FARMVILLE — Town council will keep a close eye on the General Assembly session, which opens next Wednesday, for legislative action on gift limits for public officials.

Town council adopted a new travel expense policy for Town employees, town council members and administration (see page one story), but adoption of a policy on gifts will depend on action by the General Assembly.

Town council’s Finance and Ordinance Committee had been asked to look at establishing a limit on the value of gifts that can be accepted, committee chairman, Jamie Davis, noted following adoption of the travel policy.

“I know right now the state is currently working on that, and if it’s okay with council, what we’d like to do is just see what the state establishes as its boundaries this year,” Davis told council members. “And then we can look at that and if we feel that we need to be stricter than that we can do so at that point.”

Mayor David E. Whitus, who had raised the whole issue after taking office in the summer, noting the McDonnell scandal and its implications for local officials in Virginia, said, “I think that’s a great idea. Let’s see what comes out of the General Assembly.”

Any ethics egg hatched by legislators in Richmond is going to take flight with strict wings.

Governor McAuliffe’s Commission on Integrity and Public Confidence in State Government, which includes Hampden-Sydney College President, Dr. Christopher B. Howard, is recommending a $250 cap on both tangible and intangible gifts in aggregate over a calendar year, with public officials required to disclose any gift exceeding $100.

However, House of Delegates Republican leaders are proposing a $100 gift cap on both tangible and intangible gifts.

In a joint statement issued through the office of Speaker of the House William J. Howell, the GOP House leadership explained, “in our view the most important item of reform needed is a clear and strict cap on gifts. The $250 cap proposed by Governor Terry McAuliffe’s ethics commission is a step forward, but we believe the public is demanding more. We are proposing, and will support during the 2015 session, a $100 aggregate gift cap on both tangible and intangible gifts. We believe this is a necessary and reasonable standard that both lawmakers and the public can understand.”

Any action taken by the General Assembly on the commission’s recommendations would apply to local, as well as state, officials.

Mayor Whitus has previously told The Herald that he does not believe the gift limit will have much impact on local governments.

“Outside of receiving a meal or token marketing item, locally, we do not receive gifts,” he said.

But if gifts are received in the years ahead, there is clearly going to be a strict limit on their value.