it was the offering of an amendment that dealt               
 with the legislative side of things in the House Finance Committee            
 that ended up tripping the bill up in the final stages of the                 
 session, the most controversial of those amendments being a ban on            
 spousal lobbying.                                                             
                                                                               
  SENATOR MACKIE  asked if it was the Chair's intent to adopt this one         
 amendment and move the bill out, and  CHAIRMAN GREEN  acknowledged            
 that was correct.   SENATOR MACKIE  then removed his objection to the         
 amendment and  SENATOR DUNCAN  objected, stating he doesn't believe           
 the committee should be adopting a 27-page amendment without having           
 an opportunity to go through and review it.                                   
                                                                               
 Number 485                                                                    
                                                                               
 Following brief discussion,  CHAIRMAN GREEN  stated SB 105 would be           
 held over to the Thursday, March 20 meeting.