I just spoke to a member of CM Bowser's staff. The Gov't Ops. Committee marked up the ethics bill this morning. I hope to have the new version this afternoon and will forward it to you. Although nothing about the bill was in the D.C. Register Friday, the bill will get first reading tomorrow in the Council. There is no legislative session on the calendar for later in December, but they are expected to hold a special meeting to have second reading in December. There is a Committee of the Whole scheduled Dec. 21, so my guess is the special session will happen then. There is an emergency bill in LIMS, but the text is not available. My guess is that will be voted on as well, so the ethics bill will take effect more or less immediately, if the Council passes it. If provisions of the bill affecting the OGO are not substantially changed in the markup, we are going to have to move very quickly. I plan to be at the Council meeting tomorrow. We can discuss this further at the board meeting tonight if I get there. If the bill that goes to the Council is very similar to the version released a week ago I may have to draft a letter to Council members advocating amendments for delivery before the Council meeting. — ___________________________________________________________________ Robert S. Becker Phone& Fax (202) 364-8013 Law Offices of Robert S. Becker Washington, D.C. Website http://www.dcappeals.com E-mail: rbecker@dcappeals.com Practice concentrating on legal issues affecting the media& appellate litigation ___________________________________________________________________
