Whenever used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) BUSINESS. Any corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, self-employed individual, or any other legal entity.
(2) BUSINESS WITH WHICH THE PERSON IS ASSOCIATED. Any business of which the person or a member of his or her family is an officer, owner, partner, board of director member, employee, or holder of more than five percent of the fair market value of the business.
(3) CANDIDATE. This term as used in this chapter shall have the same meaning ascribed to it in Section 17-22A-2.
(4) COMMISSION. The State Ethics Commission.
(5) COMPLAINT. Written allegation or allegations that a violation of this chapter has occurred.
(6) COMPLAINANT. A person who alleges a violation or violations of this chapter by filing a complaint against a respondent.
(7) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. A complaint filed pursuant to this chapter, together with any statement, conversations, knowledge of evidence, or information received from the complainant, witness, or other person related to such complaint.
(8) CONFLICT OF INTEREST. A conflict on the part of a public official or public employee between his or her private interests and the official responsibilities inherent in an office of public trust. A conflict of interest involves any action, inaction, or decision by a public official or public employee in the discharge of his or her official duties which would materially affect his or her financial interest or those of his or her family members or any business with which the person is associated in a manner different from the manner it affects the other members of the class to which he or she belongs. A conflict of interest shall not include any of the following:
a. A loan or financial transaction made or conducted in the ordinary course of business.
b. An occasional nonpecuniary award publicly presented by an organization for performance of public service.
c. Payment of or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenditures for travel and subsistence for the personal attendance of a public official or public employee at a convention or other meeting at which he or she is scheduled to meaningfully participate in connection with his or her official duties and for which attendance no reimbursement is made by the state.
d. Any campaign contribution, including the purchase of tickets to, or advertisements in journals, for political or testimonial dinners, if the contribution is actually used for political purposes and is not given under circumstances from which it could reasonably be inferred that the purpose of the contribution is to substantially influence a public official in the performance of his or her official duties.
(9) DAY. Calendar day.
(10) DEPENDENT. Any person, regardless of his or her legal residence or domicile, who receives 50 percent or more of his or her support from the public official or public employee or his or her spouse or who resided with the public official or public employee for more than 180 days during the reporting period.
(11) FAMILY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. The spouse or a dependent of the public employee.
(12) FAMILY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC OFFICIAL. The spouse, a dependent, an adult child and his or her spouse, a parent, a spouse's parents, a sibling and his or her spouse, of the public official.
(13) GOVERNMENTAL CORPORATIONS AND AUTHORITIES. Public or private corporations and authorities, including but not limited to, hospitals or other health care corporations, established pursuant to state law by state, county or municipal governments for the purpose of carrying out a specific governmental function. Notwithstanding the foregoing, all employees, including contract employees, of hospitals or other health care corporations and authorities are exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
(14) HOUSEHOLD. The public official, public employee, and his or her spouse and dependents.
(15) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. A full-time employee of a governmental unit responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime who is authorized by law to carry firearms, execute search warrants, and make arrests.
(16) LEGISLATIVE BODY. The Senate of Alabama, the House of Representatives of Alabama, a county commission, city council, city commission, town council, or municipal council or commission, and any committee or subcommittee thereof.
(17) LOBBYING. The practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the introduction, defeat, or enactment of legislation before any legislative body; opposing or in any manner influencing the executive approval, veto, or amendment of legislation; or the practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the enactment, promulgation, modification, or deletion of regulations before any regulatory body; provided, however, that providing public testimony before a legislative body or regulatory body or any committee thereof shall not be deemed lobbying.
(18) LOBBYIST.
a. The term lobbyist includes any of the following:
1. A person who receives compensation or reimbursement from another person, group, or entity to lobby.
2. A person who lobbies as a regular and usual part of employment, whether or not any compensation in addition to regular salary and benefits is received.
3. A person who expends in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) for a thing of value, not including funds expended for travel, subsistence expenses, and literature, buttons, stickers, publications, or other acts of free speech, during a calendar year to lobby.
