Bill Text: CT SB00727 | 2013 | General Assembly | Comm Sub
Bill Title: An Act Concerning Conflicts Of Interest Under The Code Of Ethics For Public Officials And State Employees.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-21 - Public Hearing 03/25 [SB00727 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2013-SB00727-Comm_Sub.html
General Assembly |
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January Session, 2013 |
LCO No. 4740 | ||
*04740SB00727GAE* | |||
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS |
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Introduced by: |
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(GAE) |
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AN ACT CONCERNING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST UNDER THE CODE OF ETHICS FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND STATE EMPLOYEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 1-79 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2013):
The following terms, when used in this part and section 2 of this act, shall have the following meanings unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Blind trust" means a trust established by a public official or state employee or member of his immediate family for the purpose of divestiture of all control and knowledge of assets.
(b) "Business with which he is associated" means any sole proprietorship, partnership, firm, corporation, trust or other entity through which business for profit or not for profit is conducted in which the public official or state employee or member of his immediate family is a director, officer, owner, limited or general partner, beneficiary of a trust or holder of stock constituting five per cent or more of the total outstanding stock of any class, provided, a public official or state employee, or member of his immediate family, shall not be deemed to be associated with a not for profit entity solely by virtue of the fact that the public official or state employee or member of his immediate family is an unpaid director or officer of the not for profit entity. "Officer" refers only to the president, executive or senior vice president or treasurer of such business.
(c) "Candidate for public office" means any individual who has filed a declaration of candidacy or a petition to appear on the ballot for election as a public official, or who has raised or expended money in furtherance of such candidacy, or who has been nominated for appointment to serve as a public official, but shall not include a candidate for the office of senator or representative in Congress.
(d) "Board" means the Citizen's Ethics Advisory Board established in section 1-80.
(e) "Gift" means anything of value, which is directly and personally received, unless consideration of equal or greater value is given in return. "Gift" shall not include:
(1) A political contribution otherwise reported as required by law or a donation or payment as described in subdivision (9) or (10) of subsection (b) of section 9-601a;
(2) Services provided by persons volunteering their time, if provided to aid or promote the success or defeat of any political party, any candidate or candidates for public office or the position of convention delegate or town committee member or any referendum question;
(3) A commercially reasonable loan made on terms not more favorable than loans made in the ordinary course of business;
(4) A gift received from (A) an individual's spouse, fiance or fiancee, (B) the parent, brother or sister of such spouse or such individual, or (C) the child of such individual or the spouse of such child;
(5) Goods or services (A) which are provided to a state agency or quasi-public agency (i) for use on state or quasi-public agency property, or (ii) that support an event, and (B) which facilitate state or quasi-public agency action or functions. As used in this subdivision, "state property" means (i) property owned by the state or a quasi-public agency, or (ii) property leased to a state agency or quasi-public agency;
(6) A certificate, plaque or other ceremonial award costing less than one hundred dollars;
(7) A rebate, discount or promotional item available to the general public;
(8) Printed or recorded informational material germane to state action or functions;
(9) Food or beverage or both, costing less than fifty dollars in the aggregate per recipient in a calendar year, and consumed on an occasion or occasions at which the person paying, directly or indirectly, for the food or beverage, or his representative, is in attendance;
(10) Food or beverage or both, costing less than fifty dollars per person and consumed at a publicly noticed legislative reception to which all members of the General Assembly are invited and which is hosted not more than once in any calendar year by a lobbyist or business organization. For the purposes of such limit, (A) a reception hosted by a lobbyist who is an individual shall be deemed to have also been hosted by the business organization which he owns or is employed by, and (B) a reception hosted by a business organization shall be deemed to have also been hosted by all owners and employees of the business organization who are lobbyists. In making the calculation for the purposes of such fifty-dollar limit, the donor shall divide the amount spent on food and beverage by the number of persons whom the donor reasonably expects to attend the reception;
(11) Food or beverage or both, costing less than fifty dollars per person and consumed at a publicly noticed reception to which all members of the General Assembly from a region of the state are invited and which is hosted not more than once in any calendar year by a lobbyist or business organization. For the purposes of such limit, (A) a reception hosted by a lobbyist who is an individual shall be deemed to have also been hosted by the business organization which he owns or is employed by, and (B) a reception hosted by a business organization shall be deemed to have also been hosted by all owners and employees of the business organization who are lobbyists. In making the calculation for the purposes of such fifty-dollar limit, the donor shall divide the amount spent on food and beverage by the number of persons whom the donor reasonably expects to attend the reception. As used in this subdivision, "region of the state" means the established geographic service area of the organization hosting the reception;
(12) A gift, including, but not limited to, food or beverage or both, provided by an individual for the celebration of a major life event, provided any such gift provided by an individual who is not a member of the family of the recipient shall not exceed one thousand dollars in value;
(13) Gifts costing less than one hundred dollars in the aggregate or food or beverage provided at a hospitality suite at a meeting or conference of an interstate legislative association, by a person who is not a registrant or is not doing business with the state of Connecticut;
(14) Admission to a charitable or civic event, including food and beverage provided at such event, but excluding lodging or travel expenses, at which a public official or state employee participates in his official capacity, provided such admission is provided by the primary sponsoring entity;
(15) Anything of value provided by an employer of (A) a public official, (B) a state employee, or (C) a spouse of a public official or state employee, to such official, employee or spouse, provided such benefits are customarily and ordinarily provided to others in similar circumstances;
(16) Anything having a value of not more than ten dollars, provided the aggregate value of all things provided by a donor to a recipient under this subdivision in any calendar year shall not exceed fifty dollars;
(17) Training that is provided by a vendor for a product purchased by a state or quasi-public agency which is offered to all customers of such vendor; or
(18) Travel expenses, lodging, food, beverage and other benefits customarily provided by a prospective employer, when provided to a student at a public institution of higher education whose employment is derived from such student's status as a student at such institution, in connection with bona fide employment discussions.
