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“So, the law as it can be applied can deal with both issues we think quite easily.”

Liberal house leader Mary Polak also expressed support for the move, calling it a “step in the right direction.”

“It’s important to have the FOI legislation, but I think we need to go further,” she said, citing more proactive disclosure of receipts and expenses by senior officials inside the building.

The call for additional action was echoed by Green leader Andrew Weaver.

“I would suggest to them this is just a beginning of many more changes that should occur,” said Weaver. “We need to change the standing orders of this place, the way the legislature operates. We’ve got bizarre systems here that could be changed with respect to accountability.”

It is possible that MLAs on the all-party legislative committee aren’t the right persons to be making the changes, said Weaver. Instead, perhaps outside agencies should be called in to reform the building.

MLAs have already voted for a forensic audit and an independent workplace review. That came after Plecas’ report last month accused Clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz of lavish misspending, international trips, inappropriate expenses and questionable retirement and vacation benefits. The two men are suspended with pay. Both have said they are innocent, and neither have been charged with any crime. The RCMP is investigating with oversight from two special prosecutors.

Farnworth said he expects more reforms are on the horizon as audits and other investigations unwind.

“This is a minimum in terms of changes,” he said. “You will be seeing a lot more changes.”

MLAs began posting details about their expenses online following a scathing report from the auditor-general in 2012. That system was improved again several years later to include scanned copies of receipts and constituency office expenses, following more misspending allegations. However, senior legislature staff were never included in the increased transparency.

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LISTEN: This week on In The House, Mike Smyth and Rob Shaw discuss what renewal really means for B.C.’s major political parties.