4. A consultant to the state, county, or municipal levels of government or their instrumentalities, in any manner employed to influence legislation or regulation, regardless whether the consultant is paid in whole or part from state, county, municipal, or private funds.
5. An employee, a paid consultant, or a member of the staff of a lobbyist, whether or not he or she is paid, who regularly communicates with members of a legislative body regarding pending legislation and other matters while the legislative body is in session.
b. The term lobbyist does not include any of the following:
1. A member of a legislative body on a matter which involves that person's official duties.
2. A person or attorney rendering professional services in drafting bills or in advising clients and in rendering opinions as to the construction and effect of proposed or pending legislation, executive action, or rules or regulations, where those professional services are not otherwise connected with legislative, executive, or regulatory action.
3. Reporters and editors while pursuing normal reportorial and editorial duties.
4. Any citizen not expending funds as set out above in paragraph a.3. or not lobbying for compensation who contacts a member of a legislative body, or gives public testimony on a particular issue or on particular legislation, or for the purpose of influencing legislation and who is merely exercising his or her constitutional right to communicate with members of a legislative body.
5. A person who appears before a legislative body, a regulatory body, or an executive agency to either sell or purchase goods or services.
6. A person whose primary duties or responsibilities do not include lobbying, but who may, from time to time, organize social events for members of a legislative body to meet and confer with members of professional organizations and who may have only irregular contacts with members of a legislative body when the body is not in session or when the body is in recess.
(19) MINOR VIOLATION. Any violation of this chapter in which the public official or public employee receives an economic gain in an amount less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or the governmental entity has an economic loss of less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250).
(20) PERSON. A business, individual, corporation, partnership, union, association, firm, committee, club, or other organization or group of persons.
(21) PRINCIPAL. A person or business which employs, hires, or otherwise retains a lobbyist. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit a principal from simultaneously serving as his or her own lobbyist.
(22) PROBABLE CAUSE. A finding that the allegations are more likely than not to have occurred.
(23) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. Any person employed at the state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations and authorities, but excluding employees of hospitals or other health care corporations including contract employees of those hospitals or other health care corporations, who is paid in whole or in part from state, county or municipal funds. For purposes of this chapter, a public employee does not include a person employed on a part-time basis whose employment is limited to providing professional services other than lobbying, the compensation for which constitutes less than 50 percent of the part-time employee's income.
(24) PUBLIC OFFICIAL. Any person elected to public office, whether or not that person has taken office, by the vote of the people at state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations, and any person appointed to a position at the state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations. For purposes of this chapter, a public official includes the chairs and vice-chairs or the equivalent offices of each state political party as defined in Section 17-16-2.
(25) REGULATORY BODY. A state agency which issues regulations in accordance with the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act or a state, county, or municipal department, agency, board, or commission which controls, according to rule or regulation, the activities, business licensure, or functions of any group, person, or persons.
(26) REPORTING PERIOD. The reporting official's or employee's fiscal tax year as it applies to his or her United States personal income tax return.
(27) REPORTING YEAR. The reporting official's or employee's fiscal tax year as it applies to his or her United States personal income tax return.
(28) RESPONDENT. A person alleged to have violated a provision of this chapter and against whom a complaint has been filed with the commission.
(29) STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS. A financial disclosure form made available by the commission which shall be completed and filed with the commission prior to April 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar year by certain public officials and public employees.
(30) SUPERVISOR. Any person having authority to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, or discipline other public employees, or any person responsible to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or to recommend personnel action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of the authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.
(31) THING OF VALUE.
a. Any gift, benefit, favor, service, gratuity, tickets or passes to an entertainment, social or sporting event offered only to public officials, unsecured loan, other than those loans made in the ordinary course of business, reward, promise of future employment, or honoraria.
b. The term, thing of value, does not include any of the following, provided that no particular course of action is required as a condition to the receipt thereof:
1. Campaign contribution.
2. Seasonal gifts of an insignificant economic value of less than one hundred dollars ($100) if the aggregate value of such gifts from any single donor is less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) during any one calendar year.
