House panel backs new rules after nursing home scandal

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An Indiana House committee has endorsed tighter rules on the conduct of lawmakers in the wake of an ethics investigation of a top Republican who fought privately to defeat legislation that would have hurt his family's business.

The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a revised ethics code.

Committee Chairman Greg Steuerwald of Avon says a major change in the new code calls for House members to avoid the appearance of impropriety in their actions.

The tightening follows December's resignation of former House Speaker Pro Tem Eric Turner after The Associated Press reported he privately lobbied to kill a proposed ban on nursing home construction that could have cost his family's business millions of dollars.

The House Ethics Committee determined Turner didn't technically violate the existing rules.

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