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House committee expected to OK ethics bills

Michigan Capitol by MittenStatePhototog is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

A state House committee is expected to vote Tuesday on bills that would set tougher ethics standards for lawmakers.

House and Senate ethics committees would judge complaints against lawmakers. The committees would be equally divided between Republicans and Democrats so their decisions would have to be bipartisan.

Republican Representative Andrew Fink says that would help ensure better behavior between elections.

“Ultimately, the people determine whether the Legislature has been ethical because every two years, they can fire us if they don’t think we have been, but in the meantime, this gives us some tools.” 

The House Republican and Democratic leaders have agreed ethics reforms are a priority.

But the Senate leadership is not board yet.