Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. It’s Gary Fineout, filling in for Playbook author Kimberly Leonard. A major overhaul to how Florida handles ethics case could be coming. Or at least that what’s Senate Republicans are considering. The Senate is taking up a bill this week that would put in place timelines that spell out how long it would take for the state ethics commission to investigate and ultimately resolve ethics complaints. It would let candidates hit with false and malicious allegations to recover attorney fees. New term limits would be applied to the nine-member panel. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said the push to change the law came after the lengthy drawn-out case involving state Sen. Jack Latvala. Latvala resigned in 2017 after two investigations accused him of sexual harassment, but a separate probe by the ethics commission dragged on for years and did not close until 2022. “Whenever you have a complaint against a senator or anyone that takes years to be resolved it’s not fair to the complainant,” said Passidomo, a Naples Republican and an attorney. “Let’s make the process be simple, efficient and get it done.” Sen. Danny Burgess, the chair of the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, added: “Deadlines provide uniformity so that everyone is on the same page and the law is applied equally to all. Further, deadlines ensure quality control and move a case along each of the process creating certainty.” Yes, but …. It is true that the ethics commission process can take forever. Every election cycle sees a flurry of complaints that are unlikely to be resolved in a timely manner for voters. But will some of these changes lead to investigations being rushed and closed quickly? And it’s worth remembering that attempts to beef up the commission’s investigatory power and ability to go after wayward public officials has gotten a lot of pushback from state legislators. There’s also some interesting timing here at work. Lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis recently took their own shots at the ethics commission after expressing ire that complaints filed by Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried against top aides to the governor went through a preliminary investigation. The aides were cleared, but DeSantis’ lawyers also called for changes in how future probes will be handled. Passidomo said she was not familiar with the criticism leveled by DeSantis’ attorneys, which were first made public last week, and that the Senate change was not related to it. — WHERE'S RON? — Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to participate in a CNN town hall in Des Moines. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for Playbook? Get in touch at: kleonard@politico.com | 
