Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 451 amends the Campaign Finance Act and the state governmental ethics laws by authorizing the Kansas Commission on Governmental Standards and Conduct to notify the Attorney General and the appropriate federal, state, and local authorities of any apparent violation of any criminal laws or laws not administered by the Commission that are discovered during the course of its investigations. Current law permits the Commission to report these violations to the Attorney General's Office only.

Background

This bill, as introduced, was recommended by the Kansas Commission on Governmental Standards and Conduct in its 1997 annual report. A representative of the Commission testified that during its course of investigations, if the Commission discovers apparent violations of criminal laws or other laws not under its jurisdiction, the only recourse it has is to report these violations to the Attorney General.

The Senate Committee of the Whole amended the bill by reinserting the requirement that the Commission would have to notify the Attorney General of any apparent violations.

According to the fiscal note, there would be no fiscal impact from the enactment of this bill.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.