Relating to permissible honoraria from restricted donors to public officials and public employees

This bill relates to permissible honoraria from restricted donors to public officials and public employees. Under Code chapter 68B (government ethics and lobbying), a public official or public employee is prohibited from seeking or accepting an honorarium from a restricted donor, subject to certain exceptions. One such exception permits a public official or public employee to accept an honorarium if the honorarium consists of payment for the public official or public employee’s actual expenses for registration, food, beverages, travel, and lodging paid in return for participation in a panel or speaking engagement when the expenses relate directly to the day or days on which the public official or public employee has participation or presentation responsibilities. The bill provides that a public official or public employee may not accept an honorarium that is payment for actual expenses in exchange for a panel or speaking engagement if the payment exceeds $499 per day. Current law provides two further exceptions to the prohibition on a public official or public employee from accepting an honorarium. First, if the honorarium consists of a nonmonetary item that the public official or public employee donates within days to a public body, a bona fide educational or charitable organization, or the department of administrative services. Second, if the honorarium consists of a payment made to a public official or public employee for services rendered as part of a bona fide private business in which the public official or public employee is engaged if the payment is commensurate with the actual services rendered and is not being made because of the person’s status as a public official or public employee. The bill requires a public official or public employee who accepts an honorarium under any of these exceptions to, within days of doing so, file a report with the ethics and campaign disclosure board which describes and states an aggregate value of all payments, services, and property accepted. The bill likewise requires the restricted donor who provided the honorarium to file a report containing the same information with the ethics and campaign disclosure board. The ethics and campaign disclosure board must then make the reports available on the board’s internet site. A knowing and intentional violation of the limitations on accepting an honorarium or failing to file a report required by the bill is a serious misdemeanor. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315 but not more than $1,875. In addition, a person who accepts an honorarium in violation of Code chapter 68B or fails to file a report required by the bill is subject to civil penalties or disciplinary action issued by the ethics and campaign disclosure board and to disciplinary action taken by the ethics committees of the senate and house of representatives.