Advisory Opinion No. 97-31

Re: Senator V. Susan Sosnowski

QUESTION PRESENTED

A legislator, an elected member of the Rhode Island State Senate who makes her living as a full-time farmer, requests an advisory opinion as to whether she may simultaneously serve as Chair of the Agricultural Council Advisory Commission to the Department of Environmental Management, a non-compensated, solely advisory position, and/or as an appointed member of the Governor's Environmental Advisory Council, a position which also is non-compensated and solely advisory.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the petitioner, a legislator serving as an elected member of the Rhode Island State Senate, may also serve as Chair of the Agricultural Advisory Commission to the Department of Environmental Management or as an appointed member of the Governor's Environmental Advisory Council. The petitioner makes her living working as a full-time farmer. For the past year she has served as Chair of the Rhode Island Agricultural Council Advisory Commission to the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), a non-compensated, solely advisory position. She recently received an appointment to serve on the Governor's Environmental Advisory Council, a position which also is non-compensated and solely advisory.

The Petitioner's appointments to the Advisory Commission and the Advisory Council do not involve compensation, therefore none of the potential prohibitions in the Code of Ethics regarding appointments by an entity of which an official is a member are applicable. See, e.g., Commission Regulation 5006. In addition, because the positions do not involve compensation issues as to any fiscal or jurisdictional control that the State Senate may exercise over the DEM or the Advisory Council are not relevant. See Commission Regulation 5008. Finally, assuming that both the Advisory Commission and the Advisory Council continue to operate exclusively as advisory bodies, there is no potential conflict of interest presented as to the Petitioner's simultaneous service on those bodies and her work as a member of the State Senate. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-5(a) and (d).

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-5(d)

36-14-5006

36-14-5008

Related Advisory Opinions:

96-91

Keywords:

advisory body

business interest

dual public roles