The dome of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, as seen on January 24, 2023. A report from the Campaign Legal Center said Alabama was one of nine that had attempted to restrict the power of ethics commissions, citing a bill filed last year. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
A new report found a number of efforts to reduce the power of ethics commissions, legislatively or legally, to investigate the conduct of public officials and gauge misconduct.
The report from the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) comes after an attempt in the Alabama Legislature earlier this year to reclassify some ethics offenses and limit the ability of the Alabama Ethics Commission to impose penalties, a proposal that drew criticism from both the Ethics Commission and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.
“I think there is a little bit more awareness of ethics commissions and the roles they play,” said Delaney Marsco, the CLC’s director of ethics. “There is also a desire to push back against the accountability that they provide from the regulated community, and from legislators who are scared of ethics complaints getting filed against them.”
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The report, which draws on news and litigation in assessing challenges to ethics commissions, categorizes them as enforcement authority threats, subject matter jurisdiction threats and existential threats.
Many of the threats stem from legal challenges and legislation filed by lawmakers to weaken the role of ethics commissions within the political sphere.
While ethics commissions are facing threats from throughout the country, from as far west as Nevada to states such as New York and Maine in the northeast, the report states that more of the challenges are coming areas where “Republicans control the executive and legislative branches.”
Of the 12 states included in the report, the report cited nine, including Alabama’s, as challenging ethics commissions, while two, Washington and Vermont, have strengthened ethics commissions.
Of the states listed, six were southern states with Republican legislative majorities.
The report estimates that about 42% of the challenges were successful. About a third failed and another quarter remains ongoing.
“There are novel arguments getting made, and there are different ways that are coming to these attacks,” Marsco said. “In terms of litigation and legislation, these are tried and true tactics that folks who want to undermine ethics commissions have been using for a long time.”
The Alabama bill cited in the report came from Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne. The bill would have lowered the penalties for some ethics violations and increased them for others. It also would have changed how members of the Alabama Ethics Commission were appointed and required the attorney general to approve any penalties assessed by the commission.
Simpson said that the current ethics law made it hard for elected officials and public employees to determine what an ethics violation is and what it isn’t. He gave the example multiple times of a local staff member who donated his lawn mower to his municipality after purchasing a new one, but then used the mower after his mower had broken down.
“That is an ethics violation,” Simpson said.
But the Ethics Commission and the Alabama Attorney General’s office opposed the bill, saying it could reduce the independence of the commission and weaken the existing laws. The bill died in the waning days of the 2024 session, but the Legislature approved a separate resolution to study the state’s ethics laws.
“The expert is to report his findings by the first day of the 2025 legislative session,” Simpson said in a statement. “Once we get the report back I will have more information. I have worked closely with Senator Sam Givhan, members of LSA, and others on this issue and I look forward to working together to make sure we get a positive solution for our state.”
Messages seeking comment were sent to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and the Alabama Ethics Commission.
The CLC report categorized Alabama’s attempt to change the state’s ethics laws as an enforcement power threat, citing among other concerns some of the lower penalties, the new appointments, and the reduction of investigative powers.
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