CEO 75-99 -- April 28, 1975

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

APPLICABILITY TO STATE REGULATORY BOARD MEMBERS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

To: John S. Miller, Jr., Attorney, Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, Tallahassee

Prepared by: Jeff Trammel

SUMMARY:

Members of the Florida Sanitarians' Registration Board are public officers pursuant to s. 112.312(7)(b), F. S. (1974 Supp.), and are therefore subject to standards of conduct and disclosure required by part III, Ch. 112, F. S. (1974 Supp.). Because the board is regulatory in nature, it does not fall within the advisory board exclusion. The Executive Director of the Construction Industry Licensing Board is not deemed to be a public officer, however. Although s. 112.312(7)(f) defines the term "public officer" to include executive directors of all state departments, the licensing board is a body within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Its executive director therefore is not subject to provisions applicable to public officers.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is Mr. C. L. "Rich" Culberton, a member of the Florida Sanitarians' Registration Board, a public officer within the meaning of that term as found in part III, Ch. 112, F. S. (1974 Supp.), and therefore subject to the financial disclosure provisions of this law?

2. Is the Executive Director of the Construction Industry Licensing Board, Mr. James K. Linnan, a public officer within the purview of the Code of Ethics, supra, and therefore subject to the financial disclosure provisions of this law?

Question 1 is answered in the affirmative.

The financial disclosure law defines the term "public officer" to include "[m]embers of boards . . . however selected but excluding advisory board members." Section 112.312(7)(b), F. S. (1974 Supp.). In past opinions we have strictly limited the exclusory language of this section to mean bodies whose duties are solely advisory. See CEO 74-22.

An examination of Ch. 491, F. S., the chapter creating the Florida Sanitarians' Registration Board, reveals that the board possesses the power not only to certify applicants for registration as sanitarians, s. 491.09, F. S., but also to revoke or suspend a sanitarian's license, s. 491.12. We must therefore conclude that the Florida Sanitarians' Registration Board is not solely advisory in its nature or functions. Based upon these existing board powers, we find that Mr. Culberton, as a member of the Florida Sanitarians' Registration Board, is a public officer subject to applicable provisions of part III, Ch. 112, supra.

Question 2 is answered in the negative.

The Code of Ethics exclusively and specifically sets forth which public officials are deemed to be "public officers" for purposes of this statute. See s. 112.312(7), F. S. (1974 Supp.). Executive directors of "all state departments" are among those enumerated as public officers in this section. Mr. Linnan is the executive director of a board under the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and consequently is excluded from definition as a public officer. It follows that he is not subject to the financial disclosure requirements of s. 112.3145, F. S. (1974 Supp.).