Summary Committees and Commissions: What's the Difference?

Members are state legislators.

Members are citizens or public officials appointed by governors or other leaders. Roughly half of states forbid public officials from serving on ethics commissions.

Internal oversight. Committee members oversee their peers compliance with ethics laws.

External oversight. Commission members oversee state employees and public officials compliance with ethics laws.

Legislative branch. Can be a joint committee, or each chamber within the legislature can have its own.

Most are part of the executive branch, although their budgets, in most states, are controlled by the legislature.

Duties may include:

• Considering their colleagues' violations of ethics statutes;
• Administering state ethics laws in states without committees;
• Authoring a single chamber's codes of ethics, or both if a joint committee.

Duties may include:

• Adopting regulations pertaining to state's ethics laws, providing ethics training;
• Investigating ethics complaints and determining penalties or issuing advisory opinions;
• Receiving financial disclosure and lobbyist reporting statements.

Jurisdiction includes only the legislature.

Jurisdiction sometimes includes the legislature, often includes other branches of state government.

Present in some form in all 50 states.

Present in some form in most states, most with jurisdiction over the legislative branch. May not have authority over legislators, or may have multiple commissions with responsibilities divided based on subject matter.