CEO 02-18 -- December 10, 2002

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

APPLICABILITY TO SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT HEARING OFFICER

To: Name withheld at person's request

SUMMARY:

Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, does not apply to Support Enforcement Hearing Officers appointed pursuant to Rule 12.491(c), Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure. Support Enforcement Hearing Officers are officers of the judicial branch of government and, consistent with the holding of CEO 81-65 and In re The Florida Bar, 316 So.2d 45 (Fla. 1975), the statutory financial disclosure law does not apply to an officer of the judicial branch of government unless as a candidate for elective or retentive office.

QUESTION:

Are you, a Support Enforcement Hearing Officer for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, required to file a statement of financial interests under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry, you write that you are a Support Enforcement Hearing Officer appointed pursuant to Rule 12.491, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure, in and for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, Florida. You question whether you are subject to Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, and are required to file an annual Statement of Financial Interests.

In CEO 81-65, citing In re The Florida Bar, 316 So.2d 45 (Fla. 1975), we opined that General Masters appointed pursuant to Rule 1.490(a), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, were officers of the judicial branch of government and were not subject to Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. The issue, then, is whether CEO 81-65 also governs Support Enforcement Hearing Officers.

Rule 12.491(c), Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure, provides:

The chief judge of each judicial circuit shall appoint such number of support enforcement hearing officers for the circuit or any county within the circuit as are necessary to expeditiously perform the duties prescribed by this rule. A hearing officer shall be a member of The Florida Bar unless waived by the chief justice and shall serve at the pleasure of the chief judge and a majority of the circuit judges in the circuit.

The only apparent distinctions between General Masters and Support Enforcement Hearing Officers are that General Masters are required to take an oath, and Support Enforcement Hearing Officers cannot hear contested paternity cases. Those distinctions notwithstanding, we believe that Support Enforcement Hearing Officers are officers of the judicial branch. In In re the Florida Bar, 316 So.2d 45 (Fla. 1975), the Florida Supreme Court held that while judicial officers and candidates for elective or retentive office must meet the same or higher standards of financial disclosure as officers of the executive and legislative branches, the statutory financial disclosure provisions did not apply to officers of the judicial branch of government. We therefore extend this precedent to include Support Enforcement Hearing Officers.

In rendering this opinion, we recognize that Section 112.3145(1)(b)1, Florida Statutes, defines "specified state employee" to mean

Public counsel created by chapter 350, an assistant state attorney, an assistant public defender, a full-time state employee who serves as counsel or assistant counsel to any state agency, the Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation Claims, a judge of compensation claims, an administrative law judge, or a hearing officer. [e.s.]

Even though the term "hearing officer" is used in the definition of "specified state employee," we do not believe that the term applies to Support Enforcement Hearing Officers appointed by a circuit judge. It is our understanding that the use of the term in Section 112.3145(1)(b)1, Florida Statutes, initially covered only the hearing officers employed by the Division of Administrative Hearings and later came to include hearing officers employed by other executive branch agencies. There is no indication that the term was intended to include judicial branch hearing officers, general masters, or special masters, especially in light of the holding of In re The Florida Bar, supra.

Accordingly, we find that as a Support Enforcement Hearing Officer for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, you are not subject to the statutory requirement of filing an annual statement of financial interests.

ORDERED by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics meeting in public session on December 5, 2002 and RENDERED this 10th day of December, 2002.

__________________________

Patrick Neal

Chair