Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 455 amends the state governmental ethics law by providing that any person who intentionally aids, abets, advises, hires, counsels, or procures another person to commit a violation of the law also violates the ethics law themselves. The bill also makes an aider or abettor liable for any other violations of the ethics law if the other violations are reasonably foreseeable by the person as a probable consequence of committing the violation. In addition, an aider or abettor may be charged with a violation even if the person directly responsible for the alleged violation is found innocent of that violation. Finally, the bill imposes the same penalty on an aider or abettor for a violation as a person who directly violated the ethics law.

Background

A representative of the Kansas Commission on Governmental Standards and Conduct testified that the bill was a recommendation by the Commission to the Legislature in its 1997 Annual Report. According to the representative, the bill authorizes the Commission to civilly prosecute persons who violate the ethics law by aiding or abetting another person to commit a violation of the law.

According to the fiscal note, the enactment of S.B. 455 would have no fiscal impact.

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.