Florida Coalition Calls for Action on Ethics Reform, Open Government

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On April 16th, a coalition of groups, including Integrity Florida, the First Amendment Foundation,  Common Cause Florida, the Citizens Awareness Foundation and The Tea Party Network held a press conference to call for the House to take action on ethics reform (SB 846) and open government (SB 1648, HB 1151) bills that were stalled in the Florida Legislature.

Since this press conference Ethics Reform Proposal SB 846 was passed by the Florida House State Affairs Committee.

“Integrity Florida applauds our lawmakers for continuing to strengthen our state’s ethics laws,” said Dan Krassner, executive director of the nonpartisan government watchdog group Integrity Florida. “For the second year in a row, the legislature is advancing anti-corruption measures to improve public trust in government. While more work will be needed in the future to take on corruption, lawmakers are moving in the right direction.”

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SB 846, as amended by the House State Affairs Committee, would do the following:

  • Allows the Florida Commission on Ethics to independently begin investigations when officials fail to file financial disclosure reports;
  • Requires lobbyist disclosure at the state’s water management districts;
  • Requires ethics training for elected city officials; and
  • Applies some of the state’s ethics code to Enterprise Florida and Citizens Property Insurance.