BREAKING: Florida Senate Committee Approves Major State Ethics Overhaul

The 13-member (eight Republican, five Democrat) Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee has just approved, by a unanimous vote, what chairman Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, called the most sweeping electoral reform attempted by the Legislature in 36 years.

Among other things, the proposed committee bill (which has the support of Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Destin) requires all constitutional officeholders to undergo four hours of ethics training, prohibits legislators from voting on certain types of legislation that might redound to their special private gain, empowers the Florida Ethics Commission to garnish the wages and lien the property of legislators who fail to pay fines, places all financial disclosure documents in a searchable online database, and limits the extent to which former legislators are allowed to lobby government agencies.

The proposed law originally contained a stricter prohibition of dual public employment than currently prevails under state law. The committee unanimously adopted an amendment, proposed by vice chair Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, that extended this prohibition to all local governments.

More to come . . .