State ethics commission established; composition

(a) There is established within the office of the auditor for administrative purposes only a commission to be known as the state ethics commission. The commission shall consist of five members appointed by the governor from a panel of ten persons nominated by the judicial council. Each member of the commission shall be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State. Members of the commission shall hold no other public office. (b) The chairperson of the commission shall be elected by the majority of the members of the commission. The term of each member of the commission shall be for four years. No person shall be appointed consecutively to more than two terms as a member of the commission. A vacancy on the commission shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment, except that the judicial council shall nominate for gubernatorial appointment two persons for a vacancy. (c) No member of the commission shall hold office for more than one hundred and twenty days after the expiration of the member's term. If the governor fails to appoint a person to a vacant office within sixty days after receipt of the list of nominees from the judicial council, council shall select a person from its list of nominees to fill the vacant office, notwithstanding subsection (b) and section 26-34 to the contrary. (d) The governor may remove or suspend any member of the commission upon the filing of a written finding with the commission, and upon service of a copy of the written finding on the member to be removed or suspended.