(f) "Immediate family" means any spouse, children or dependent relatives who reside in the individual's household.
(g) "Individual" means a natural person.
(h) "Member of an advisory board" means any individual (1) appointed by a public official as an advisor or consultant or member of a committee, commission or council established to advise, recommend or consult with a public official or branch of government or committee thereof, (2) who receives no public funds other than per diem payments or reimbursement for his actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his official duties, and (3) who has no authority to expend any public funds or to exercise the power of the state.
(i) "Person" means an individual, sole proprietorship, trust, corporation, limited liability company, union, association, firm, partnership, committee, club or other organization or group of persons.
(j) "Political contribution" has the same meaning as in section 9-601a except that for purposes of this part, the provisions of subsection (b) of that section shall not apply.
(k) "Public official" means any state-wide elected officer, any member or member-elect of the General Assembly, any person appointed to any office of the legislative, judicial or executive branch of state government by the Governor or an appointee of the Governor, with or without the advice and consent of the General Assembly, any public member or representative of the teachers' unions or state employees' unions appointed to the Investment Advisory Council pursuant to subsection (a) of section 3-13b, any person appointed or elected by the General Assembly or by any member of either house thereof, any member or director of a quasi-public agency and the spouse of the Governor, but shall not include a member of an advisory board, a judge of any court either elected or appointed or a senator or representative in Congress.
(l) "Quasi-public agency" means Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated, and the Connecticut Health and Education Facilities Authority, Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Connecticut Housing Authority, Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, Lower Fairfield County Convention Center Authority, Capital Region Development Authority, Connecticut Lottery Corporation, Connecticut Airport Authority, Health Information Technology Exchange of Connecticut, Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange and Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority.
(m) "State employee" means any employee in the executive, legislative or judicial branch of state government, whether in the classified or unclassified service and whether full or part-time, and any employee of a quasi-public agency, but shall not include a judge of any court, either elected or appointed.
(n) "Trust" means a trust in which any public official or state employee or member of his immediate family has a present or future interest which exceeds ten per cent of the value of the trust or exceeds fifty thousand dollars, whichever is less, but shall not include blind trusts.
(o) "Business organization" means a sole proprietorship, corporation, limited liability company, association, firm or partnership, other than a client lobbyist, which is owned by, or employs, one or more individual lobbyists.
(p) "Client lobbyist" means a person on behalf of whom lobbying takes place and who makes expenditures for lobbying and in furtherance of lobbying.
(q) "Necessary expenses" means a public official's or state employee's expenses for an article, appearance or speech or for participation at an event, in his official capacity, which shall be limited to necessary travel expenses, lodging for the nights before, of and after the appearance, speech or event, meals and any related conference or seminar registration fees.
(r) "Lobbyist" and "registrant" shall be construed as defined in section 1-91.
(s) "Legal defense fund" means a fund established for the payment of legal expenses of a public official or state employee incurred as a result of defending himself or herself in an administrative, civil, criminal or constitutional proceeding concerning matters related to the official's or employee's service or employment with the state or a quasi-public agency.
(t) "State agency" means any office, department, board, council, commission, institution, constituent unit of the state system of higher education, technical high school or other agency in the executive, legislative or judicial branch of state government.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2013) (a) Any member of the General Assembly who receives one thousand dollars or more during a calendar year from an entity regulated by the state, including any state agency, shall not serve on any joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to such entity.
(b) Any public official or state employee of a state agency who receives one thousand dollars or more during a calendar year from an entity regulated by the state, including any state agency, shall not serve on any regulatory body that oversees such entity and shall recuse himself or herself from any executive decision that affects such entity.
Sec. 3. Section 1-84 of the general statutes is amended by adding subsection (s) as follows (Effective October 1, 2013):
(NEW) (s) No public official, state employee or member of the immediate family of a public official or state employee shall receive one thousand dollars or more during a calendar year from (1) a state contractor that derives five per cent or more of its revenue from state contracts or from any other person other than a state employee that derives five per cent or more of his or her income from the state or any state agency, (2) an organization for which five per cent or more of its members who reside in this state are employed by the state or a municipality, (3) a lobbyist or business organization that employs one or more communicator lobbyists, (4) an individual who is restricted or prohibited from contributing to a political candidate for the office of state senator or state representative or a state constitutional office in the maximum amount permitted for individuals, or (5) an agent of an individual or entity described in subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive, of this subsection. For purposes of this subsection "state contractor" has the same meaning as provided in section 9-612 and "organization" has the same meaning as provided in section 9-601.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
October 1, 2013 |
1-79 |
Sec. 2 |
October 1, 2013 |
New section |
Sec. 3 |
October 1, 2013 |
1-84 |
Statement of Purpose:
To amend what constitutes a substantial conflict of interest for public officials and state employees.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]