Mo. legislators promise ethics bills traction in ’16

During last week’s kick-off of the 2016 legislative session, Missouri's legislative leaders vowed to make bills on ethics a top priority.

They demonstrated that commitment by quickly assigning a number of bills to committee intended to reduce the influence of special interests on government. House and Senate committees promptly scheduled hearings on the bills for early in the legislature's first full week.

In opening remarks to the Missouri House of Representatives on Jan. 6, House Speaker Todd Richardson promised fast action on the ethics bills.

“Tomorrow, on the first day that bills can be referred, I will refer every ethics bill that has been filed to the Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability,” the Poplar Bluff Republican told his colleagues.

Later at a news conference, Richardson said hearings on the bills could be scheduled just days later.

The committee is chaired by Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, one of the legislature's leading proponents of tougher restrictions on special interest money in government and politics.

In his speech, Richardson made reference to the scandals with interns that drove two legislators out of office last year including ex-House Speaker John Diehl, a St. Louis County Republican.

“This institution should not and will not be defined by the actions of a few,” Richardson said. “Together, we will work to make this a place where all of you are proud to do the people’s work and are proud of our accomplishments when you go home on Thursdays. That task starts immediately.”

A wide variety of ethics proposals have been filed or suggested:

• reinstating voter-approved limits on campaign contributions;

• prohibiting or limiting gifts from lobbyists to legislators and their families;

• requiring a “cooling-off” period before a legislator or elected official could become a lobbyist;

• stronger requirements for elected officials to disclose financial interests;

• banning legislators from working as campaign consultants for other legislators;

• requiring lobbyists to report sexual relations with legislators; and

• banning alcoholic beverages in the state Capitol.

In past years, differences in what to include in an ethics package has gridlocked the legislature.

The Senate’s Democratic leader – Joe Keaveny, of St. Louis – voiced concern about getting a comprehensive package passed.

“I am a little bit concerned that we are not going to pass everything that we should pass,” he told reporters at a news conference following the House session.

Campaign contribution limits have caused the deepest division within the legislature in the past. Democrats have made a top priority to reinstate limits on how much any one person or organization can contribute to a political candidate.

The Republican-controlled legislature repealed those limits more than a decade after Missouri voters approved the limits by 74 percent.

At a Republican leadership news conference after the session, Richardson suggested one approach to avoiding previous gridlocks would be to split each ethics proposal into a separate bill so that opposition to any one idea, such as contribution limits, would not sink an entire ethics package.

Legislative leaders also cited as top issues transportation, education funding and dealing with the aftermath of the recent floods.