Here is one of the most useful sections of my new book Local Government Ethics Programs. Summer is upon us, and most ethics commissions that do not have a case before them do not meet. In fact, many ethics commissions are nearly inactive all year long. But this doesn't have to happen. There's a lot that needs to be done.

My most recent blog post involved ethics commission confidentiality. This one involves the other side of the coin:  ethics commission transparency.

I have written about the need for ethics commissions to go beyond the criminal enforcement paradigm, which limits commissions to determining whether an individual respondent has violated an ethics provision or not. It is hard to find instances of a commission looking at the bigger picture, that is, at the common practices and unwritten rules that underlie an individual's ethical misconduct.

What’s missing from new Jacksonville ethics office? Money

Can a local ethics commission be lobbied? It's conceivable, especially with respect to recommendations for ethics reform. It is important for an ethics commission to have an ethics code provision or regulation that prohibits ex parte communications relating to any proceeding. But with respect to ethics reform recommendations, the public's input is important, and there would seem to be no reason why a registered lobbyist shouldn't be able to put in her two cents.

For Independence Day, here's a blog post that pulls together all past blog posts on ethics commission independence. EC independence is essential to an effective and respected ethics program, and yet a small minority of ECs are truly independent. Those individuals seeking to make their city or county's EC independent or to set up an independent EC need all the ammunition they can get. That is, they need to know what the options are, what the advantages are, and how ineffective and unrespected non-independent ethics advice and enforcement are.

Last week, Wisconsin taught us the lesson that even when you go to great lengths to ensure a nonpartisan, independent ethics body, there will be politicians who accuse it of being partisan when it makes decisions against their interests. The good thing is that, when the body is truly nonpartisan and independent, these politicians look ridiculous. But often there is a serious confusion among nonpartisanship, bipartisanship, and independence with respect to the selection of ethics body members. It is important to understand the distinctions among them.

I've written many blog posts about various cases where the legislative immunity defense has been made, but I haven't pulled together in one post the three alternative, preventative approaches local governments can take to deal with the issue of legislative immunity before anyone raises it as a defense. It is far better, and far less expensive, to prevent local legislators from raising the defense of legislative immunity than it is to litigate this complex issue.

Agency consolidation seems to be the buzzword this year. The ostensible reason is to save money and use government resources more efficiently. But is this really the principal reason?

For any speech in debate in either house, no member shall be questioned in any other place, except by the ethics commission as set forth  in Article III, section 8 of this Constitution.

No, this is not the text of a dream I had last night. This is the text of an amendment to the Rhode Island constitution proposed yesterday by five state representatives in House Bill 2001-H 5410. The Rhode Island ethics commission has jurisdiction over local governments.