An Arizona House panel advanced a bill designed to relieve Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin of a conflict of interest.

A strike-everything amendment to HB2123 from Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, would make clear that conflict-of-interest laws related to the Legislature would also apply to the Corporation Commission.

The House Appropriations Committee voted 8-4 in favor of the striker. Reps. Rick Gray and Mark Cardenas abstained from voting.

Tobin, who was appointed to a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission by Gov. Doug Ducey in January, has a son-in-law who works as an inventory specialist at SolarCity. The commission’s attorneys found the involvement to be a conflict of interest, requiring Tobin to recuse himself from proceedings involving SolarCity.

Allen said the bill clarifies that the conflict are too remote to disqualify Tobin from voting on solar matters.

An amendment to Allen’s strike-everything amendment adds to conflict-of-interest statutes that a relative of an officer-holder who works at a business that has 25 or more employees and doesn’t “assert control or decision-making authority” wouldn’t be a conflict.

“This is like saying that, if I have a relative who drives a UPS truck, I would not be able to have a bill that does anything to UPS,” Allen said.

Tobin said he wants to be able to vote on upcoming cases and clarify the issue for future commissioners, as well.

“But if you believe that somebody who’s taken an entry-level position … will impact and conflict your vote, then you have to vote against this amendment. … There’s great risk going forward to have some lawyers say it’s a conflict and some say it’s not,” Tobin told the committee.

But attorney Tom Ryan, who filed the initial conflict-of-interest complaint that led to former commissioner Susan Bitter Smith being ousted, said the commission is supposed to be held to a higher standard. The commission has its own conflict-of-interest statutes because they regulate monopoly utilities, and those statutes should remain intact, Ryan said.

“You’re not clarifying things, you’re muddling things,” Ryan said.

Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, said she was embarrassed to be discussing an issue narrowly tailored to one elected official instead of focusing on larger problems like education funding. She voted against the bill.

“I don’t think that solar is so remote from what our Corporation Commission does on a daily basis. … I think the perception (of a conflict) is there. It just doesn’t look very ethical,” Fernandez said.