Lawmakers will introduce a bill this week that should finally cool some of the ridiculous rhetoric surrounding Amendment 41, while also easing the minds of thousands of government employees.
The bill, introduced by state Rep. Rosemary Marshall, will, if enacted, clarify some of the ambiguities in the ethics-reform measure approved by a majority of voters. It will make clear that Amendment 41 does not restrict scholarships earned by the children of government workers or prevent faculty members at state schools from accepting cash awards, such as the Nobel Prize.
It’s a welcome step forward in this ongoing debate, especially since so many families and state employees have been left in a quandary, unsure of what they can or cannot accept. Gov. Bill Ritter and Attorney General John Suthers also attempted to calm the waters Tuesday, writing a sensible letter to government workers and urging them not to hastily quit their jobs. “[W]e are confident that at the end of the day, the majority of scholarships for the children of government employees will be acceptable under Amendment 41,” they wrote.
The amendment prohibits lawmakers from accepting gifts from lobbyists and bans government workers and their families from receiving gifts worth more than $50, except on special occasions.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Sen. Steve Ward, a Littleton Republican who deserves plaudits for promoting a common-sense approach to the law, said the bill will make “absolutely no attempt” to change the provisions in the law dealing with lawmakers and gifts from lobbyists. Nor should it; that’s exactly the practice voters want to break.
If the bill gets to the second reading in the Senate, lawmakers can then ask the state’s Supreme Court for guidance on whether their changes are constitutional. Opponents contend the amendment doesn’t allow for this type of clarifying language.
The Supreme Court isn’t obligated to respond, but it has in past cases, and it would be helpful in this instance.
We believe that the legislature not only has the authority to clarify 41 – such language is written into the amendment – but it also has an obligation to do so since so many innocent people would be hurt by inaction. A faction of lawmakers, led by Democratic Sen. Peter Groff and Republican Sen. Andy McElhany, plan to introduce their own bill that only creates the ethics commission called for in the amendment without any clarifying language. That’s a grudging, short-sighted approach, to say the least.
Amendment 41 was poorly worded, to be sure, but that doesn’t mean lawmakers can shirk their obligations to their constituents.
