The state auditor says the legislature is not giving the State Ethics Commission authority to carry out investigations the legislature authorized it to conduct. Auditor Tom Schweich suggests the commission could raise money for investigators on its own if it charged the going rate for registration of lobbyists. He says the national average is about $100 dollars a year. But he says the Missouri Ethics Commission charges them only $10.Â
The legislature has authorized the commission to hire seven investigators but has provided funding for only two.
