DEMAND AMENDMENTS TO H.3945 and to S.338
The ethics reform effort took an unfortunate direction this past week, as those who oppose meaningful reform made very damaging advances.
The League supports strong and effective legislation that will serve South Carolina well for many years, even if that means waiting a year for that result. Nothing outweighs the need for truly effective legislation that is written for the benefit of all of South Carolina’s citizens.
Last week’s Senate course of events included:
- The Senate Judiciary subcommittee met to discuss ethics reform on April 18.
- Sen. Chip Campsen argued that the Assembly’s authority to self-police its members are “exhaustive.” Sen. Campsen submitted an amendment that would substantially weaken the enforcement provisions of Senate bills. Sen. Wes Hayes, primary sponsor of the major Senate bills, was present and stated that he would accept the change because a bill amended in this way can get through the Senate this year.
- The Subcommittee also added a false claims act to the bill. This addition is not germane to reform and can invalidate entire laws in the courts. This is a commendable cause in itself, but inserting it into a general ethics bill invites fierce opposition to the overall bill by lobbyists for affected groups, distraction from the core problems in the ethics reform bills, and -- should the bill survive with these provisions -- probable rejection of the entire ethics act may result.
- To date, nothing has been done to resolve the serious deficiencies of disclosure requirements in S.338.
We were also told in Senate subcommittee that the need for ethics reform is not a Senate issue. The problem lies elsewhere, in the executive branch and in the House. However, on the same day a Senator was found, not for the first time, to have converted campaign funds to personal use. He was fined, but did not face the same kinds of criminal penalties assessed against Lt. Gov. Ard for similar violations.
Last week’s House course of events included:
- The Constitutional Laws Subcommittee took up the new H.3945 bill, while still a “shell” unavailable to the public for review.
- H.3945 was forwarded with a favorable recommendation to subcommittee on Tuesday and from full Judiciary on Wednesday, all without that possibility of any meaningful public input.
Positive Aspects of H.3945:
- The definition of income disclosure closes major loopholes.
- The creation of a more broadly constituted Ethics Commission that would oversee all ethics law violation complaints against the legislative and executive branches is also a positive contribution.
- Extends lobbyist registration to those who lobby local governments and school districts.
However, the bill was finally posted on-line at about 6:30 PM on April 18 with very disturbing elements not seen in any previous ethics bill in either house, provisions that would surely have aroused substantial public comment had that been possible.
Negative Aspects of H.3945:
- The bill creates legislative dominance of appointments to the Commission.
- It retains the secrecy that makes current enforcement efforts unworthy of the trust of the public.
- Most problematic of all, the bill decriminalizes much that at present is a criminal offense under the existing ethics statutes.
- The bill requires lobbyist registration of unpaid representatives of citizen groups. In combination with extension of registration to local government advocates (in itself good), this means that even a parent-teacher organization president addressing the local school board would have to register as a lobbyist and pay a $200 fee.
- A false claims act was inserted in this bill, as in the Senate bills.
One lesson of this series of events is that citizens should be very careful what they wish for when they wish for bipartisan cooperation. Little that we have seen recently in the General Assembly can match the bipartisanship evident in efforts to derail meaningful ethics reform.
We have always known that it was very unlikely that a final ethics act will fulfill all of the goals identified in the legislative recommendations that the League submitted to study committees and the SC Ethics Reform Commission in December. However, unless the public speaks out, and does so loudly, the worst provisions of the bills now before the legislature are most likely to survive.
Citizens should ignore any cries of triumph from the legislature and recognize what is happening for what it is, the self-serving interests of legislators triumphing over the public interest.
Help us support REAL ETHICS reform. Please contact your legislator and AMEND H.3945!
Find your legislator here: http://www.lwvsc.org/
