Bill
introduced to fix
the Irons decision
Citizen action needed
House
Majority Leader Gordon
Fox has introduced
bill number H7357 that will allow citizens
to vote on a Constitutional
Amendment to restore
jurisdiction over
the General Assembly
to the state's Ethics
Commission. Co-sponsors
are Representatives
Fierro, Hearn, Marcello,
and Walsh. Senator
J. Michael Lenihan
has promised to introduce
the same bill in
the Senate.
This
bill was crafted
by Common Cause Rhode
Island and Operation
Clean Government
after the Supreme
Court upheld a Superior
Court decision last
June in "William
V. Irons vs. The
Rhode Island Ethics
Commission." This
decision exempted
members of the General
Assembly from the
Code for their core
legislative acts
based on the "speech
in debate" clause
of the state constitution,
or in other words
exempted legislators
from prosecution
by the Ethics Commission
for their votes and
speech that might
involve conflicts
of interest.
This
marks the official
kick-off effort by
Common Cause and
Operation Clean Government
to get the question
on the ballot in
November. We will
need your help to
get this bill passed
as the General Assembly
session progresses.
We will be calling
on you to call your
legislators to support
this measure. For
legislator contact
information, go to
http://sos.ri.gov/govdirectory/.
In
1986 the voters of
Rhode Island overwhelmingly
supported creation
of an independent
Ethics Commission
to enforce a Code
of Ethics for all
public officials.
Passage of this bill
will restore this
jurisdiction to the
Ethics Commission.
See Providence Journal
articles by Katherine Gregg and
Edward
Fitzpatrick.
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