In advance of the start of the 2014 General Assembly, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling today issued a letter to members of the Senate of Virginia and the Virginia House of Delegates, encouraging them to pass meaningful legislation to strengthen Virginia’s ethics laws this year.
In September, Bolling proposed a series of sweeping changes to Virginia’s current ethics reform laws that would help address current concerns and restore the confidence of the people of Virginia.
In today’s letter, he urged the members of the General Assembly to join him in supporting those recommendations, which included legislation to place limits on the amount of gifts elected officials can receive, require greater disclosure of gifts to family members, and require additional disclosure of important economic information that could influence an elected official’s actions.
“It is important that the General Assembly address this issue this year,” Bolling said. “I know there will be a great temptation to ‘nibble around the edges,’ to do as little as possible without making substantive changes to our ethics laws. But that’s not good enough. That won’t solve this problem, and it won’t satisfy the people of Virginia. The people of Virginia are looking to us to provide the leadership that is necessary to address this issue in a meaningful and substantive way. Let’s get it done. Let’s do it now. Let’s not let them down.”
A full copy of the letter can be found here.