BATON ROUGE - A bill to change how ethics investigations are handled has so far moved swiftly through the capitol, though one government watch group is concerned there could be dangerous consequences if the bill passed in its current form. 

Steven Procopio is the president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and said the bill changing the ethics code would make it more difficult to look into elected officials. 

"You have the governor supporting this bill, and you also have legislators who are very sympathetic to people that face ethics charges because that's also something that they might face or they have friends or colleagues that have as well," Procopio said. 

The bill, as he described it is mostly innocuous, except for a few key points. It would require the ethics board to first determine whether there is a valid reason to investigate and also consider the cost. Then at least two-thirds of the board would have to vote to take up the complaint.

"You need to do the investigation to see if you have evidence, but you need evidence before you even have the investigation," He said. "It's clearly designed to make sure that all but the most obvious things caught on camera are going to be investigated."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Beau Beaulieu, R - New Iberia, said during committee that it gives due process to those who have complaints brought against them.

"They understand what they are being charged with, timelines, giving them fair and adequate time to respond," Beaulieu said Wednesday. 

Procopio says despite his disagreements, the bill has its merits. 

"That's not to say there couldn't be improvements to the ethics code," Procopio said. "I think there's some things in there that the ethics commission does anyway that just aren't codified so putting them into law I don't have a problem with. I think this is going way past all of that."

The bill is awaiting action on the Senate floor.