With very little warning, the House Ethics Committee met late last week for the first time in a year to amend its rules regarding the filing of financial disclosure statements and when it can take testimony.

 

The result was a “public” hearing with no one from the public, because Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Alabama) and ranking member Linda Sánchez (D-California) invoked a House rule allowing the panel to convene sooner than normal as long as there was “good cause” to do so.

 

The meeting took place only minutes after being announced on the committee’s website. Those present voted to amend a rule pertaining to the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act. Another change will now allow an investigative subcommittee or the full committee to take testimony with only two lawmakers present.

 

The House Ethics Committee currently has five active cases involving Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus, most notably Maxine Waters of California, whose case remains unresolved three years after it was introduced.

-Noel Brinkerhoff