El Paso's ethics code has teeth on paper. It has never used them.

In short

El Paso's ethics system looks complete on paper. The Charter directs Council to establish an independent Ethics Review Commission empowered to investigate, adjudicate, and assess civil fines. In practice, in the two most-scrutinized recent cases — the 2023 fuel-card matters, both of which found ordinance violations — the only sanction was a letter of reprimand, and the misconduct was surfaced by the Internal Auditor and the press, not by the ethics process. The nine-member Commission is appointed entirely by the Council it reviews. A 2024 City audit found 86 percent of sampled Chapter 380 incentive files missing required documentation. And the record shows Council has not systematically reviewed its own ethics rules since a process that began as a response to a leak and ended with proposals to narrow who could complain. This plan sequences the reliable half first, because it needs no one's permission: publish the disclosures state law already requires online the day they are filed, index lobbyist reports to the agenda items they touch, extend local disclosure to department heads and board members, and publish an annual Commission report — then answer, honestly and in writing, whether the City can fine a sitting official at all.