Legislative leaders from both parties, speaking at the AP Legislative Preview this morning, said they’ll be announcing some policy changes with regard to sexual harassment next week when all lawmakers, and all Statehouse staffers, go through “respectful workplace” training. “Let’s make it clear that that type of behavior is not going to be tolerated in the Statehouse and we want our policy manuals to reflect that,” said House Speaker Scott Bedke. “We want them to be state of the art. I believe the last version was drafted more than a decade ago, and we need to bring those up to speed and make sure that we continue to not have major problems here.”

House Minority Leader Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, said he believes current rules that allow only a legislator to file an ethics complaint against another legislator need to be changed. “It’s my opinion there’s no path for pages, for staff, for a member of the public to report an ethics violation,” Erpelding said. “I believe that there needs to be a better path forward for folks to file ethics complaints.” Bedke said when it comes to allegations of harassment, “If there are violations, then they would necessarily spill over into the existing ethics rules, and you would see the speaker bringing that complaint.” But he said the Legislature is working on clearer and more transparent policies for harassment complaints, which would include investigation by the Attorney General’s office.

Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, said Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, who has expertise in helping businesses in this area, is involved in helping develop the new policies.