(Anchorage) - Ethics has no party label. In that spirit a group of eight legislators, republican and democrat, have crafted an ethics reform bill to draw a bright line between private business dealings and the responsibilities of elected officials.

The comprehensive bill filed by Representatives Bob Lynn (R-Anchorage), Berta Gardner (D-Anchorage), Carl Gatto (R-Mat-Su), Les Gara (D-Anchorage), Paul Seaton (R-Homer), Lindsey Holmes (D-Anchorage), Gabrielle LeDoux (R-Kodiak) and Bob Buch (D-Anchorage) has three main objectives:

• To ban legislators from accepting outside payment for work associated with legislative, political or administrative actions while they are in office and for one year thereafter.
• To require greater detail in legislators' financial disclosures by including a description of services performed and approximate number of hours spent for contract work.
• To clarify existing statutes to match a recent ruling by the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics requiring legislators and legislative employees leaving service to also file a disclosure.

"No legislation will make an unethical legislator ethical. That said, the Legislature needs to come up with better ethics laws that will assist anyone who is 'ethically challenged,'" said Rep. Bob Lynn.

"This bill bans outside payment to legislators for work that should be a part of their legislative duties, and it requires the more robust disclosures that the public needs to make informed judgment about possible conflicts of interest," said Rep. Berta Gardner.

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Draft Ethics Bill
[PDF - 3 Pages - 125 KB]