|
HB 250/CI (BR 503) - M. Cherry, J. Vincent, M. Denham, T. Riner
AN ACT relating to executive branch ethics.
Amend KRS 11A.010 to revise the definition of "officer" to include only salaried boards and commissions as subject to the entire ethics code; delete list of certain named boards and commissions; include in the definition of "public servant" any person who performs state service on contract in a full-time position and any person or position designated by executive order of the Governor; define "person," "matter," and "board member"; amend KRS 11A.020 to prohibit use of a public servant's office or position when seeking other employment or contracting for services for oneself; prohibit the misuse of state time, equipment, personnel, facilities, or state resources for private business or campaigns; prohibit soliciting, selling to, or otherwise engaging in a financial transaction with a subordinate or a person or business whom the public servant regulates, does business with, or supervises in the public servant's official capacity, if the economic benefit is greater than $50 in a single calendar year; amend KRS 11A.040 to allow acceptance of awards for exceptional service as long as it complies with the provisions relating to gifts in KRS 11A.045; prohibit a public servant from negotiating for future employment with a person or business with which the public servant is directly involved as part of his official duty; amend KRS 11A.045 to increase gifts limitation per source to $50 for a single calendar year; establish procedures for a public servant who wishes to accept donations from a legal defense fund; amend KRS 11A.050 to increase the filing deadline for financial disclosure statements from thirty days to ninety days after leaving state government; require disclosure if the nature of a listed business; amend KRS 11A.060, relating to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission, to require the Governor to appoint some members from nominees submitted by the Attorney General and the Auditor of Public Accounts; attach the Commission to the Finance and Administration Cabinet, rather than the Office of the Governor, for administrative purposes only; amend KRS 11A.080 to clarify that commission investigations are confidential unless there is a final order of the commission; permit the commission to release evidence to the Personnel Board for its use in conducting investigations; allow the commission to publicly confirm an investigation if the violations alleged were made public by another state agency and publicly referred to the Commission by that state agency; direct that a finding by the commission of a violation of the ethics code is a reason for dismissal or other discipline under KRS Chapter 18A; also apply to any public servant not subject to KRS 18A; amend KRS 11A.130 to clarify that the provision for employment in a privatized entity refers to a privatized service rather than to an entire privatized agency; create a new section of KRS Chapter 11A; prohibit a board member from contracting with the board or commission on which he or she serves; require board members to disclose any potential conflict of interest they may have and abstain from related decisions; subject board members to the limitations on acceptance of gifts; amend KRS 11A.990 to establish that salary withheld due to failure to file a financial statement by the deadline shall be withheld from the sixteenth day of noncompliance rather than the first day; amend KRS 61.102 to include the Executive Branch Ethics Commission as one of the state agencies to which whistleblowers may report possible violations of law without the fear of reprisal; amend KRS 61.103 to provide whistleblowers one year, instead of 90 days to bring an action for relief or damages.
HB 250 - AMENDMENTS
HFA (1, J. Hoover) - Retain language prohibiting a public servant from negotiating for employment with a person or business that does business with or is regulated by the agency for which he works; delete language pertaining to the public servant's direct involvement in matters regarding the prospective employer.
HFA (2, J. Hoover) - Make technical correction.
HFA (3, J. Hoover) - Change the provision requiring commission investigations to be confidential "unless" there is a final order of the commission to "until" there is a final order of the commission.
HFA (4, J. Hoover) - Prohibit the "misuse," rather than "abuse," of state time, equipment, personnel, facilities, or other state resources for private business purposes; prohibit the "use," rather than "abuse," of state time, equipment, personnel, facilities, or other state resources for political campaign purposes.
HFA (5, J. Stacy) - Amend KRS 11A.040 to increase from six months to one year the period of time an officer or statewide elected official must wait before: (1) he may contract with the state agency by which he was previously employed, or (2) he may accept employment with a person or business that does business with or is regulated by the state agency by which he was employed; amend KRS 11A.130 by removing the provision allowing an officer or employee of a state agency or service that is privatized to accept employment with the new person or business if the officer or employee was not involved in the decision to privatize or in developing the privatization contract; add new language to prohibit, for one year, an officer or statewide elected official who is employed by a state agency that privatized a service, from accepting employment or compensation from the person or business responsible for the privatized service.