3. Hospitality extended to a public official, public employee, and his or her respective household as a social occasion in the form of food and beverages where the provider is present, lodging in the continental United States and Alaska incidental to the social occasion, and tickets to social or sporting events if the hospitality does not extend beyond three consecutive days and is not continuous in nature and the aggregate value of such hospitality in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day is reported to the commission by the provider provided that the reporting requirement contained in this section shall not apply where the expenditures are made to or on behalf of an organization to which a federal income tax deduction is permitted under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any charitable, education or eleemosynary cause of Section 501 of Title 26 of the U.S. Code, and where the public official or public employee does not receive any direct financial benefit. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of the entire expenditure, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
4. Reasonable transportation, food and beverages where the provider is present, and lodging expenses in the continental United States and Alaska which are provided in conjunction with an educational or informational purpose, together with any hospitality associated therewith; provided, that such hospitality is less than 50 percent of the time spent at such event, and provided further that if the aggregate value of such transportation, lodging, food, beverages, and any hospitality provided to such public employee, public official, and his or her respective household is in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day the total amount expended shall be reported to the commission by the provider. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of the entire expenditure, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
5. Payment of or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenditures for travel and subsistence of a public official or public employee in connection with an economic development research or trade mission, or for attendance at a mission or meeting in which he or she is scheduled to meaningfully participate, or regarding matters related to his or her official duties, and for which attendance no reimbursement is made by the state; provided, that any hospitality in the form of entertainment, recreation, or sporting events shall constitute less than 25% of the time spent in connection with the event. If the aggregate value of any such hospitality extended to the public employee, public official, and his or her respective household is in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day, the total amount expended for that day shall be reported to the commission by the provider. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of such expenditures, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
6. Promotional items commonly distributed to the general public and food or beverages of a nominal value.
c. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require the disclosure of a personal gift made to a public official or public employee from a spouse, intended spouse, dependent, adult child, sibling, parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, nephews, nieces or cousins of the public official or public employee, except as otherwise provided by law.
d. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require the disclosure of gifts through inheritance received by a public employee or public official.
(32) VALUE. The fair market price of a like item if purchased by a private citizen.
(Acts 1973, No. 1056, p. 1699, §2; Acts 1975, No. 130, p. 603, §1; Acts 1979, No. 79-698, p. 1241, §1; Acts 1982, No. 82-429, p. 677, § ; Acts 1986, No. 86-321, p. 475, §1; Acts 1995, No. 95-194, p. 269, §1; Acts 1997, No. 97-651, p. 1217, §1.)
Whenever used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) BUSINESS. Any corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, self-employed individual, or any other legal entity.
(2) BUSINESS WITH WHICH THE PERSON IS ASSOCIATED. Any business of which the person or a member of his or her family is an officer, owner, partner, board of director member, employee, or holder of more than five percent of the fair market value of the business.
(3) CANDIDATE. This term as used in this chapter shall have the same meaning ascribed to it in Section 17-22A-2.
(4) COMMISSION. The State Ethics Commission.
(5) COMPLAINT. Written allegation or allegations that a violation of this chapter has occurred.
(6) COMPLAINANT. A person who alleges a violation or violations of this chapter by filing a complaint against a respondent.
(7) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. A complaint filed pursuant to this chapter, together with any statement, conversations, knowledge of evidence, or information received from the complainant, witness, or other person related to such complaint.
(8) CONFLICT OF INTEREST. A conflict on the part of a public official or public employee between his or her private interests and the official responsibilities inherent in an office of public trust. A conflict of interest involves any action, inaction, or decision by a public official or public employee in the discharge of his or her official duties which would materially affect his or her financial interest or those of his or her family members or any business with which the person is associated in a manner different from the manner it affects the other members of the class to which he or she belongs. A conflict of interest shall not include any of the following:
a. A loan or financial transaction made or conducted in the ordinary course of business.
b. An occasional nonpecuniary award publicly presented by an organization for performance of public service.
c. Payment of or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenditures for travel and subsistence for the personal attendance of a public official or public employee at a convention or other meeting at which he or she is scheduled to meaningfully participate in connection with his or her official duties and for which attendance no reimbursement is made by the state.
d. Any campaign contribution, including the purchase of tickets to, or advertisements in journals, for political or testimonial dinners, if the contribution is actually used for political purposes and is not given under circumstances from which it could reasonably be inferred that the purpose of the contribution is to substantially influence a public official in the performance of his or her official duties.
