(1) There is established an independent ethics commission to review ethics complaints against board members. (2) The commission consists of five persons, each of whom is registered to vote in this state, appointed as follows: (a) two members, who have served as judges of a court of record in this state, each of whom the board leadership shall nominate and the board shall appoint by a majority vote; (b) two members, who have served as a member of the board no more recently than four years before the date of appointment, each of whom the board leadership shall nominate and the board shall appoint by a majority vote; and (c) one member, who has served as a school district superintendent or charter school director no more recently than two years before the date of appointment, whom the board leadership shall nominate and the board shall appoint by a majority vote. (3) A member of the commission may not, during the member's term of office on the commission, act or serve as: (a) an officeholder as defined in Section 20A-11-101; (b) an agency head as defined in Section 67-16-3; (c) a lobbyist as defined in Section 36-11-102; or (d) a principal as defined in Section 36-11-102. (4) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (4)(b), each member of the commission shall serve a four- year term. (b) When appointing the initial members upon formation of the commission, one member nominated under Subsection (2)(a) and one member nominated under Subsection (2)(b) shall be appointed to a two-year term so that approximately half of the commission is appointed every two years. (c) (i) When a vacancy occurs in the commission's membership for any reason, a replacement member shall be appointed for the unexpired term of the vacating member using the procedures and requirements of Subsection (2). (ii) For the purposes of this section, an appointment for an unexpired term of a vacating member is not considered a full term. (d) A member may not be appointed to serve for more than two full terms, whether those terms are two or four years. (e) A member of the commission may resign from the commission by giving one month's written notice of the resignation to the board chair and board leadership. (f) The board chair shall remove a member from the commission if the member: (i) is convicted of, or enters a plea of guilty to, a crime involving moral turpitude; (ii) enters a plea of no contest or a plea in abeyance to a crime involving moral turpitude; or (iii) fails to meet the qualifications of office as provided in this section. (g) If a commission member is accused of wrongdoing in a complaint, or if a commission member is found, under Section 53E-3-1304, to have a conflict of interest in relation to a complaint, a temporary commission member shall be appointed to serve in that member's place for the purposes of reviewing that complaint using the procedures and requirements of Subsection (2). (5) (a) A member of the commission may not receive compensation or benefits for the member's service, but may receive per diem and expenses incurred in the performance of the member's official duties as allowed in: (i) Section 63A-3-106; and (ii) rules made by the Division of Finance according to Sections 63A-3-106. (b) A member may decline to receive per diem and expenses for the member's service. (6) (a) The commission members shall convene a meeting biennially in January and elect, by a majority vote, a commission chair from among the commission members. (b) A person may not serve as chair for more than two consecutive terms.
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