State Senator Gayle Slossberg
April 16, 2008
Slossberg Leads Senate in Bipartisan Approval of Comprehensive Ethics Reforms
Urges swift passage in House of Representatives to safeguard public trust
The sweeping package of ethics reforms approved by the Connecticut Senate this evening will help safeguard the public's fragile trust, said state Senator Gayle Slossberg (D-Milford), Senate chair of the General Assembly's Government Administration & Elections Committee, who led the Senate in approving the measure in a 35-to-0 bipartisan vote.
"The people of Connecticut place their trust in the elected officials of this state, and far too often they feel that trust has been violated," said Senator Slossberg. "This is a sweeping package of reforms that takes into account not only the need for clearly defined guidelines for public officials but also the crucial need to safeguard the trust that Connecticut residents place in their public officials."
Continued Senator Slossberg, "The centerpiece of this legislation-the pension revocation provision-says that if you are an elected official and you violate the public trust, you will not receive your pension. End of story. The people of Connecticut deserve that guarantee and nothing less."
The legislation consists of several major reforms, including:
- Revocation or reduction of pensions 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 legislation now moves to the state House of Representatives for action. The 2008 regular legislative session adjourns on May 7.
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