
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994                   TAG: 9403110080
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

CRANWELL REVIVES ETHICS BILL

House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell on Thursday sought to make good on a campaign promise by resurrecting an ethics bill that would prevent more than two legislators from serving on the board of state-regulated companies.

The Roanoke County Democrat attached the bill to an unrelated ethics package, which cleared the House of Delegates on a 99-0 vote.

Cranwell proposed prohibiting clusters of legislators on the boards of certain companies during his re-election campaign last fall, when he came under fire for being one of five senior Democratic legislators who had invested in a company seeking permission to sell mortgage insurance to banks in Virginia.

Critics said the cluster of powerful lawmakers could create the appearance of a conflict and make it difficult for the General Assembly to regulate mortgage insurance companies.

Under Cranwell's original plan, no more than one legislator could serve on the board of a bank, lender, insurance company or any company regulated by the State Corporation Commission.

Last month, the House passed an amended version that raised the limit to two legislators. But a Senate committee voted this week to study the proposal for a year because Cranwell failed to appear at a committee meeting.

"I was told that it was going to come out of Senate Rules Committee," Cranwell, the House majority leader, explained Thursday, "but, lo and behold, it didn't come out of Senate Rules."

The measure now goes to the Senate, which must act before the General Assembly adjourns Saturday.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

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