Key Findings:

• More than half of the nation’s state legislatures have no independent oversight of elected legislators’ ethical conduct, the Center for Public Integrity has found. A survey of state ethics offices reveals that only 23 states have independent commissions that have at least minimal authority to investigate or enforce violations of ethics rules.

• The Center interviewed ethics agency officials, scoured ethics agency websites, and combed through pages of state statutes to conduct this survey of state ethics agencies. This project presents how state ethics agencies compare on staff, budget, oversight, and enforcement power.