Advisory Opinion No. 95-70

Re: The Honorable Leona A. Kelley

A. QUESTION PRESENTED

The Deputy House Minority Leader, who is a retired school teacher, requests an advisory opinion as to whether she may participate and vote on matters relating to pension benefits to state workers and teachers.

B. SUMMARY

Pursuant to the Rhode Island Code of Ethics, the Deputy House Minority Leader, a retired school teacher, should not participate in negotiations related to pension benefits to state workers and teachers when such participation entails involvement in the negotiation process, except in situations in which it is clear that the particular matter or item being discussed or negotiated in no way could effect her rights or entitlements as a participant in the state's pension system. Given that it is impossible to determine which groups will be significant and definable during such negotiations and given that a legislator, particularly a member of the leadership, may play a role in defining the groups to be impacted by the pension legislation, the R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b) exception cannot be applied reliably. However, the Commission finds that, the Code of Ethics may allow the Deputy House Minority Leader to vote on proposed legislation relating to such pension benefits, depending upon the provisions ultimately included in the bills that come to a vote.

C. DISCUSSION

1. Facts

Leona A. Kelley, the Deputy House Minority Leader, advises that she is also a retired school teacher. The petitioner requests an advisory opinion as to whether she may participate and vote on matters relating to pension benefits to state workers and teachers.

2. Analysis

At issue in this advisory opinion request is whether the Deputy House Minority Leader who is simultaneously a retired school teacher may participate and vote on matters relating to pension benefits to state workers and teachers. Persons subject to the Code of Ethics are prohibited from using his or her public position or confidential information received through holding any public office to obtain financial gain, other than that provided by law, pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(d). The Code of Ethics also provides that a public official has an interest in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties or employment in the public interest and of his or her responsibilities as prescribed in the laws of this state, if he or she has reason to believe they will derive a direct monetary gain by reason of his or her official activity, pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(a). An exception is created to the conflict of interest law by R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b) in that it allows a public official, who is simultaneously a member of a business, profession, occupation, or group to take public action when he or she is impacted by said public action as a member of a significant and definable class that benefits to no greater extent than any other similarly situated member of said class.

In past decisions, this Commission has endeavored to clarify the distinction between a public act by a public official which benefits said official as an individual and a public act by a public official that benefits a significant and definable class of individuals such as a business sector, a profession, an occupation or other group to which the official is associated and from which the public official benefits to no greater extent than other similarly situated individuals. While the Commission recognizes that legislators are drawn from various occupational backgrounds and professions and bring valuable expertise to the Legislature based on their occupations and professional affiliations, it is imperative that legislator's decisions are guided by the public interest, not a particular legislator's self-interest. General Commission Advisory Opinion No. 13. Accordingly, R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b) provides that a public official does not violate the Code of Ethics when an official act impacts said public official as a member of a significant and definable class of persons to no greater or lesser extent than any other similarly situated member of that class.

The test presented by R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b), relying as it does on the existence of a significant and definable class and that the public official in question be affected to no greater or lesser extent than others similarly situated, has been utilized in various Commission decisions: allowing a member of the General Assembly, simultaneously employed as a social worker, to participate and vote on legislation that would narrow the scope of individuals allowed to identify themselves as social workers (Advisory Opinion 94-25); allowing a Bristol school teacher, simultaneously serving on a negotiating subcommittee of the Bristol School Committee, to participate in the Collective Bargaining Agreement while her emancipated son simultaneously serves as a school teacher for the Bristol School Department (Advisory Opinion 89-38); allowing a member of the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council, who simultaneously owns and operates a commercial fishing business, to participate and vote on a regulation related to winter flounder (Advisory Opinion 92-10); allowing the Coventry Town Solicitor, also representing the School Committee and married to a teacher in the Coventry School Department, to continue to advise the Coventry School Committee (Advisory Opinion 91-27); allowing the Chairman of the Newport School Department to participate in the renewal of a collective bargaining contract with a union of which his son is a member (91-39); allowing a State Senator, simultaneously employed as a tenured high school teacher in the Lincoln Public School system, to participate and vote on matters concerning contract disputes by public school teachers (93-55).

At this juncture, this Commission must provide further guidance in the interpretation of R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b) so that this exception is utilized in a manner consistent with the spirit of the law. The Petitioner, simultaneously the Deputy House Minority Leader and a retired school teacher, requests an advisory opinion as to whether she may participate and vote on matters related to pension benefits to state workers and teachers. Given the nature of the legislative process--involving as it does negotiations among the Governor's Office and the General Assembly, with likely input from other interested parties, as to the form the legislation will ultimately take--this Commission finds that the petitioner's involvement in said process would be problematic for two reasons. First, during this negotiation period, the "significant and definable class" which triggers the R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b) exception may not be evident due to the shifting definitions of groups which may or may not be impacted by proposed legislation. Second, the petitioner's participation in the discussions of the pension benefits legislation places her in a position in which she may participate in defining the groups to be impacted by the pension legislation and determine the extent of this impact.

Therefore, it is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Code of Ethics will not permit Rep. Kelley, the Deputy House Minority Leader and a retired school teacher, to participate in negotiations and other preliminary matters pertaining to pension benefits to state workers and teachers. Such participation may represent activities in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of her duties in the public interest. While a past advisory opinion, involving a legislator and presenting issues comparable to Rep. Kelley's representations (Advisory Opinion 94-25), permitted such participation, this Commission finds that the exception cannot be relied upon during the negotiation process when the definable classes or groups required to trigger the exception have not yet been defined. Additionally, a member of a decision-making body may play a role in determining which groups are to be impacted by the pension legislation before it achieves its final form. Accordingly, we advise Rep. Kelley to exercise notice and recusal pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-6 when legislation concerning pension benefits to state workers and teachers is under discussion.

However, Rep. Kelley may vote on said legislation in its final form assuming that the particular legislative provisions benefit her to no greater extent than a significant and definable class as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7(b). In this case, if legislation concerning pension benefits to state workers and teachers affects all pensioners and prospective pensioners in like manner, Rep. Kelley clearly may vote without violating the Code of Ethics given the enormous size of that class of persons. If, however, the legislation treats different classes and/or categories of pensioners and proposed pensioners differently that likely would preclude relying on 7(b)'s exception. We therefore advise the petitioner that, should the ultimate pension legislation include her within such a significant and definable class, she should prepare a conflict of interest statement as required under R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-6, and file that statement with the House of Representatives and the Rhode Island Ethics Commission prior to voting in connection with this legislation.

We further caution and advise the petitioner that in the event that any matter appears before her in her capacity as a member of the General Assembly which affects her specifically and individually as a retired school teacher or a small segment of retired teachers of which she is associated, or in the event her duality of status should ever impair her independence of judgement as to her official duties or require her to disclose confidential information prohibited by R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-15-5(d), she should: (a) notify the Speaker of the House, in writing, of the nature of her interest in the matter at issue; (b) refrain from any participation and/or voting in connection with said matter. Notice of any recusal should also be filed with the Rhode Island Ethics Commission in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-6.

While Rep. Kelley may not participate in negotiations concerning the pension benefits legislation, she is permitted to publicly express her own viewpoint in a public forum in matters of general public interest--in legislative committees holding public hearings on such legislation, for example--or in a matter which directly affects her pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-7003 ("the public forum exception").

Keywords

Pension Benefit

Budgets

Negotiations

Class Exception