BEGA Loophole Closure Amendment Act of 2020
Introduced: February 4, 2020
Co-introducers: Councilmembers Anita Bonds, Elissa Silverman, Charles Allen and Mary Cheh
Summary: To amend the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability Establishment and Comprehensive Ethics Reform Amendment Act of 2011 to establish formal processes to identify address and resolve conflicts of interests and appearances of conflict; to clarify who may be included as closely affiliated to an employee; and to expand restrictions on employee’s outside employment.
Councilmember Grosso's Introduction Statement:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today, along with Councilmembers Allen, Bonds, Silverman, and Cheh, I am introducing the BEGA Loophole Closure Amendment Act of 2020.
This bill was informed by the O’Melveny and Meyers Report, and the work of the Ad Hoc Committee in the matter of Jack Evans.
The report identified a few areas within the Government of Ethics Act of 2011 that are in need of clarification and loopholes in need of closing.
The Council’s experience over the last several months was not one I would wish on any legislative body.
A member exploited his relationships with the Council and the Government for his own personal gain and would’ve nearly gotten away with it had it not been for persistent media reports and mounting public pressure for action.
It is now time to take some of the lessons learned from that painful process to ensure that we tighten up our ethics laws where appropriate to mitigate the risk of corrupt activity by members in the future.
That is what I seek to do today with the introduction of the BEGA Loophole Closure Amendment Act. Among other things, this Act will require that BEGA conduct its mandatory training on the Code of Conduct annually;
It requires BEGA to analyze financial disclosures for accuracy and completeness, and to provide feedback when public officials submit inaccurate or incomplete financial disclosures;
Currently, law prohibits an employee from using their official position or title in a manner that the employee knows is likely to have a direct and predictable effect on the employee’s financial interests, or the financial interests of a person closely affiliated with the employee.
This bill adds two new categories to this prohibition to include an employee’s family member, and an employee’s affiliated organization, which is defined in the Ethics Act as an organization on which the employee serves as an officer, director, or employee, an organization in which the employee has a financial interest, or a prospective employer.
The bill also clarifies that clients of employee’s affiliated organization be listed in financial disclosure forms.
And, finally the BEGA Loophole Closure Amendment Act expands the public official employment prohibition.
Currently there is only a prohibition on public officials lobbying, this Act also prohibits public officials from being an advisor or consultant for an entity with business before the District of Columbia, or an advisor or consultant for an entity that represents one or more clients with business before the District.
My hope is that this is just the beginning of the conversation about how to move on in the wake of the recent scandal this body has endured.
Working together, I’m sure we can identify other areas of our ethics law that we can include in this bill throughout the legislative process.
Thank you, and I welcome any co-sponsors.