CFC Alert! Improve Arkansas' ethics law

A simple improvement to Arkansas' ethics laws will be considered in the Arkansas House Tuesday afternoon -- but it is under attack from big special interests who want to keep the deck stacked in their favor.  Please call your member of the House today and ask him/her to vote YES on HB1968.

HB1968 reduces the odds of having a fox guarding the hen house on Arkansas regulatory boards and commissions.  It strengthens existing laws that ban members of state boards and commissions from voting or lobbying on issues where they, their employer, their family, or a prospective employer has a direct financial interest.

HB1968 gives the Ethics Commission the power to enforce this ban on conflicts of interest voting by issuing fines.  Currently the ethics commission can only give board or commission members who violate conflicts of interest laws a warning or remove them altogether (which has never been done).

HB1968 allows the Ethics Commission to issue fines for violations -- the same way they treat violations of most other ethics laws.

Find our description of HB1968 here.

It's time to improve Arkansas' ethics laws! Call your Representative today! Find your legislator here.

The Citizens First Congress is a grassroots coalition of over 40 community groups from across Arkansas that works on progressive reform at the Arkansas Legislature.  

Our Ten Priorities for a Better Arkansas for the 2009 Arkansas Legislature are

• Increased resources for rural and small business economic development.
• Enact the recommendations of the HIV/AIDS Task Force.
• Progressive tax reform to provide low and middle income tax relief while generating sufficient state revenue.
• Enact the recommendations of the Global Warming Commission.
• Create an Arkansas Civil Rights Commission.
• Close the education achievement gap.
• Enact the Dream Act to make sure every student graduating from an Arkansas school has the opportunity to pay in-state college tuition.
• Create a Task Force on Arkansas Water Resources.
• Increase penalties for and enforcement of wage theft.
• Expand state incentives for land conservation.