SCS/CI - Retain the original provisions with the following major exceptions: amend KRS 11A.010 to include in the definition of "officer" all nonclassified staff members of major management personnel in the executive branch; add definitions for "business associate," "through others," and "direct or exercise control"; amend KRS 11A.020 to prohibit a public servant from using his official position to obtain financial gain for a business associate as well as the public servant himself and a family member; prohibit misuse of state property and resources for the public servant himself, a family member, or business associate; amend KRS 11A.040 to prohibit a statewide elected official, an officer, including certain nonclassified staff, family member, or a business associate from doing business with the state; make exceptions; prohibit acceptance of honoraria for performance of official duties; change from one year to two years the waiting period for a former officer or public servant to contract with the agency for which he worked, to accept employment with a business regarding matters in which he was directly involved, to become a lobbyist in matters in which he was directly involved, or to represent a person or business before a state agency in matters in which he was directly involved; prohibit an officer or statewide elected official from outside employment from a business that does business with or is regulated by the state agency for which he or she works or supervises; amend KRS 11A.045 to extend the gifts limitation to board members; prohibit a public servant, his spouse or dependent child, or a board member from accepting any gift other than food and beverages consumed on the premises up to $100 per year from a lobbyist, employer, or real party in interest; permit a public servant or board member to accept prepaid transportation, food, and lodging paid by a host if the secretary of Finance and Administration Cabinet gives prior approval; permit acceptance of a certificate, plaque, commemorative token of less than $150 in value; amend KRS 11A.060 to add the Secretary of State as an official who submits nominees to the Governor for appointment to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission; amend KRS 11A.080 to direct that the filing of a complaint, as well as a preliminary investigation, be confidential unless a final determination is made by the commission; require a complaint to be dismissed if the act of filing a complaint is made public by the complainant or any other person at the complainant's direction; amend the newly created section regarding board members to describe a member's controlling interest in a business as an interest of $10,000 or more or 5%; amend KRS 11A.201 to define "direct or exercise control"; amend KRS 11A.211 to establish an initial registration fee of $125 for each lobbyist, employer and real party in interest and $125 upon the annual filing of an updated registration statement, not to exceed more than $125 in any fiscal year; require each lobbyist to file a statement of expenditures by the 15th day of the month following the month in which an expenditure is made; create a new section of KRS Chapter 11A to prohibit a public servant or a candidate for statewide elected office from soliciting, accepting, or directing or exercising control over campaign contributions for himself or herself or any other person, political party, campaign committee, or caucus campaign committee from a lobbyist, any person seeking or holding a state contract, or holding a state grant; establish a defense if the contribution is unknown to the public servant or candidate at the time of receipt and if it is returned and disclosed to the commission; prohibit a lobbyist, a person seeking or holding a state contract, or a person seeking or holding a state grant from making a campaign contribution to a public servant, any candidate, the campaign committee of the public servant or candidate, or a caucus campaign committee; prohibit a lobbyist from directing or exercising control over a campaign contribution from a permanent committee to a public servant, a candidate, the campaign committee of a public servant or candidate, or a caucus campaign committee; prohibit a lobbyist from serving as an officer of a permanent committee that makes contributions to those persons; prohibit an employer or real party in interest from directing a lobbyist to participate in the campaign of a public servant or candidate; prohibit a public servant from directing or exercising control over a campaign contribution to a political party made by a lobbyist, a person seeking or holding a state contract, or a person seeking or holding a state contract; amend KRS 11A.231 to conform; amend KRS 11A.990 to establish a Class A misdemeanor penalty, rather than a Class D felony, for violation of KRS 11A.040(5) prohibiting acceptance of compensation or honoraria for performance of a public servant's official duties other than that provided by law; establish penalties for various other violations; amend various sections of the Legislative Ethics Code as follows: amend KRS 6.611 to define "direct or exercise control"; amend KRS 6.626, relating to permission for a legislator or candidate to solicit contributions on behalf of charitable, civic, or education entities, to add the condition that the solicitations are not made under circumstances in which legislative agents are, or appear to be, primary rather than incidental solicitees; permit a legislator or candidate to solicit or accept a