CEO 76-9 -- January 16, 1976

STATE NURSING HOME OMBUDSMAN COMMITTEE

APPLICABILITY OF DISCLOSURE LAW TO MEMBERS

To: Ben Salter, State Nursing Home Ombudsman Committee, Hallandale

Prepared by: Gene Rhodes

SUMMARY:

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees defines the term "state officer" to include "[a]n appointed member of each board, commission, authority, or council having statewide jurisdiction, excluding a member of an advisory body." Fla. Stat. s. 112.3145(1)(c)2. This definition is clearly intended to encompass all collegial bodies which are nonadvisory in nature. An advisory body is defined by s. 112.312(1) to mean any body whose total funding constitutes "less than 1 percent of 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." Inasmuch as the duties statutorily assigned to the State Nursing Home Ombudsman Committee clearly are not solely advisory, but are regulatory and policymaking in nature, at least one of the above criteria is not met. Therefore, members of that committee are deemed to be state officers subject to financial disclosure requirements.

QUESTION:

Am I, an appointed member of the State Nursing Home Ombudsman Committee, a "state officer" within the meaning of that term as defined by the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees and therefore required to file a statement of financial disclosure?

Your question is answered in the affirmative.

The duties of the State Nursing Home Ombudsman Committee include helping to establish and coordinate the regional ombudsman committees, serving as an appellate body for complaints not resolved at the regional level, and developing procedures for handling complaints by nursing home facility residents. See s. 26(2), Ch. 75- 233, Laws of Florida.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees defines the term "state officer" to include:

An appointed member of each board, commission, authority, or council having statewide jurisdiction excluding a member of an advisory body. [Fla. Stat. s. 112.3145(1)(c)2.(1975).]

Although this definition does not include the term "committee," it was clearly intended to include all collegial bodies other than advisory bodies. In this instance the committee is not an "advisory body" as that term is defined below:

"Advisory body" means 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. [Fla. Stat. s. 112.312(1)(1975).]

The committee does not fall within the meaning of this definition, lacking one of the three criteria specified therein. Since the committee's duties clearly are not solely advisory, but are regulatory and policymaking in nature, it is our view that members of the State Nursing Home Ombudsman Committee are state officers subject to financial disclosure.