Pence signs bill tightening Indiana’s state ethics laws

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Gov. Mike Pence has endorsed an overhaul of state ethics laws that requires greater financial disclosure by lawmakers and expressly prohibits elected officials from using state resources for political purposes.

The governor’s office says Pence signed the bill Monday, a week after it won final legislative approval.

The bill’s provisions include tightening the state’s one-year “cooling off” period for state officials taking private-sector jobs that would deal with their former agencies. It also requires lawmakers to disclose any business ownerships worth at least $500,000.

The proposal follows an investigation into former state schools Superintendent Tony Bennett’s use of state staff and equipment during his 2012 re-election campaign. In another case, a senior lawmaker privately lobbied last year to kill legislation that could have cost his family’s business millions of dollars.