A permanent committee comprised of equal parts majority and minority members appointed by the Speaker is one of several suggested changes to the House Standards of Conduct rules being drafted by an interim task force on ethics.
The Interim Task Force on Standards of Conduct, led by Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, met this morning to discuss and draft recommendations for changes to House Rule 60 (Relating to Standards of Conduct) and other changes to House rules.
According to the draft, the permanent standards of conduct committee would "investigate any member for misconduct, disorderly conduct, neglect of duty" or violation of the standards of conduct section in the Hawaii Revised Statutes. (To prevent conflict, the House would have to repeal Rule 28.3 which authorizes the Speaker to appoint a special committee to investigate any member for misconduct.)
Besides the addition of a committee, changes were made to the rules regarding honoraria and conflicts of interest and how these two things should be defined. Any changes to the House rules would be introduced next session via a House resolution.
Both the minority and majority caucus plan to review the draft before the next meeting, scheduled to be held in two weeks.
1 comment:
Please post the draft language for each of these new rules. The standards of conduct committee sounds particularly intriguing, but how much power to investigate and/or to sanction members would the committee hold?
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