Last major piece of ethics legislation dies in Senate

NASHVILLE (AP) — On the same day four lawmakers were arrested and charged with taking bribes, the last major piece of ethics legislation before the General Assembly died Thursday in the Senate.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Steve Cohen of Memphis and Diane Black of Gallatin, would have required lobbyists to file disclosures every six months detailing money spent on lawmakers without identifying lawmakers individually.

“The last best hope was the bill Sen. Cohen was carrying,” said Dick Williams, chairman of Tennessee Common Cause, a good government advocacy group. “Because of all the activities, the personalities, the politics and the lateness of the session, it didn’t look like they were going to be able for both houses to deal with the legislation.”

The bill originally dealt with health benefits to legislators who were appointed to fill-in unexpected vacancies and after Cohen and Black stripped the ethics amendments, the bill passed unanimously.

“It was very important to pass the bill the way it was and I was given the bill to pass it the way it was,” Cohen said.

Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, said he was surprised Cohen added amendments dealing with lobbying ethics earlier this week.

“I think we’ll file additional legislation on the topic (of lobbying) next session,” Kyle said.

Black said she was asked by leadership to pull the ethics amendments out of the bill.

“They’re going to get together over the summer and look at everything that’s going on considering what has gone on today,” she said. “In the spirit of everything that’s going on, that’s probably the best thing to do.”

Black said just because a lobbyist disclosure bill wasn’t completed, it didn’t mean that tightening ethics was a failure this session.

“We got some good work done,” she said.

Tennessee Lobbyist Association chairman Mark Greene said the legislation would not have affected the arrests of Sens. Kathryn Bowers, John Ford and Ward Crutchfield and Rep. Chris Newton.

Ethics reform became one of the biggest issues this year in the Legislature after it was revealed Ford had lucrative business ties to state contractors. One measure that prohibits lawmakers from such consulting or lobbying deals, while requiring them to more fully disclose their income sources, has already been signed by the governor.

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Read SB0585/HB1590 at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/