CEO 77-154 -- September 22, 1977

MULTIPHASIC HEALTH TESTING CENTER

ADVISORY COUNCIL APPLICABILITY OF STATUTORY FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE TO MEMBERS

To: Michael B. Butler, M.D., Multiphasic Health Testing Center Advisory Council, Orlando

Prepared by: Phil Claypool

SUMMARY:

The Multiphasic Health Testing Center Advisory Council, established pursuant to Ch. 77-48, Laws of Florida, constitutes an "advisory body" for purposes of the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees. Section 112.312(1), F. S. 1975. Members of the council therefore are not "state officers," as defined by s. 112.3145(1)(c)2., F. S., and accordingly are not subject to financial disclosure.

QUESTION:

Am I, a newly appointed member of the Multiphasic Health Testing Center Advisory Council, a "state officer" for purposes of filing financial disclosure?

Your question is answered in the negative.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides that each "state officer" shall file financial disclosure 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.]

In turn, "advisory body" is defined 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. [Section 112.312(1), F. S. 1975.]

Chapter 77-48, Laws of Florida, creates part II of Ch. 483, F. S., known as the Florida Multiphasic Health Testing Center Law. That law provides that the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (D.H.R.S.) must license each multiphasic health testing center in the state. It further defines a "multiphasic health testing center" as

any fixed or mobile facility where specimens are taken from the human body for delivery to registered clinical laboratories for analyses, and where certain measurements such as height and weight determination, blood pressure determination, limited audio and visual tests, and electrocardiograms are made. [Chapter 77-48, Laws of Florida.]

In addition, the law creates a Multiphasic Health Testing Center Advisory Council, composed of five persons appointed by the Governor, "to advise the department in the fulfillment of its responsibilities under this part, including the preparation of rules and the formulation of policy and standards." The council is to be abolished July 1, 1978, and, as Mr. Russell Jackson of the D.H.R.S. Health Program Office advised our staff, the council has no budget.

Clearly, the council meets all of the tests outlined in the definition of "advisory body," above. Accordingly, we find that as a member of the Multiphasic Health Testing Center Advisory Council you are not a "state officer" and that you therefore need not file financial disclosure.