Alabama House approves legislation overhauling state ethics code

Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, in the chamber of the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. (Stew Milne/Alabama Reflector)

The Alabama House of Representatives voted 79-9 Tuesday for a bill that would significantly change the state’s ethics laws.

HB 227, sponsored by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, would repeal the current ethics laws for public officials and employees, replace the code with tougher punishments for ethics violations and weaken the powers of the state Ethics Commission.

Simpson said that the bill would make it easier for public servants to understand what is an ethics violation and what is not.

“If we as legislators, with experts, can’t determine what we can and can’t do in the laws in Alabama, what chance does the firefighter, what chance does the police officer, what chance does the city worker and what chance does the teacher have to understand what we can and can’t do in ethics violations? That was the rhyme and the rationale for what we’ve gone through,” Simpson said in introducing the bill.

The bill would make it a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, for a person who offers, confers, or agrees to confer anything of value to a public servant, either elected or employed. It would also make it a Class B felony if the public servant solicits or accepts a bribe for themselves or any other person, regardless of relation.

The current punishment is a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and it only includes the public servant, not any other person regardless of relation.

The bill would separate economic gain from bribery crimes and establish the crime of using public office for economic benefit, a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, if the economic benefit exceeds $10,000. Economic benefit between $2,500 and $10,000 would be punishable with a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Gaining under $2,500 using political office would equal a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $6,000 fine.

The sponsor substituted the bill on the House floor with a version he said was shared with members of the House on Thursday, which was adopted on a 79-0 vote. 21 representatives abstained.

The substitute bill would require that an attorney hired by the ethics commission be approved by the Attorney General, and it would add the Secretary of State and director of the Securities Commission as appointing authorities of commission members.

Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, asks a question during a debate in the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 15, 2024. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, introduced an amendment that would remove the director of the Securities Commission as an appointing authority and replace it with the Senate Minority Leader and the House Minority Leader on a rotating basis. The amendment passed 98-0. Hall said the amendment was to ensure a person of color is appointed to the commission.

“The only way we would get that without making that statement would be to allow the minority member of the House and minority member of the Senate, but they would alternate,” Hall said.

The proposed ethics law changes had some push back. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall voiced his opposition in an op-ed and said that reduced several criminal penalties to misdemeanors, such as making it a civil offense if a legislator with a conflict of interest votes on a bill. The current ethics law makes any ethics violation a Class B felony, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Marshall also said that the proposed legislation would “dramatically” increase how much lobbyists can spend on public servants per occasion to $100, up from $33. In the first draft of the bill, there wasn’t a yearly cap on how much lobbyists could spend, but the current bill caps it at $500.

Simpson said on the House floor that increasing it to $100 was meant to simplify the law.

No legislator spoke in opposition to the bill. At least two lawmakers said there was misinformation being spread about the bill.

While Simpson said he’s tried to keep the process open, Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, said that in the future, there should be a mechanism to engage other legislators from the beginning so that lawmakers are up to date on the developments.

“I realized there’s been a lot of misinformation given about how now it just turns everybody loose to be corrupt,” she said.

Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, said “we are literally criminalizing ourselves.”

“It’s no disrespect to [Marshall], but we are further criminalizing ourselves if we pass this legislation,” Givan said.

The new substitute also changed the makeup of the commission. It would require that a member be a prosecutor serving in a district attorney office for at least 10 years, another member to be a judge with at least 10 years of experience and a third commission member to be criminal defense attorney with at least 10 years of experience.

The ethics law currently requires that one member be a lawyer licensed in Alabama and another a former elected official for at least two years.

The substitute would also prevent the ethics commission from imposing civil penalties without the permission of the Alabama attorney general or a district attorney.

A message seeking comment was left with the Alabama Ethics Commission on Tuesday.

As originally filed, the substitute did not allow an elected official or public employee is not allowed to serve on the commission. But Simpson added an amendment on an 82-0 vote to allow a supernumerary district attorney to be appointed there.

Hall asked why the amendment was needed, and whether a supernumerary district attorney could fall under another category.

Simpson said the amendment was needed in case appointing authorities couldn’t find a district attorney with 10 years of experience that isn’t a public servant.

“That seems kind of strange for me that you couldn’t find somebody that had served 10 years,” Hall said.

Simpson said after the bill’s passage that he wanted to have this process done in public, and that he’s glad the public had a chance to “poke holes” in the legislation. He said that they have changed the bill several times in the process to address concerns.

If signed into law, the bill will not take effect until June 2025. Simpson said that would give the public and Legislature time to address any issue that may arise.

“We went above and beyond to be transparent on this issue to let everyone see what we’re doing,” he said.

The bill moves to the Alabama Senate.

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