DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTERESTS

APPLICABILITY OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE LAW TO
MEMBERS OF THE MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS
HIGH SCHOOL PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION

To: Mr. Jason L. Jones, General Counsel, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (Tallahassee)

SUMMARY:

Members of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission are "state officers" subject to the financial disclosure requirements of Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. CEO 00-2, CEO 99-2, and CEO 77-178 are referenced.¹

QUESTION:

Are members of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission "state officers" subject to the financial disclosure requirements of Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes?

Your question is answered in the affirmative.

In your letter of inquiry, you ask, as the General Counsel for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, whether members of the newly-created Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission (the Commission) are "state officers" required to comply with the financial disclosure requirements of Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. The Commission was created by language in the Public Safety Act, which became effective on March 9, 2018, and is codified in Section 943.687, Florida Statutes.

According to Section 943.687(1), Florida Statutes, the Commission is housed within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and, pursuant to Section 943.687(2), Florida Statutes, its members are appointed. The Commission's role is defined in Section 943.687(3), Florida Statutes, which charges the Commission with analyzing information and evidence from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and other incidents of mass violence in Florida. Then, according to Section 943.687(9), Florida Statutes, the Commission is required, by January 1, 2019, to "submit an initial report on its findings and recommendations to the Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives [and it may be required to] issue reports annually thereafter." The enacting legislation does not contain any provision requiring members of the Commission to comply with the financial disclosure requirements found in the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees, Part III, Chapter 112, Florida Statutes ("Code of Ethics").

The financial disclosure law requirement relevant to your inquiry is Section 112.3145(2)(b), Florida Statutes, which requires certain "state officers" to file a statement of financial interests (CE Form 1) no later than July 1 of each year. The term "state officer" is defined in Section 112.3145(1)(c)2., Florida Statutes, to include:

An appointed member of each board, commission, authority, or council having statewide jurisdiction, excluding a member of an advisory body.

The Commission is an appointed body and, considering that it may investigate incidents of mass violence in Florida, its jurisdiction is statewide. The only question remaining, then, is whether it qualifies as an "advisory body," which would trigger the statutory exemption.

Section 112.312(1), Florida Statutes, defines "advisory body" to mean:

Any board, commission, committee, council, or authority, however selected, whose total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of each agency it serves or $100,000, whichever is less, and whose powers, jurisdiction, and authority are solely advisory and do not include the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to its internal operations.

We recognized in CEO 77-178 that this definition creates a two-part test for determining whether an entity is an "advisory body." The first part relates to the entity's total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures, while the second concerns its powers or authority. See also CEO 00-2 and CEO 99-2. If it is determined that the entity's finances fall within the statutory limits, and that it has only advisory authority, then the entity will be considered an "advisory body" for purposes of the exemption.

Turning to the first requirement, we must compare the Commission's total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures to either one percent of FDLE's total budget or the figure of $100,000, whichever is less. Because you advise that FDLE's total budget is $295 million (meaning that one percent of this budget is $2,950,000), we must use the figure of $100,000 as a measure. You advise that the Commission has no allocated budget, but that the Legislature has granted appropriations totaling $650,000 for the Commission's operation during the 2018-2019 fiscal year.² This amount is greater than $100,000, and, accordingly, the Commission does not meet the first requirement to qualify as an "advisory body," making it unnecessary to consider the second requirement.

Considering the foregoing, we find that the members of the Commission are "state officers" as described in Section 112.3145(1)(c)2., and therefore are required to file an annual CE Form 1. In view of the timing of this opinion, we find that the first Form 1 filing of sitting members of the Commission should be on or before July 13, 2018 (30 days from rendition of this opinion), that new members should file within 30 days of their appointment, and that all members should file Form 1F and Form 1X, as appropriate.³

Your question is answered accordingly.

ORDERED by the State of Florida Commission on Ethics meeting in public session on June 8, 2018, and RENDERED this 13th day of June, 2018.

____________________________________

Michelle Anchors, Chair

^[1]Prior opinions of the Commission on Ethics can be viewed at www.ethics.state.fl.us.

^[2]This appropriation is found in Section 46 of the Public Safety Act (Chapter 2018-3, Laws of Florida).

^[3]The Commission members will need to file a 2017 CE Form 1. However, any member who has already filed a 2017 CE Form 1—or who has already filed a 2017 CE Form 6 pursuant to s. 8, Art. II of the State Constitution—will not need to submit another 2017 CE Form 1.