The new state Independent Ethics Commission, set up by voter-approved Amendment 41, approved rules and procedures that are expected to take effect at the end of August.

That means the panel, with five volunteer members and a paid executive director, will begin considering complaints and developing advisory opinions in September.

The commission voted to adopt procedures during a five- hour meeting Friday. Executive Director Jane Feldman said Monday that she is compiling the final draft document and will submit it soon to the Secretary of State's Office.

The rules, if submitted before July 30, will become law at the end of August, she said.

The commission is designed to ensure that government operates cleanly. The law says the panel can review allegations of gifts or services given to an elected official, complaints of misconduct and an official's failure to disclose gifts or services received.

It has been slow to form and begin work in part because of delays in appointments of members.

One of the first matters on the agenda is a complaint against Secretary of State Mike Coffman by Colorado Ethics Watch, a government watchdog group.

The group argued that Coffman should not have allowed a staffer to operate a partisan political consulting business and should not have hired a local firm to run his congressional campaign that also was working for an election machine manufacturer doing business in Colorado. Coffman has denied any wrongdoing.