FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
APPLICABILITY OF LAW REQUIRING BRIDGE AUTHORITIES
TO FILE FULL AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
To: Robert Berntsson, Esquire (Port Charlotte)
SUMMARY:
All members of the board of Supervisors for the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority are required to comply with the financial disclosure requirements ser forth in Section 348.0003(4)(c), Florida Statutes (2009). This provision requires each member of an expressway authority, transportations authority, bridge authority, or toll authority to file fill and public disclosure of financial interests using the Commission's CE Form 6.
QUESTION:
Are all members of the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority required to comply with the financial disclosure requirements of Section 348.0003(4)(c), Florida Statutes, which was amended by Section 20 of Chapter 2009-85, Laws of Florida?
Your question is answered in the affirmative.
In your letter of inquiry and subsequent correspondence provided to us on behalf of the Bridge Authority's Board of Supervisors, we are advised that the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority is an independent special taxing district located in both Lee and Charlotte Counties, and that it operates a swing bridge and causeway system connecting three barrier islands to Charlotte County. The Legislature unitially created the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority by special act-Chapter 96-507, Laws of Florida. This act was subsequently modified by Chapter 97-319, Laws of Florida, and the passage of Chapter 2000-425, Laws of Florida, codified, reenacted, amended and repealed the earlier enactments. Concerning the members of the Bridge Authority's Board of Supervisors and their obligation to fine financial disclosure, Chapter 2000-425, Laws of Florida, provided in relevant part:
Voting members of the Board of Supervisors shall be deemed to be local officers for the purpose of section 112.3145(3), Florida Statutes, requiring disclosure of their financial interests. These statements of financial interests shall be filed with the Lee County Supervisor of Elections and availale for public inspection.
Consequently, the voting members of the Board of Supervisors have complied with the obligation to file the annual Statement of Financial Interests (CE Form 1). However, with the enactment of Chapter 2009-85, Laws of Florida, Section 348.0003(4)(c), Florida Statutes, was amended to provide:
Members of each expressway authority, transportation authority, bridge authority, or toll authority, created pursuant to this chapter, chapter 343, or chapter 349 or any other legislative enactment shall comply with the applicable financial disclosure requirements of s. 8, Art. II of the State Consititution. This paragraph does not subject any statutorily created authority, other than an expressway authority created under this part, to any other requirement of this part except the requirement of this paragraph. [e.s.].
This statute requires members of expressway authorities, transportation authorities, bridge authorities, and toll authorities to file the more detailed disclosure—Full and Public Disclosure of Financial Interests (CE Form 6). You question whether all members of the Board of Supervisors for the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority are subject to this requirement.
Section 348.0003(4)(c), Florida Statutes, was first amended in 2007, and it applied only to the Miami-Dade County Expressway Authority (MDX). In CEO 07-21, we concluded that the requirement applied prospectively (not retrospectively) but that MDX members were indeed subject to the increased disclosure requirement.
As noted above, in 2009, the Legislature further amended Section 348.0003(4)(c), Florida Statutes, to apply to all expressway authorities, transportation authorities, bridge authorities, and toll authorities. Notwithstanding, you assert that the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority is not subject to this 2009 enactment because it is an "independent special district" that was not created under Chapters 343, 348, or 349, Florida Statutes. We must disagree. As its name suggests, it is a "bridge authority," and there is no doubt that it was created pursuant to a "legislative enactment," viz., Chapters 96-507, 97-319, and 2000-425, Laws of Florida. The rules of statutory construction provide that the last adopted expression of the Legislature will generally prevail in the case of two statutory provisions that cannot be reconciled. J.M. v. Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities, 938 So.2d 535 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006); Florida Association of Counties, Inc. v. Department of Administration, Division of Retirement, 580 So.2d 641 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), approved, 595 So. 2d 42 (Fla. 1992) (general rule is that in cases of conflicting statutory provisions, latter expression will prevail over former). Here, with the enactment of Chapter 2009-85, Laws of Florida, the Legislature clearly intended for public officers who serve on specific types of boards dealing with transportation issues (and presumably significant sums of money) to file the more detailed financial disclosure rather than the limited disclosure required by Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. We can find no basis to conclude that the Legislature intended to exclude the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority from this requirement. Therefore, as the last expression of the Legislature's intent, we must give due deference to Section 20 of Chapter 2009-85, Laws of Florida.
We also believe that the Legislature intended for all members of the Authority's Board of Directors to file disclosure. In CEO 03-2, we opined that the "at-large" members of the board of directors of Enterprise Florida, Inc., were required to file full and public disclosure of financial interests. As in that situation, there is no distinction in Section 348.0003(4)(c) between voting members and non-voting or ex officio members.
Accordingly, we find that all members of the Board of Supervisors for the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority are required to comply with the financial disclosure requirements of Section 348.0003(4)(c), Florida Statutes (2009), and file the 2009 CE Form 6-Full and Public Disclosure of Financial Interests. As we have no jurisdiction over the election laws, we have no authority to determine which disclosure form must be filed by candidates when qualifying for election as a member of the Board of Supervisors.
ORDERED by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics meeting in public session on September 3, 2010 and RENDERED this 8th day of September, 2010.
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Roy Rogers, Chairman