CEO 81-78 -- December 18, 1981

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

EMPLOYEE OF DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS SERVING AS PRESIDENT OF NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION RECEIVING FUNDS FROM DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES

To: Mr. Joseph E. Papy, Regional Training Specialist, Florida Department of Corrections, Tampa

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest would be created were an employee of the Department of Corrections to serve as president of a nonprofit organization which serves the needs of mentally retarded persons and which receives funding from the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. The employee's agency, the Department of Corrections, is a different entity from the State agency with which the nonprofit corporation has contracted. Therefore, the employee would not be acting as an officer of a corporation which is selling any goods or services to his agency and would not have any employment or contractual relationship with a business entity which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, his agency.

QUESTION:

Would a prohibited conflict of interest be created were you, an employee of the Department of Corrections, to serve as president of a nonprofit organization which serves the needs of mentally retarded persons and which receives funding from the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are employed by the State Department of Corrections as a Regional Training Specialist. You also advise that you have been nominated to serve as president of a nonprofit organization which serves the needs of the mentally retarded in the Tampa area and which operates a residential group home. You further advise that you would receive no salary as president of the organization, which receives State funding from the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, as well as federal funding.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees provides:

DOING BUSINESS WITH ONE'S AGENCY. -- No employee of an agency acting in his official capacity as a purchasing agent, or public officer acting in his official capacity, shall either directly or indirectly purchase, rent, or lease any realty, goods, or services for his own agency from any business entity of which he or his spouse or child is an officer, partner, director, or proprietor or in which such officer or employee or his spouse or child, or any combination of them, has a material interest. Nor shall a public officer or employee, acting in a private capacity, rent, lease, or sell any realty, goods, or services to his own agency, if he is a state officer or employee, or to any political subdivision or any agency thereof, if he is serving as an officer or employee of that political subdivision. The foregoing shall not apply to district offices maintained by legislators when such offices are located in the legislator's place of business. This subsection shall not affect or be construed to prohibit contracts entered into prior to:

(a) October 1, 1975.

(b) Qualification for elective office.

(d) Beginning public employment.

[Section 112.313(3), F. S.]

This provision prohibits you from acting as an officer of a corporation which is selling any goods or services to your "agency."

The Code of Ethics also provides:

CONFLICTING EMPLOYMENT OR CONTRACTUAL RELATIONSHIP. -- No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he is an officer or employee . . . ; nor shall an officer or employee of an agency have or hold any employment or contractual relationship that will create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict between his private interests and the performance of his public duties or that would impede the full and faithful discharge of his public duties. [Section 112.313(7)(a), F. S.]

This provision prohibits you from having any employment or contractual relationship with a business entity which is subject to the regulation of or is doing business with your "agency."

The term "agency" is defined in Section 112.312(2), F. S., to include any state department, division, or bureau. It is apparent that your "agency" as an employee of the Department of Corrections is different from the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, which provides funding for the nonprofit organization which you would be serving as president.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest would be created were you to serve as president of a nonprofit organization receiving funding from the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services while being employed by the Department of Corrections.