Bill limits Ethics Commission

Nevada lawmakers rather than the state Ethics Commission would handle any complaints against an Assembly or Senate member alleging an improper vote, under terms of a bill approved without debate Wednesday in the state Senate.

SB160 would make each house of the Legislature the final arbiter of whether lawmakers' votes, vote abstentions or disclosures concerning their ability to vote on the Assembly or Senate floor or in committee violated any ethical standards.

The measure was routed without opposition from the Senate to the Assembly for final legislative action. Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, the subject of a complaint to the Ethics Commission because of some of his 2005 and 2007 votes, abstained from voting on SB160.

Lawmakers have said the bill codifies a ruling in November by a district judge that barred the commission from considering the complaint which focused on Hardy's votes on measures affecting the Associated General Contractors of Southern Nevada. Hardy heads that organization.

The ruling by former Carson City District Judge Bill Maddox was appealed by the Ethics Commission to the state Supreme Court. Hardy said he was abstaining from Wednesday's vote because the case is still pending.

Maddox held that the separation of powers doctrine makes the Senate and Assembly the only bodies with power to punish their members for actions directly related to the legislative process.

Patty Cafferata, the Ethics Commission's executive director, has said the commission believes the Legislature waived that power by recognizing the commission's authority in many previous cases.

SB160 still provides that the Ethics Commission can consider complaints dealing with issues outside "core legislative functions," lawmakers were advised last week by Kevin Powers, an attorney for the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

For example, Powers said lawmakers would still be subject to ethics-in-government laws against improper use of government property or personnel; and to financial disclosure and campaign expense reporting requirements.