ROBERTS MEASURE OVERHAULING JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON ETHICAL STANDARDS ADVANCES

(TRENTON) - Legislation Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., crafted to overhaul the state's Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards by removing legislators from the panel was released today by the Assembly State Government Committee.

The bill (A-200) also is sponsored by Assemblymen Michael Panter (D-Monmouth/Mercer) and Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic).  If enacted into law, the measure would put New Jersey in line with the majority of other states that do not allow sitting members of the Legislature to serve on an ethics commission.

"Ethics panels should work to ensure maximum public confidence about legislative conduct and the legislative process; the current system is grossly failing to achieve that aim," said Roberts (D-Camden).

Roberts' bill (A-200) would restructure the panel, removing all legislative members and giving the committee more power to require financial disclosure by lawmakers.

The new eight-member panel would be comprised of retired federal, state or county prosecutors, retired Supreme Court justices, or retired Superior Court judges.  The Senate President, Speaker of the General Assembly and the Senate and Assembly Minority Leaders each would each be required to appoint two members to the panel.

"We have a unique opportunity to shake up the status quo and turn the Legislative committee on Ethical Standards from a paper tiger into a panel with real teeth," said Roberts.  "It's an opportunity we cannot afford to squander."

"The ethics panel as we have known it for decades is unraveling in a sea of partisan antics," the Speaker said.  "It's time to pull the plug and create a truly independent panel."

Today's committee action puts the measure in position to be passed by the Assembly in June and possible enactment this summer.

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