Kamenetz Tweaks Nascent Ethics Bill

It seems like only yesterday (and it was) that County Executive Kevin Kamenetz was announcing his proposal to and now we have word that he's tweaking it.

Don Mohler, Kamenetz's spokesman and chief of staff, said Thursday that a new provision will be added to the bill requiring officials to disclose a change of employment. Officials will be given 30 days to make such a disclosure under the proposed law.

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The decision comes 24 hours after Kamenetz dismissed questions from Patch about a similar requirement when asked at a news conference.

Kamenetz said Wednesday that requiring officials to update the could place an onerous burden on both paid and volunteer county officials.

Current county law requires county officials to file the forms annually. The disclosures are due in May and cover the previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.

State ethics laws require the 188 members of the General Assembly to report meaningful changes to their respective disclosures between annual filings.

Mohler said Kamenetz thought about the issue after the news conference and changed his mind.

"We walked back to the office and talked about it," Mohler said. "It seemed reasonable so we added it. This is still a work in progress."