Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has requested that the commissioners' court consider a revised list of ethics reforms, perhaps a last-ditch effort to see some of the changes proposed by his ethics reform task force adopted after his original proposals went nowhere.

Emmett asked the commissioners to consider adopting a few measures that would not require legislative action and that reflected some of the recommendations made by the ethics reform task force he established in February 2008. Emmett describes the proposals in a letter to the commissioners' court:

"a voluntary lobbyist registration policy, Harris County Statement of Ethics, implementation of employee ethics training, establishment of a Harris County Ethics Committee, and the immediate Web posting of all required personal and campaign financial disclosure forms."

The state of Texas and city of Houston already require lobbyist registration and disclosure, but an effort to pass a similar law in Harris County didn't make it this session.

The Houston Chronicle reported on Emmett's request yesterday:

Emmett acknowledged the proposals do not go as far as the task force’s recommendations, and he noted that the county is limited in what it can do without action by the state Legislature.

“Doing what we could do on our own is a positive first step,” Emmett said. “If we state what we expect in terms of ethics and put it in writing, that is a step forward.”

The plan also includes a policy to post to the Web the financial disclosure forms for candidates and elected officials, as well as campaign finance records. This is a matter close to our hearts, as we have been requesting and posting financial disclosure forms for the last several months. It would seem as easy as the Web posting that many local government offices provide already, for example the campaign finance forms in Travis County.

To extend this service to financial disclosure forms in Harris County would be a step toward a more open government. Emmett's proposals for ethics reform came after the highly publicized downfall of former Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.

Texas Watchdog has kept an eye on this story since last fall. And touched on it again when it seemed unlikely that the lege was going to get to it this year.