Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 552
       
       
       
       By Senator Dockery
       
       
       
       
       15-00228D-12                                           2012552__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to ethics; amending s. 112.3143, F.S.;
    3         defining the term “special private gain or loss”;
    4         providing an exception to provisions relating to
    5         voting conflicts, to conform to changes made by the
    6         act; creating s. 112.31435, F.S.; providing
    7         definitions; prohibiting a member of the Legislature
    8         from voting upon or participating in any legislation
    9         inuring to the personal gain or loss of the member or
   10         his or her relative; prohibiting a member of the
   11         Legislature from participating in any legislation
   12         inuring to the personal gain or loss of a business
   13         associate, employer, board on which the member sits,
   14         principal by whom the member is retained, or parent
   15         corporation or subsidiary of such principal; requiring
   16         that a member disclose all such interests to the
   17         applicable legislative body or committee before the
   18         legislation is considered; requiring that the member
   19         disclose the specific nature of any such interests
   20         within a specified period after the date on which a
   21         vote on the legislation occurs; requiring that such
   22         disclosure be made by written memorandum and filed
   23         with the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the
   24         House of Representatives; requiring that the
   25         memorandum be recorded in the journal of the house of
   26         which the legislator is a member; requiring that
   27         members of the Legislature vote on the General
   28         Appropriations Act and disclose conflicts of interest
   29         with any line-item appropriation; providing an
   30         effective date.
   31  
   32  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   33  
   34         Section 1. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 112.3143,
   35  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   36         112.3143 Voting conflicts.—
   37         (1) As used in this section:
   38         (a) “Public officer” includes any person elected or
   39  appointed to hold office in any agency, including any person
   40  serving on an advisory body.
   41         (b) “Relative” means any father, mother, son, daughter,
   42  husband, wife, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law,
   43  son-in-law, or daughter-in-law.
   44         (c) “Special private gain or loss” means a gain or loss
   45  that inures only to the benefit or detriment of a public officer
   46  or his or her relative, principal, or corporate parent or
   47  subsidiary of a corporate principal, or a gain or loss that
   48  inures to the benefit or detriment of an enumerated beneficiary
   49  differently than the rest of those affected by the matter.
   50         (2) Except as provided in s. 112.31435, no state public
   51  officer is prohibited from voting in an official capacity on any
   52  matter. However, any state public officer voting in an official
   53  capacity upon any measure that which would inure to the
   54  officer’s special private gain or loss; that which he or she
   55  knows would inure to the special private gain or loss of any
   56  principal by whom the officer is retained or of to the parent
   57  organization or subsidiary of a corporate principal by which the
   58  officer is retained; or that which the officer knows would inure
   59  to the special private gain or loss of a relative or business
   60  associate of the public officer shall, within 15 days after the
   61  vote occurs, disclose the nature of his or her interest as a
   62  public record in a memorandum filed with the person responsible
   63  for recording the minutes of the meeting, who shall incorporate
   64  the memorandum in the minutes.
   65         Section 2. Section 112.31435, Florida Statutes, is created
   66  to read:
   67         112.31435Voting conflicts; state legislators.—
   68         (1)As used in this section, the term:
   69         (a)“Participate” means any attempt, other than casting a
   70  vote, to influence the passage, defeat, or amendment of
   71  legislation by oral or written communication made by a
   72  legislator or at the legislator’s direction.
   73         (b)“Relative” means any father, mother, son, daughter,
   74  husband, wife, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law,
   75  son-in-law, or daughter-in-law.
   76         (c) “Special private gain or loss” means a gain or loss
   77  that inures only to the benefit or detriment of a public officer
   78  or his or her relative, principal, or corporate parent or
   79  subsidiary of a corporate principal, or a gain or loss that
   80  inures to the benefit or detriment of an enumerated beneficiary
   81  differently than the rest of those affected by the matter.
   82         (2)A member of the Legislature may not vote upon or
   83  participate in any legislation that would inure to his or her
   84  special private gain or loss or that he or she knows would inure
   85  to the special private gain or loss of his or her relative. The
   86  member must, before any consideration of the legislation by the
   87  legislative body of which he or she is a member or any committee
   88  on which he or she sits, publicly state to the body or committee
   89  all of his or her interests in the legislation or all of the
   90  relative’s interests in the legislation which are known to the
   91  member and, within 15 days after the date on which a vote on the
   92  legislation occurs, disclose the specific nature of those
   93  interests as a public record in a memorandum filed with the
   94  Secretary of the Senate, if the member is a Senator, or filed
   95  with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, if the member is
   96  a Representative. The memorandum shall be spread upon the pages
   97  of the journal of the house of which the legislator is a member.
   98         (3)A member of the Legislature may not participate in any
   99  legislation that he or she knows would inure to the special
  100  private gain or loss of a principal by whom he or she is
  101  retained, the parent organization or subsidiary of a corporate
  102  principal by which he or she is retained, a business associate,
  103  an employer, or a board on which the member sits. The member
  104  must, before any consideration of the legislation by the
  105  legislative body of which he or she is a member or any committee
  106  on which he or she sits, publicly state to the body or committee
  107  all of the interests in the legislation of the principals,
  108  parent organizations or subsidiaries of a corporate principal,
  109  business associates, employers, or boards which are known to the
  110  member and, within 15 days after the date on which a vote on the
  111  legislation occurs, disclose the specific nature of those
  112  interests as a public record in a memorandum filed with the
  113  Secretary of the Senate, if the member is a Senator, or filed
  114  with the Clerk of the House of Representatives, if the member is
  115  a Representative. The memorandum shall be spread upon the pages
  116  of the journal of the house of which the legislator is a member.
  117         (4) A member of the Legislature must vote on the General
  118  Appropriations Act and must disclose any conflict of interest
  119  that the legislator may have with a line-item appropriation in
  120  the act.
  121         Section 3. This act shall take effect October 1, 2012.