Advisory Opinion No. 2005-27 Re: Andres Blanco QUESTION PRESENTED: The petitioner, a Senior Health Services Policy and Systems Specialist employed by the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), a state employee position, requests an advisory opinion as to whether his part-time employment with a non-profit organization, which receives partial funding by the Department of Health, constitutes a violation of the Code of Ethics. RESPONSE: It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a Senior Health Services Policy and Systems Specialist employed by the RIDOH, a state employee position, may continue his part-time employment with a non-profit organization although the organization is partially funded by the RIDOH. The petitioner advises that he has been employed by the RIDOH, Division of Family Health, as a Senior Health Services Policy and System Specialist for KIDSNET since January 2005. The petitioner informs that KIDSNET is an Integrated Child Health Information System that contains data from nine public health programs which is available to heath care providers, schools, headstart programs and RIDOH programs. The petitioner further advises that on December 18, 2002, he was employed by DataLogics as an assistant manager assigned to the RIDOH as a consultant for KIDSNET. At that time, DataLogics had a contract with the RIDOH to provide consulting work for KIDSNET. The petitioner represents that in May 2004, while he was still an employee of DataLogics, Deborah Garneau, a chief within the Division of Family Health, asked the petitioner if he had time outside of his employment with DataLogics to work to develop and maintain a database for Family Voices of RI (FVRI). The petitioner advises that FVRI is a non-profit organization which serves as a national network of families and friends of children with special healthcare needs and receives partial funding from the RIDOH. The petitioner provides that his role with FVRI involves data entry, maintaining the database and generating reports from the database and that he does this part-time work at night or on the weekends. The petitioner informs that no state property, time or resources have ever been used since his involvement with FVRI and while a state employee. Furthermore, the petitioner represents that the project he has been working on and will continue to work on does not receive funding from the RIDOH but from a grant provided by the Utah State University. Given these representations, the petitioner asks whether his current part-time employment violates the Code of Ethics. Under the Code of Ethics, a public official or employee may not accept other employment that will either impair the independence of his judgment as to his official duties or employment, or that would require him to disclose confidential information acquired in the course of his official duties. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(b). In addition, a public official or employee may not participate in any matter in which he has an interest, financial or otherwise, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his duties in the public interest. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). A public official or employee will have an interest in substantial conflict with his official duties if it is reasonably foreseeable that a “direct monetary gain” or a “direct monetary loss” will accrue, by virtue of his activity, to himself, a family member, a business associate, or any business by which he is employed or which he represents. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(a); Regulation 36-14-7001. The Code also provides that a public official or employee may not use his office or position to obtain financial gain for himself, a family member, a business associate, an employer, or any business that he represents. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). The Code prohibits the petitioner from representing himself, or any other person, or acting as an expert witness before any state agency by which he is employed. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(e)(1)-(3). Furthermore, a public official or employee must recuse himself from participating in a matter in which his business associate appears before the state agency by which he is employed. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(f). In previous advisory opinions, the Commission has given its approval to public employees to accept outside employment provided that (1) the public employee’s official duties did not directly relate to his private employment, (2) the public employee completed such work outside of his normal working hours, and (3) the public employee did not appear before his own agency. See A.O. 2005-15 (Principal Civil Engineer employed by the RI Department of Environmental Management, a state employee position, may accept part-time employment with a private firm that submits work to the RIDEM). See also A.O. 2004-24 (member of City of Cranston Fire Department, a municipal employee position, and an Assistant Deputy State Fire Marshal, a state appointed position, may provide consulting services relating to fire safety and code compliance outside of Cranston). In Advisory Opinion 2003-51, the Commission clarified that section 5(e) prohibits public officials from representing other persons before any office, section, program, or division of the state agency by which they are employed. Here, the petitioner represents that his part-time work does not relate to his official duties, that he would complete the work on his own time without public resources, and that the nature of his work would not require him to appear before his own agency. Accordingly, the Commission opines that, provided that the petitioner adheres to his representations, the petitioner’s part-time work would be in compliance with the Code of Ethics. The petitioner is advised that this opinion solely addresses the Code of Ethics and does not, and cannot, address whether the RIDOH policies or regulations, or any other statutes, rulings or policies prohibit such simultaneous employment. Code Citations: 36-14-5(a) 36-14-5(b) 36-14-5(d) 36-14-5(e)(1)-(3) 36-14-5(f) 36-14-7(a) Regulation 36-14-7001 Related Advisory Opinions: 2005-15 2003-67 2003-51 2003-28 Keywords: Private employment