It can be hard to know when Oregon candidates and public officials get sweet deals. The state requires them to fill out a statement of economic interest, but it has enough loopholes to make it a joke.

House Bill 4077 would plug some loopholes. It also leaves some open. The bill needs more work.

Oregon candidates and public officials have to report things such as direct sources of income, property, honorariums and so on. The bill would add to the list some indirect sources of income. For instance, it includes a requirement to disclose some relationships with companies doing business with the state if the individual is a company officer or a company director.

It may fix the situation brought up in the disclosures of Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend. He did not include about $90,000 paid to a company he owned. The Oregon Ethics Commission said he did not break the law. Buehler has said he will support the bill.

But the bill fails in other ways. For instance, the bill requires reporting of such income if it is more than 10 percent of the gross annual income of the business. A big business could have enormous income from the state and an individual would not be required to report it.

The bill also only covers such indirect income if a person is an officer or a director of the business. But what if a legislator has a big contract with a company doing business with the state? That is not covered by this bill. That is not right.

The bill has been sent back to committee. The Legislature should fix its flaws and put it to a vote. HB 4077 is an important step toward greater transparency and accountability. The public should be able to easily find out the economic relationships that may be driving government decisions.