CEO 83-89 -- December 15, 1983

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

APPLICABILITY OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE LAW TO PRIVATE INDUSTRY COUNCIL

To: Mr. O. Earl Black, Jr., Assistant County Attorney, Leon County

SUMMARY:

The members of the Gadsden/Jefferson/Leon/Wakulla Counties Private Industry Council are "local officers" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests annually under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes. CEO 83-47 is referenced. The Council does not perform in an advisory role merely because the Governor is required to approve or disapprove the Job Training Plan for the area served by the Council.

QUESTION:

Are the members of the Gadsden/Jefferson/Leon/Wakulla Counties Private Industry Council "local officers" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests annually?

Your question is answered in the affirmative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that the Gadsden/Jefferson/Leon/Wakulla Counties Private Industry Council (PIC) was created under the Job Training Partnership Act (Public Law 97-300) to make recommendations in conjunction with the chief elected officials for the service delivery area consisting of these counties. The PIC will not have a budget; nor will it hire a staff, incorporate, or solicit or accept contributions and grant funds from other public and private sources, you advise. The administration of the job training program, including development of the job training plan, review, monitoring and evaluation, will be carried out by the Leon County Department of Human Resources.

In a previous opinion, CEO 83-47, we found that members of the Broward Employment and Training Administration Private Industry Council were required to file financial disclosure under Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes, as that PIC did not perform a solely advisory function. You argue that the PIC has substantially different powers than those of the BETA PIC in CEO 83-47, as the PIC can only recommend programs and services to the Governor, who makes the final decision as to approval or disapproval of the job training plan for the service delivery area.

We disagree with your contention that the PIC merely performs an advisory function in making recommendations to the Governor. In addition to the other responsibilities of private industry councils provided in Section 103 of the Job Training Partnership Act, Section 103(d) provides that no job training plan may be submitted to the Governor unless the plan has been approved by the council and the plan is submitted jointly by the council and the appropriate chief elected officials of the service delivery area. Section 105(b)(1) provides that the Governor shall approve the plan unless he finds that one or more of certain criteria specified in the Act have not been met. Section 105(b)(2) authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Labor to review disapprovals of plans by the Governor to determine whether the Governor's disapproval complies with the criteria specified in the Act.

Given this language, we do not understand a PIC merely to advise and make recommendations to the Governor, who would be authorized to formulate the job training plan for the service delivery area. Rather, it appears that each council is required to approve the plan for its area and that the Governor has a "veto" power over the plan based only on specified criteria. As the PIC's role therefore is the same as the BETA PIC in CEO 83-47, we are of the opinion that the financial disclosure law applies to members of the PIC for the same reasons expressed in CEO 83-47.

Accordingly, we find that the members of the Gadsden/Jefferson/Leon/Wakulla Counties PIC are "local officers" subject to the requirement of filing a statement of financial interests annually pursuant to Section 112.3145, Florida Statutes.