Ethics Enforcement Reform

Senate Bill 2

January 30, 2007

Regular session Senate Bill 2 promote more vigorous enforcement of the state ethics code and Wisconsin’s campaign finance laws by abolishing the state Elections Board and Ethics Board and replacing them with a more politically independent Government Accountability Board (GAB) with expanded enforcement authority. SB2 was introduced by Senators Ellis and Erpenbach and is very similar to their proposal last session, 2005 Senate Bill 1. This bill is based on Step 3 in the Democracy Campaign’s "Power to the Voter" agenda. It is also a reform priority of the People’s Legislature. The primary differences between SB2 and JR7SB1 are that SB2 provides the GAB with enforcement authority on criminal actions, and there is no nonseverability provision.

SB2 was introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics Reform and Government Operations on January 8, 2007. The enactment of Special Session Senate Bill 1 has rendered this bill moot.