(9) DAY. Calendar day.
(10) DEPENDENT. Any person, regardless of his or her legal residence or domicile, who receives 50 percent or more of his or her support from the public official or public employee or his or her spouse or who resided with the public official or public employee for more than 180 days during the reporting period.
(11) FAMILY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. The spouse or a dependent of the public employee.
(12) FAMILY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC OFFICIAL. The spouse, a dependent, an adult child and his or her spouse, a parent, a spouse's parents, a sibling and his or her spouse, of the public official.
(13) GOVERNMENTAL CORPORATIONS AND AUTHORITIES. Public or private corporations and authorities, including but not limited to, hospitals or other health care corporations, established pursuant to state law by state, county or municipal governments for the purpose of carrying out a specific governmental function. Notwithstanding the foregoing, all employees, including contract employees, of hospitals or other health care corporations and authorities are exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
(14) HOUSEHOLD. The public official, public employee, and his or her spouse and dependents.
(15) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. A full-time employee of a governmental unit responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime who is authorized by law to carry firearms, execute search warrants, and make arrests.
(16) LEGISLATIVE BODY. The Senate of Alabama, the House of Representatives of Alabama, a county commission, city council, city commission, town council, or municipal council or commission, and any committee or subcommittee thereof.
(17) LOBBYING. The practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the introduction, defeat, or enactment of legislation before any legislative body; opposing or in any manner influencing the executive approval, veto, or amendment of legislation; or the practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the enactment, promulgation, modification, or deletion of regulations before any regulatory body; provided, however, that providing public testimony before a legislative body or regulatory body or any committee thereof shall not be deemed lobbying.
(18) LOBBYIST.
a. The term lobbyist includes any of the following:
1. A person who receives compensation or reimbursement from another person, group, or entity to lobby.
2. A person who lobbies as a regular and usual part of employment, whether or not any compensation in addition to regular salary and benefits is received.
3. A person who expends in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) for a thing of value, not including funds expended for travel, subsistence expenses, and literature, buttons, stickers, publications, or other acts of free speech, during a calendar year to lobby.
4. A consultant to the state, county, or municipal levels of government or their instrumentalities, in any manner employed to influence legislation or regulation, regardless whether the consultant is paid in whole or part from state, county, municipal, or private funds.
5. An employee, a paid consultant, or a member of the staff of a lobbyist, whether or not he or she is paid, who regularly communicates with members of a legislative body regarding pending legislation and other matters while the legislative body is in session.
b. The term lobbyist does not include any of the following:
1. A member of a legislative body on a matter which involves that person's official duties.
2. A person or attorney rendering professional services in drafting bills or in advising clients and in rendering opinions as to the construction and effect of proposed or pending legislation, executive action, or rules or regulations, where those professional services are not otherwise connected with legislative, executive, or regulatory action.
3. Reporters and editors while pursuing normal reportorial and editorial duties.
4. Any citizen not expending funds as set out above in paragraph a.3. or not lobbying for compensation who contacts a member of a legislative body, or gives public testimony on a particular issue or on particular legislation, or for the purpose of influencing legislation and who is merely exercising his or her constitutional right to communicate with members of a legislative body.
5. A person who appears before a legislative body, a regulatory body, or an executive agency to either sell or purchase goods or services.
6. A person whose primary duties or responsibilities do not include lobbying, but who may, from time to time, organize social events for members of a legislative body to meet and confer with members of professional organizations and who may have only irregular contacts with members of a legislative body when the body is not in session or when the body is in recess.
(19) MINOR VIOLATION. Any violation of this chapter in which the public official or public employee receives an economic gain in an amount less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or the governmental entity has an economic loss of less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250).
(20) PERSON. A business, individual, corporation, partnership, union, association, firm, committee, club, or other organization or group of persons.
