The latest local news, weather and high school sports in and around Columbia and Jefferson City

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Senators are working to finish up a priority piece of legislation Thursday night.

Lawmakers want to endorse new ethics rules before the legislative clocks runs out Friday.

With less than two days before adjournment, the Missouri House and Missouri Senate negotiators struck a deal on ethics reform.

“A bill that, I think, will make significant changes in the way campaigns are run,” Ethics Bill Sponsor Sen. Charlie Shields said.  "Significant changes in the level of transparency of money in the political process.”  

Toward that end, the ethics bill ends much of the movement of money between political committees, often done to mask the original source:

    -It demands immediate reporting of contributions received during the legislative period, to inhibit pay-for-play lawmaking.

    -It requires the governor's political appointees to disclose their campaign contributions.

    -It bars sitting lawmakers from working as paid political consultants. 

For the first time, the ethics commission would be able to launch its own investigation, without a formal complaint from a third party. All six commissioners would have to agree on that, which raised some concerns.

"It's an extremely high threshold,” Sen. Rita Days, (D) St. Louis said.  “I mean, if just one person says 'I don't think so,' then we could conceivably not have any kind of investigation at all.”

Shields said that was to protect against witch hunts, and it requires commissioners to be beyond reproach.

"In effect, you know, if you're an elected official, you're putting your political life in their hands,” Shields said.

The compromise does not re-instate campaign contribution limits, a provision long sought by most democrats.

"We'll look at any bill that passes to see if it moves (the issue) up the field enough to warrant putting it in the statute books.”

The Missouri Senate needs to finish the bill Thursday night so the Missouri House can take up the measure Friday.

The legislative session adjourns Friday at 6 p.m.