State House Committee Recommends Removing new Ethics Commission Position

Rebecca Binstock, executive director of the North Dakota Ethics Commission.  (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(By: Mary Steurer. North Dakota Monitor) – A state House committee recommended several sweeping changes to the North Dakota Ethics Commission’s budget, including cutting a new full-time staff member and adding a new six-month deadline for processing ethics complaints.

The commission in a statement called the changes “a roadblock intended to hamper the commission’s work.”

The House Appropriations Committee’s Education and Environment Division voted to remove funding for an additional full-time Ethics Commission employee narrowly approved by the Senate.

The employee would focus on public education and communications, bringing the total number of Ethics Commission staff to four.