(21) PRINCIPAL. A person or business which employs, hires, or otherwise retains a lobbyist. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit a principal from simultaneously serving as his or her own lobbyist.
(22) PROBABLE CAUSE. A finding that the allegations are more likely than not to have occurred.
(23) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. Any person employed at the state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations and authorities, but excluding employees of hospitals or other health care corporations including contract employees of those hospitals or other health care corporations, who is paid in whole or in part from state, county or municipal funds. For purposes of this chapter, a public employee does not include a person employed on a part-time basis whose employment is limited to providing professional services other than lobbying, the compensation for which constitutes less than 50 percent of the part-time employee's income.
(24) PUBLIC OFFICIAL. Any person elected to public office, whether or not that person has taken office, by the vote of the people at state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations, and any person appointed to a position at the state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations. For purposes of this chapter, a public official includes the chairs and vice-chairs or the equivalent offices of each state political party as defined in Section 17-16-2.
(25) REGULATORY BODY. A state agency which issues regulations in accordance with the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act or a state, county, or municipal department, agency, board, or commission which controls, according to rule or regulation, the activities, business licensure, or functions of any group, person, or persons.
(26) REPORTING PERIOD. The reporting official's or employee's fiscal tax year as it applies to his or her United States personal income tax return.
(27) REPORTING YEAR. The reporting official's or employee's fiscal tax year as it applies to his or her United States personal income tax return.
(28) RESPONDENT. A person alleged to have violated a provision of this chapter and against whom a complaint has been filed with the commission.
(29) STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS. A financial disclosure form made available by the commission which shall be completed and filed with the commission prior to April 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar year by certain public officials and public employees.
(30) SUPERVISOR. Any person having authority to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, or discipline other public employees, or any person responsible to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or to recommend personnel action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of the authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.
(31) THING OF VALUE.
a. Any gift, benefit, favor, service, gratuity, tickets or passes to an entertainment, social or sporting event offered only to public officials, unsecured loan, other than those loans made in the ordinary course of business, reward, promise of future employment, or honoraria.
b. The term, thing of value, does not include any of the following, provided that no particular course of action is required as a condition to the receipt thereof:
1. Campaign contribution.
2. Seasonal gifts of an insignificant economic value of less than one hundred dollars ($100) if the aggregate value of such gifts from any single donor is less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) during any one calendar year.
3. Hospitality extended to a public official, public employee, and his or her respective household as a social occasion in the form of food and beverages where the provider is present, lodging in the continental United States and Alaska incidental to the social occasion, and tickets to social or sporting events if the hospitality does not extend beyond three consecutive days and is not continuous in nature and the aggregate value of such hospitality in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day is reported to the commission by the provider provided that the reporting requirement contained in this section shall not apply where the expenditures are made to or on behalf of an organization to which a federal income tax deduction is permitted under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any charitable, education or eleemosynary cause of Section 501 of Title 26 of the U.S. Code, and where the public official or public employee does not receive any direct financial benefit. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of the entire expenditure, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
4. Reasonable transportation, food and beverages where the provider is present, and lodging expenses in the continental United States and Alaska which are provided in conjunction with an educational or informational purpose, together with any hospitality associated therewith; provided, that such hospitality is less than 50 percent of the time spent at such event, and provided further that if the aggregate value of such transportation, lodging, food, beverages, and any hospitality provided to such public employee, public official, and his or her respective household is in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day the total amount expended shall be reported to the commission by the provider. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of the entire expenditure, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
5. Payment of or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenditures for travel and subsistence of a public official or public employee in connection with an economic development research or trade mission, or for attendance at a mission or meeting in which he or she is scheduled to meaningfully participate, or regarding matters related to his or her official duties, and for which attendance no reimbursement is made by the state; provided, that any hospitality in the form of entertainment, recreation, or sporting events shall constitute less than 25% of the time spent in connection with the event. If the aggregate value of any such hospitality extended to the public employee, public official, and his or her respective household is in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day, the total amount expended for that day shall be reported to the commission by the provider. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of such expenditures, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
6. Promotional items commonly distributed to the general public and food or beverages of a nominal value.
c. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require the disclosure of a personal gift made to a public official or public employee from a spouse, intended spouse, dependent, adult child, sibling, parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, nephews, nieces or cousins of the public official or public employee, except as otherwise provided by law.
d. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require the disclosure of gifts through inheritance received by a public employee or public official.
