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County Counsel recommending the Board review and approve the attached revised Conflict of Interest Code received from Showcase Ranches Community Services District.
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Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost: None.
Discussion: The Political Reform Act, Government Code §81000 et seq., contains several sections dealing with conflicts of interest of public officials, including a prohibition on participating in a decision in which the official has a financial interest, a requirement that the official disclose certain economic interests, and a prohibition on receiving gifts and honoraria. Government Code §87300 requires that each local public agency shall adopt its own local conflict of interest code, which must contain certain specified provisions, including a designation of specific employment positions with the public entity that make decisions which may have an effect on economic interests, and a description of the type of economic interest each designated employee must disclose on his or her statement of economic interest. In order to simplify the process for local public entities, state law permits a local public entity to adopt a particular state regulation, Title 2, California Code of Regulations (2 CCR) §18730, as its conflict of interest code, and attach to it an appendix of designated employees plus an appendix of disclosure categories for each of the designated employees. The incorporation of the state regulation into a county’s code means that the code is automatically updated if the regulation is changed in the future.
Local conflict of interest codes must be updated periodically to account for changes in employment positions and job duties, and the updated code must be submitted to the designated “code reviewing body” for review and approval. Government Code §82011(b) designates the county Board of Supervisors as the code reviewing body for “any local government agency, other than a city agency, with jurisdiction wholly within the county...
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