INDIANAPOLIS — At a recent meeting of the state’s Alcohol Code Revision Commission, one of the panel's legislators talked about the financial costs that his mother-in-law encountered in operating a package liquor store.
As a member of the legislative-appointed commission, he voted on such issues as allowing the sale of commodities, such as soft drinks, in a liquor store, among other alcohol reform issues.
That information about the relative is not included, nor is it mandated to be revealed, on a statement of economic interest, a six-page form that Indiana legislators are required to file annually.
They need only to list a relative’s name if the relative is a lobbyist.
The form lists 10 definitions for relatives including a spouse, a sibling, a grandparent, a grandchild or a great-grandchild of either the legislator or a spouse.
Indiana legislators must file the statement of economic interest within seven days of the start of each session of the Indiana General Assembly. The 2018 session begins Jan. 3.
All 150 legislators in the previous session filed statements to meet deadlines in early 2017, an official said.
The statements include only connections to businesses and not financial details.
The reports are submitted to the Senate secretary’s office and the principal Clerk’s office for the House.
Neither office investigates the truthfulness of the statements but merely that the legislators complied with the filing deadline.
Under Article 4, Section 14 of the Indiana Constitution, either chamber may “punish” its members for not filing a statement, which is considered disorderly behavior. But it takes two-thirds of a house to expel a member.