State Senator Thomas A. Colapietro
April 16, 2008
Colapietro: Ethics Reforms Will Help to Encourage Public Confidence in All Elected Officials
At the Legislative Office Building in Hartford tonight, state Senator Thomas A. Colapietro (D-Bristol) cast his vote in favor of a sweeping package of ethics reforms designed to help preserve the public trust. The legislation passed the Senate 35-to-0 with bipartisan support and now moves to the state House of Representatives for consideration.
"The people in this state are tired of hearing about politicians who steal from the public or do corrupt things and walk away with a slap on the wrist and a taxpayer-funded pension," said Senator Colapietro. "These reforms will help protect residents and help to rebuild the public's trust in its government and its elected officials. They will also make sure that public servants who betray their constituents face the consequences."
The legislation consists of several major reforms, including:
- Revocation or reduction of pensions at the discretion of the superior court for all state employees, public officials, officials of quasi-public agencies and municipal officials who plead guilty or no contest or are convicted of a crime related to their position;
- Creation of the Class A misdemeanor of failure to report a bribe;
- Limitation of gifts given under the "major life event" exception in ethics law to a value of $1,000 or less;
- Addition of the governor's spouse to the definition of "public official" for purposes of the state Code of Ethics for Public Officials;
- Requiring public agencies to post the minutes of a public meeting on the agency's Web site within seven days of a meeting, post the schedule of regular public meetings for a calendar year by January 31 of that year, and post notice of any special meeting on the agency's Web site not less than 24 hours before the meeting;
- Prohibiting chiefs of staffs of legislative caucuses and all public officials from soliciting campaign contributions from their respective staff and barring the governor and lieutenant governor's chiefs of staff from soliciting campaign contributions from commissioners and deputy commissioners;
- Mandatory ethics training for all new legislators and refresher courses for incumbent
- legislators every four years or when the Code of Ethics of Public Officials is significantly updated;
- Prohibiting ex parte communications between Office of State Ethics (OSE) employees who are investigating an ethics complaint and board members concerning the subject of the complaint, authorizing OSE employees to issue subpoenas only after affirmative action by the board and prohibiting absentee voting by board members; and
- Prohibiting state contractors from offering employment to a state employee who participated in a significant way in the awarding of a state contract to that company.
The 2008 regular legislative session adjourns on May 7.
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