CEO 77-94 -- July 21, 1977

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION COMMITTEES

APPLICABILITY OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE PROVISIONS TO MEMBERS

To: Frasier O. Bingham, State Consulting Ecologist, Department of Transportation, Tallahassee

Prepared by: Phil Claypool

SUMMARY:

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides that each "state officer" shall file a statement of financial interests annually. Section 112.3145(2)(b), F. S. 1975. The term "state officer" is defined to include an appointed member of any board having statewide jurisdiction, excluding a member of an advisory body. Reference is made to CEO 76-143, in which it was determined that a body with statewide jurisdiction and natural resources responsibilities may not be deemed an advisory body for purposes of financial disclosure. Accordingly, one who serves as a member of the Department of Environmental Regulation Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Urban Runoff, Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Construction, Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Hydrologic Modification, and Statewide Planning Advisory Committee is a state officer subject to the annual filing of financial disclosure.

QUESTION:

Am I, a member of four Department of Environmental Regulation advisory committees, a "state officer" for purposes of financial disclosure?

This question is answered in the affirmative.

According to information provided our staff in telephone conversations with you and with Dr. Tim Stuart, Chief of the Bureau of Water Quality Management of the Department of Environmental Regulation (D.E.R.), that department has established four technical advisory committees in order to advise the department and assist it in fulfilling its water quality responsibilities under s. 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Public Law 92-500. These committees are the Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Urban Runoff, Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Construction, the Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Hydrologic Modification, and the Statewide Planning Advisory Committee.

You have stated that D.E.R. requested that a person from the Department of Transportation serve on these committees and that you, as consulting ecologist to that department, were chosen. The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides that each "state officer" shall file a statement of financial interests annually. Section 112.3145(2)(b), F. S. 1975. The term "state officer" is defined to include:

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

The term "state officer" is applicable here rather than "local officer," as provided in s. 112.3145(1)(a)2., because each of the four subject committees has statewide jurisdiction and because the Department of Environmental Regulation is not a political subdivision of the state. In accordance with the rationale to question 2 of CEO 76-143, a copy of which is enclosed, we find that a body with statewide jurisdiction and natural resources responsibilities may not be deemed an advisory body for purposes of the above-quoted definition of "state officer." Moreover, as explained in our answer to question 1 of that opinion, the financial disclosure law encompasses boards which have been established by executive or administrative action.

Accordingly, as the duties of each of the subject committees lie in the area of natural resources, we find that the members of the Department of Environmental Regulation Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Urban Runoff, Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Construction, Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Hydrologic Modification, and Statewide Planning Advisory Committee are "state officers" and therefore are required to file a statement of financial interests annually.