With less than a week left in the session, legislative leaders say an amendment to the ethics reform bill added by the full Senate is holding up the legislation’s progress.
Republican Senator Brent Waltz’s amendment to the ethics bill would mandate greater transparency of legislators’ stock holdings, including required reporting of equity – or ownership interest in a company – of at least 500 thousand dollars. Speaker Brian Bosma, the ethics bill’s author, says he didn’t concur to the change because Waltz’s amendment is the only provision of the bill not thoroughly reviewed and negotiated by the four legislative leaders.
“And I want to speak with Representative Pelath, Senator Lanane, and Senator Long about it," says Bosma. "It may be a great idea; I just don’t know yet.”
Senate Minority Leader Tim Lanane says he thinks the ethics bill only enhances what the General Assembly is already doing.
“As far as I’m concerned, we ought to take this, what we’ve done, and go further and take a look at what other states’ part time legislatures have done in terms of comprehensive ethics reform,” says Lanane.
Lawmakers have until Wednesday to finalize the bill.
