House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) says he has no plans to amend an ethics reform bill to prohibit a committee chairman‘s new lobbying venture.
Legislators are already banned from lobbying in Indiana. The ethics proposal would require them to disclose any lobbying in other states.
Bosma says Education Chairman Bob Behning‘s (R-Indianapolis) request to the Ethics Committee to review his plans to lobby on education issues in other states shows the bill is working even before it becomes law.
But while Bosma says he tried to discourage Behning from lobbying, he says it would potentially be unconstitutional to ban someone from working beyond Indiana‘s borders.
Behning‘s firm is in talks to represent a student-testing company in lobbying in Oklahoma. But he emphasizes he hasn't signed any contracts yet, and won‘t until he gets a ruling from the ethics panel. The committee is set to meet on Tuesday.