Advisory Opinion No. 2007-30 Advisory Opinion No. 2007-30 Re: David Medeiros QUESTION PRESENTED The petitioner, a member of the East Providence School Committee, a municipal elected position, requests an advisory opinion regarding his participation in the East Providence School Department budget given that members of his family are employed by the School Department as bus monitors. RESPONSE It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a member of the East Providence School Committee, is prohibited by the Code of Ethics from participating in any budgetary line item relative to bus monitors, but he may vote on the budget as a whole. The petitioner is a member of the East Providence School Committee. He represents that both his mother and an aunt are employed by the East Providence School Department as bus monitors. He states that bus monitors receive no health benefits, no pension and that they receive the state’s minimum hourly wage in return for their services. Given these representations, the petitioner seeks clarification as to his permitted participation on the School Committee’s decision-making relative to the School Department’s budget. Commission Regulation 36-14-5004 specifically addresses the question raised by the petitioner. It reads, in pertinent part: (3) Participation in Budgets. (A) General Prohibition. No person subject to the Code of Ethics shall participate in discussion or decision-making relative to a budgetary line item that would address or affect the employment, compensation or benefits of any person within his or her family or a household member. (B) Specific Line Items. Notwithstanding the prohibition set forth in subsection 3(A), a person subject to the Code of Ethics may, only in accordance with particular instructions and advice received from the Ethics Commission in a written advisory opinion, participate in discussion or decision-making relative to a budgetary line item that addresses or affects the employment, compensation or benefits of any person within his or her family or a household member as a member of a significant and definable class of persons, and not individually or to any greater extent than any other similarly situated member of the class. (C) Vote on Entire Budget. Notwithstanding the prohibition set forth in subsection 3(A), a person subject to the Code of Ethics may participate in discussion or decision-making relative to approving or rejecting the entire budget as a whole, provided that the person within his or her family or household member is impacted by the entire budget as a member of a significant and definable class of persons, and not individually or to any greater extent than any other similarly situated member of the class. Commission Regulation 36-14-5004(a)(3). Pursuant to this provision, the petitioner is prohibited from participating in any School Committee discussion or voting on the bus monitor line item in the budget. However, the petitioner is permitted to participate in the School Committee’s discussion and decision-making relative to approving or rejecting the entire budget as a whole. The basis for allowing such participation is an assumption that that a vote on an overall budget is sufficiently remote from most particular line items so as not to constitute a substantial conflict of interest in violation of the Code. See A.O. 2005-17 (Portsmouth Town Council member may vote on Town Budget notwithstanding that his spouse is employed as a teacher in the Town); A.O. 2002-44 (Warwick City Councilor, whose spouse was employed by the Warwick School Department, may participate in and/or vote on the Town budget even if it includes matters related to school budgets and school issues generally, provided that he does not participate in and/or vote on specific matters related to personnel issues affecting his spouse). Although the petitioner is permitted to participate in the overall vote to approve or reject the budget, the Commission is aware that a general discussion can quickly devolve into a more narrow review of specific items. The petitioner must be vigilant to identify such instances where a general conversation begins to focus on bus monitor or transportation issues that are likely to financially impact his family members. In such circumstances, the petitioner must recuse from further participation or, if possible, seek further guidance from the Ethics Commission. Code Citations : Commission Regulation 5004 36-14-5(a) 36-14-7(a) Related Advisory Opinions : 2005-17 2003-25 2003-9 2002-44 98-88 Keywords : Budgets Family: Public employment