Advisory Opinion No. 2007-26 Advisory Opinion No. 2007-26 Re: The Honorable Beatrice A. Lanzi QUESTION PRESENTED The petitioner, a legislator serving in the Rhode Island Senate, a state elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding whether she may participate in Senate discussion and voting relative to passing the FY2008 State Budget, given that this budget includes appropriations to enable state agencies to contract with the petitioner’s private employer, United Way of Rhode Island. RESPONSE It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a legislator serving in the Rhode Island Senate, a state elected position, may participate in Senate discussion and voting relative to the FY2008 State Budget as a whole, notwithstanding that this budget includes appropriations to enable state agencies to contract with the petitioner’s private employer, United Way of Rhode Island. The petitioner is a public official serving in the Rhode Island Senate, where she also sits as the Vice Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. In her private capacity the petitioner is employed by United Way of Rhode Island (“United Way”) as the Director of Labor Community Services. She states that United Way is planning to set up and administer a new program known as the “United Way 2-1-1 program (“the program”). The program will create a three-digit telephone number for people to use to access information regarding, and referrals to, providers of health and human services care. According to the petitioner, substantial funding for this program will be in the form of contracts between United Way and three departments of Rhode Island government. The funding for these contracts will be contained in each department’s appropriation in the FY2008 state budget. The petitioner represents that she has not participated in United Way’s negotiations with these departments, or in any Senate Finance Committee hearings at which the departments discussed their FY2008 budget requests. The appropriations to each of these departments, however, will be a part of the overall FY2008 budget and this overall budget will shortly come before the Senate Finance Committee and full Senate for approval or rejection. The petitioner asks whether she is permitted to participate in either of these reviews of the FY2008 budget as a whole. The Code of Ethics prohibits a person subject to the Code from having any interest or engaging in any business or employment which is "in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties" in the public interest and of his or her responsibilities as prescribed in the laws of this state. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a). Section 7(a) of the Code clarifies the language of section 5(a) by providing that an official will have an interest which is "in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties," as prohibited in section 5(a), if he or she has reason to believe or expect that he or she, a family member, employer or business associate will derive a direct monetary gain or suffer a direct monetary loss by reason of his or her official activity. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(a). A "business associate" is an individual or business entity joined together with another individual or business entity to achieve a common financial objective. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-2(3); 36-14-2(7). Section 5(b) of the Code of Ethics prohibits a person subject to the Code from accepting other employment that will impair his or her independence of judgment as to his or her official duties or require or induce him or her to disclose confidential information acquired in the course of his or her official duties. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(b). Section 5(c) of the Code prohibits a person subject to the Code from disclosing or using, for pecuniary gain, confidential information acquired in the course of his or her official duties. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(c). Section 5(d) of the Code prohibits a person subject to the Code from using his or her public office or confidential information received through his or her holding public office to obtain financial gain, other than that provided by law, for him or herself, a family member, employer or business associate. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). Although section 5(a) of the Code of Ethics prohibits the petitioner from taking any official action to financially benefit her private employer, this section does not prohibit the petitioner from participating in the legislature’s vote on the state budget as a whole, either in committee or on the Senate floor. Although the petitioner is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, she represents that she did not participate in any review of departmental budget requests relative to the funding for the United Way contracts. Going forward, the petitioner states that her review of the FY2008 budget will be as to the budget as a whole, and not as to particular departmental budgets or line items relative to the United Way contracts. In the unlikely event that the Senate Finance Committee or the entire Senate considers an amendment to the entire budget that may particularly target or impact the petitioner’s employer or its potential contracts, she is required to recuse from participating in such discussions and voting and must file a notice of recusal with the Ethics Commission and the Senate. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-6. For all of the above reasons and with the aforementioned limitations, it is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Code of Ethics does not prohibit the petitioner from participating in Senate discussion and voting on the FY2008 state budget as a whole. Code Citations: 36-14-5(a) 36-14-5(b) 36-14-5(c) 36-14-5(d) 36-14-6 36-14-7(a) 36-14-7(b) Keywords : Private employment Budgets