State Senator Missy Irvin of Mountain View will serve as chair of the Senate’s new ethics committee. The group held its first meeting Thursday. Senator Irvin represents a portion of Baxter County, as well as part of Faulkner, Fulton, Marion, Van Buren and White counties, along with Cleburne, Searcy and Stone counties.
KARK television reports the eight committee members, five Republicans and three Democrats, are tasked with investigating conflicts of interest allegations against their own. Irvin is the only female member of the committee.
The committee will determine how that process will work and also create a new financial disclosure system.
Irvin says one of the biggest tasks will be ensuring the disclosure system doesn’t expose too much personal information about the 35 Senate members, like their addresses.
She says the committee needs to make sure it has a user-friendly process, a process that really maintains public trust and integrity, but also preserves the sanctity of that person and their families as well.
The new Speaker of the House has said his chamber will work on ethics reform, but has yet to release a plan.
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