lawful campaign contribution during a legislative session; amend KRS 6.651 to specify that a commission member shall not participate in the management of the political campaign of a candidate for any state, district, county, or municipal office; amend KRS 6.686 to require the commission to dismiss a complaint if the complainant or another person at the complainant's direction has publicly disclosed the filing of that complaint or the existence of a preliminary inquiry; amend KRS 6.731 to prohibit a legislator from using his official legislative stationery for private business correspondence, and establish that violation of that is ethical misconduct; prohibit a legislator from asking a legislative agent to solicit campaign contributions for a legislator, candidate, campaign committee for a legislator or candidate, caucus campaign committee, or political party, and establish that violation is ethical misconduct; amend KRS 6.757 to prohibit a legislator from participating in activities of his or her employer related to developing legislation, and from participating on behalf of his or her employer in hiring or directing the activities of a legislative agent; amend KRS 6.761 to prohibit a legislator from intentionally participating in the discussion of a question in committee or on the floor of the General Assembly, voting or making a decision in his official capacity on any matter which relates to the legislator's employer if the employer is specifically named in the text of the legislative matter in question; amend KRS 6.764 to permit a legislator to serve as an employee or independent contractor with an area development district without resigning his membership in the General Assembly; amend KRS 6.767 to prohibit a legislator from soliciting or accepting a campaign contribution from a legislative agent for a legislator, candidate, campaign committee for a legislator or candidate, caucus campaign committee, or political party, and prohibit a legislator from directing or exercising control over a contribution made by a legislative agent to a political party for the benefit of a legislator, candidate, or his campaign committee or caucus campaign committee; amend KRS 6.807 to require each legislative agent and employer to file an updated registration statement on the fifteenth day of each month; amend KRS 6.811 to prohibit a legislative agent from directing or controlling a campaign contribution from a permanent committee to a specific legislator, candidate, campaign committee for a legislator or candidate, or caucus campaign committee; prohibit a legislative agent from serving as an officer of a permanent committee that makes contributions to legislators, candidates, or their campaign committees, and from directing or controlling a permanent committee's contributions to a legislator, candidate, campaign committee of either, or caucus campaign committee; permit a legislative agent to participate in a legislator's or candidate's campaign if it is voluntary, not solicited or directed by a candidate or legislator, and the agent is not acting at the direction of or being compensated by an employer; direct that the $100 per year limitation on food and beverages furnished to a legislator and his or her immediate family does not apply to food and beverages furnished to a legislator in connection with out-of-state travel approved by the LRC in accordance with KRS 6.747(2).
SCA (1/Title, D. Thayer) - Make title amendment.
SFA (1, T. Shaughnessy) - Retain the original provisions; attach the provisions of HB 212, relating to the Legislative Ethics Code.
SFA (2/Title, T. Shaughnessy) - Make title amendment.
SFA (3, T. Shaughnessy) - Retain the original provisions; attach Sections 1-5 and 7-8 of HB 212, relating to the Legislative Ethics Code.
CCR - Cannot agree.
Jan 10-introduced in House
Jan 15-to State Government (H); posted in committee
Jan 17-reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
Jan 18-2nd reading, to Rules
Jan 23-posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, January 24, 2008
Jan 24-floor amendments (1) (2) and (3) filed
Jan 29-floor amendments (4) and (5) filed
Jan 30-3rd reading, passed 94-0 with floor amendments (4) and (5)
Jan 31-received in Senate
Feb 4-to State & Local Government (S)
Mar 5-taken from committee; 1st reading; returned to State & Local Government (S)
Mar 6-taken from committee; 2nd reading; returned to State & Local Government (S)
Mar 14-floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute, floor amendment (2) filed
Mar 19-reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title) ; posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Wednesday, March 19, 2008; 3rd reading; floor amendments (1) and (2-title) withdrawn ; passed 29-7-1 with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title) ; floor amendment (3) filed to Committee Substitute ; floor amendment (3) ruled out of order ; received in House; to Rules (H)
Mar 21-taken from Rules; posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title)
Mar 24-House refused to concur in Senate Committee Substitute ; received in Senate; to Rules (S)
Mar 25-posted for passage for receding from Senate Committee Substitute ; Senate refused to recede from Committee Substitute ; Conference Committee appointed in Senate; Free Conference Committee appointed in Senate
Mar 26-Conference Committee appointed in House
Apr 2-Conference Committee report filed in House; Conference Committee report adopted in House; Free Conference Committee appointed in House
Vote History
|
