Ethics in the News is a monthly summary of ethics- and lobbying-related articles published in 2022, compiled by NCSL’s Center for Ethics in Government.
Note: The links to these articles are provided for information purposes only. NCSL does not endorse any views these news stories provide. Links more than two weeks old may no longer be active. If you are interested in reading an article whose link is inactive, please contact the newspaper in which the story was published.
August
New York - New York’s newest state government ethics commission, set to replace the infamously dysfunctional Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), will soon take its first steps when its members are approved by a committee of law school deans. View story.
July
World - Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation Thursday amid a mass revolt by top members of his government, marking an end to three tumultuous years in power in which he brazenly bent and sometimes broke the rules of British politics. View story.
June
Hawaii - A commission tasked with beefing up government transparency in Hawaii kicked off its first regular meeting Wednesday with a two-hour long discussion on proposals to increase reporting requirements for lobbyists and address conflicts of interests with state lawmakers. View story.
South Dakota - Former South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, in his first public comments since being removed from office last week, appeared before a state ethics board Monday to press for an investigation of fellow Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, the person he blames for his impeachment over his conduct surrounding a 2020 fatal car crash. View story.
May
U.S. - A prominent Republican-appointed federal judge on Thursday took the rare step of arguing that U.S. Supreme Court justices should be subject to an ethics code, saying the judiciary has done an inadequate job of policing itself against misconduct. View story.
Kentucky - Governor Andy Beshear has filed a lawsuit against the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission and the Executive Branch Ethics Commission over House Bill 344. View story.
New York - The Legislative Ethics Commission has approved generic advice on the topics listed below. The guidance offered is general in nature and the Commission’s response to individual questions may vary according to the facts of each particular request. View story.
Vermont - Gov. Phil Scott signed into law Vermont’s first-ever statewide code of ethics for public officials on Tuesday, putting to rest a yearslong debate in the Statehouse and bringing Vermont in line with a majority of other states. View story.
April
Nevada - The Nevada Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s decision to throw out a lawsuit brought by a conservative think tank that challenged whether several sitting state lawmakers could serve while simultaneously holding public jobs. View story.
New York - The new state budget replaces New York’s troubled ethics commission with a new entity aimed at lowering the number of scandals in state government. View story.
March
New Hampshire - Policing poor behavior by New Hampshire lawmakers — on social media and in real life — is a growing problem that the Legislature is poorly equipped to handle. That was the shared takeaway of a meeting of top lawmakers and State House staff this week convened by the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which reported a growing number of complaints from members of the public who have had rude encounters with lawmakers. View story.