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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Fidel		DATE TYPED:	2/26/03		HB
SHORT TITLE:		Ethics Education Requirement for Legislators				SB	523
					ANALYST:		Chavez

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
NFI	NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 523 proposes to change the ethics continuing education requirement for legislators from a minimum of one hour annually to two hours biennially.

Significant Issues

In recent years the level of scrutiny regarding public officials has increased. The additional ethical training will increase the level of confidence in the integrity of public officials in addition to informing and protecting legislators and encouraging ethical conduct. The ethical training serves as a form of government accountability. Legislators face a wide rage of potentially conflicting interests: personal, representational, and other private pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests. Ethical training ensures legislators are acting in the public interest.

POSSIBLE QUESTION

1. Is there a cost associated with the increase in the ethical continuing education requirement?

FC/prr