CEO 00-18 -- October 10, 2000

SUNSHINE AMENDMENT

FORMER SENATOR SERVING AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF STATEWIDE PUBLIC GUARDIANSHIP AND COMMUNICATING WITH LEGISLATURE

To: Mr. John Grant, Executive Director, Statewide Public Guardianship Office (Tampa)

SUMMARY:

Article II, Section 8(e), Florida Constitution, and Section 112.313(9)(a)3, Florida Statutes, do not prohibit the Executive Director of the Office of Statewide Public Guardianship, who formerly served as a member of the Florida Senate, from appearing before or communicating with the Legislature or legislators in the course of carrying out his official duties within two years of leaving the Senate. CEO 00-7 is referenced.

QUESTION:

Given the restrictions of Article II, Section 8(e), Florida Constitution, and Section 112.313(9)(a)3, Florida Statutes, are you prohibited from appearing before or communicating with the Legislature or legislators in the course of carrying out your official duties as Executive Director of the Office of Statewide Public Guardianship within two years of leaving office as a member of the Florida Senate?

Your question is answered in the negative.

Through your letter of inquiry, we are advised that you serve as a member of the Florida Senate and that your term will expire in November of this year. You also advise that the Governor has appointed you to serve as Executive Director of the Office of Statewide Public Guardianship. Under Part IX of Chapter 744, Florida Statutes, that Office is responsible for, among other duties, overseeing public guardians who have been appointed within the various judicial circuits, for developing statewide performance measures and standards, for developing a guardianship training program, for appointing public guardians, and for submitting reports and recommendations to the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. You advise that these recommendations will relate to structure, funding, capacity, and needs assessment for serving Florida's indigent, incompetent population and that, in working with the Legislature for the implementation and funding of a public guardian structure in Florida, you intend to assign the primary responsibility of lobbying to another person in the Office. You question whether you may appear before or communicate with the Legislature or legislators in the course of carrying out your official duties.

Article II, Section 8(e), Florida Constitution, provides:

No member of the legislature or statewide elected officer shall personally represent another person or entity for compensation before the government body or agency of which the individual was an officer or member for a period of two years following vacation of office. No member of the legislature shall personally represent another person or entity for compensation during term of office before any state agency other than judicial tribunals. Similar restrictions on other public officers and employees may be established by law.

Section 112.313(9)(a)3, Florida Statutes, reiterates this standard, providing as follows:

No member of the Legislature, appointed state officer, or statewide elected officer shall personally represent another person or entity for compensation before the government body or agency of which the individual was an officer or member for a period of 2 years following vacation of office. No member of the Legislature shall personally represent another person or entity for compensation during his or her term of office before any state agency other than judicial tribunals or in settlement negotiations after the filing of a lawsuit.

We previously have stated that the prohibition of Article II, Section 8(e) establishes the principle that one's public service career and contacts developed in that capacity should not be used to enrich oneself at the expense of the public, that the provision was intended to prevent influence peddling and the use of public office to create opportunities for personal profit through lobbying once an official leaves office, and that, in the context of the Legislature, the provision seeks to preserve the integrity of the legislative process by ensuring that decisions of members of the Legislature will not be made out of regard for possible employment as lobbyists. CEO 81-57 and CEO 90-4. In our view, these are the objective to be accomplished and the evils to be remedied by Article II, Section 8(e).

Recently, in CEO 00-7, we found that Article II, Section 8(e), Florida Constitution, and Section 112.313(9)(a)3, Florida Statutes, would not prohibit the Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Secretary of the Department of Health, the Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Elder Affairs, or the Assistant Secretary for Developmental Services, Department of Children and Families, who have been members of the Legislature within the last two years, from appearing before the Legislature or legislators in the course of carrying out their official duties. There, the former members of the Legislature continued their public service by moving into the Executive Branch of State government, either as public officers or as full-time public employees with substantial administrative responsibilities, for whom appearing before the Legislature was an incidental responsibility of their current public position. The circumstances there did not involve the use of their public service careers and contacts developed in that capacity to enrich themselves at the expense of the public, did not present even the appearance of influence peddling and the use of public office to create opportunities for personal profit through lobbying after leaving the Legislature, and did not involve the possibility that their decisions as members of the Legislature were made out of regard for possible employment as lobbyists.

Similarly, we find that you are continuing your public service by moving into the Executive Branch of State government as a public officer or full-time public employee with substantial administrative responsibilities, for whom appearing before the Legislature is an incidental responsibility of your current public position. The circumstances here do not involve the use of your public service career and contacts developed in that capacity to enrich yourself at the expense of the public, do not present the appearance of influence peddling and the use of public office to create opportunities for personal profit through lobbying after leaving the Legislature, and do not involve the possibility that your decisions as a member of the Legislature were made out of regard for possible employment as a lobbyist.

Accordingly, under the circumstances presented we find that Article II, Section 8(e), Florida Constitution, and Section 112.313(9)(a)3, Florida Statutes, do not prohibit you, the Executive Director of the Office of Statewide Public Guardianship, from appearing before or communicating with the Legislature or legislators in the course of carrying out your official duties within two years of leaving the Senate.

ORDERED by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics meeting in public session on October 5, 2000 and RENDERED this 10th day of October, 2000.

_______________________

Howard Marks

Chair