Increased EC Authority and Access to Annual Disclosure in California

Some good news from California, which takes an odd, hybrid approach to local government ethics. It has a state ethics commission (the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC)) that has limited authority over local officials in the areas of conflicts of interest and campaign finance. And the state has many local government ethics programs, which are all over the place in terms of quality and areas over which they have authority.

The first piece of good news is that the FPPC has been given the authority, with respect to Government Code §1090, (1) to provide written ethics advice and (2) to civilly or administratively enforce violations. Section 1090 deals solely with conflicts of interest involving contracts. In the past, there has only been criminal enforcement of this section by district attorneys or the Attorney General, and advice could be given only with respect to the provisions in the Political Reform Act. For some crazy historical reason, §1090 was never made part of the Political Reform Act, which is the state's principal ethics code.

Here is §1090:

Members of the Legislature, state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members. Nor shall state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees be purchasers at any sale or vendors at any purchase made by them in their official capacity.

The second piece of good news involves annual disclosure. A statewide electronic system will be instituted for the disclosure of the income and economic interests of officials in state and local governments. Currently, officials file either with the FPPC, their state agency, or their local agency or government. Most of the disclosures are on paper and there is no electronic access, unless there is a local ethics program that provides for this.

This is an important step. Disclosure without easy access is far less valuable.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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