(32) VALUE. The fair market price of a like item if purchased by a private citizen.
(Acts 1973, No. 1056, p. 1699, §2; Acts 1975, No. 130, p. 603, §1; Acts 1979, No. 79-698, p. 1241, §1; Acts 1982, No. 82-429, p. 677, § ; Acts 1986, No. 86-321, p. 475, §1; Acts 1995, No. 95-194, p. 269, §1; Acts 1997, No. 97-651, p. 1217, §1.)
Whenever used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
(1) BUSINESS. Any corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, self-employed individual, or any other legal entity.
(2) BUSINESS WITH WHICH THE PERSON IS ASSOCIATED. Any business of which the person or a member of his or her family is an officer, owner, partner, board of director member, employee, or holder of more than five percent of the fair market value of the business.
(3) CANDIDATE. This term as used in this chapter shall have the same meaning ascribed to it in Section 17-22A-2.
(4) COMMISSION. The State Ethics Commission.
(5) COMPLAINT. Written allegation or allegations that a violation of this chapter has occurred.
(6) COMPLAINANT. A person who alleges a violation or violations of this chapter by filing a complaint against a respondent.
(7) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. A complaint filed pursuant to this chapter, together with any statement, conversations, knowledge of evidence, or information received from the complainant, witness, or other person related to such complaint.
(8) CONFLICT OF INTEREST. A conflict on the part of a public official or public employee between his or her private interests and the official responsibilities inherent in an office of public trust. A conflict of interest involves any action, inaction, or decision by a public official or public employee in the discharge of his or her official duties which would materially affect his or her financial interest or those of his or her family members or any business with which the person is associated in a manner different from the manner it affects the other members of the class to which he or she belongs. A conflict of interest shall not include any of the following:
a. A loan or financial transaction made or conducted in the ordinary course of business.
b. An occasional nonpecuniary award publicly presented by an organization for performance of public service.
c. Payment of or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenditures for travel and subsistence for the personal attendance of a public official or public employee at a convention or other meeting at which he or she is scheduled to meaningfully participate in connection with his or her official duties and for which attendance no reimbursement is made by the state.
d. Any campaign contribution, including the purchase of tickets to, or advertisements in journals, for political or testimonial dinners, if the contribution is actually used for political purposes and is not given under circumstances from which it could reasonably be inferred that the purpose of the contribution is to substantially influence a public official in the performance of his or her official duties.
(9) DAY. Calendar day.
(10) DEPENDENT. Any person, regardless of his or her legal residence or domicile, who receives 50 percent or more of his or her support from the public official or public employee or his or her spouse or who resided with the public official or public employee for more than 180 days during the reporting period.
(11) FAMILY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. The spouse or a dependent of the public employee.
(12) FAMILY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC OFFICIAL. The spouse, a dependent, an adult child and his or her spouse, a parent, a spouse's parents, a sibling and his or her spouse, of the public official.
(13) GOVERNMENTAL CORPORATIONS AND AUTHORITIES. Public or private corporations and authorities, including but not limited to, hospitals or other health care corporations, established pursuant to state law by state, county or municipal governments for the purpose of carrying out a specific governmental function. Notwithstanding the foregoing, all employees, including contract employees, of hospitals or other health care corporations and authorities are exempt from the provisions of this chapter.
(14) HOUSEHOLD. The public official, public employee, and his or her spouse and dependents.
(15) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. A full-time employee of a governmental unit responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime who is authorized by law to carry firearms, execute search warrants, and make arrests.
(16) LEGISLATIVE BODY. The Senate of Alabama, the House of Representatives of Alabama, a county commission, city council, city commission, town council, or municipal council or commission, and any committee or subcommittee thereof.
(17) LOBBYING. The practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the introduction, defeat, or enactment of legislation before any legislative body; opposing or in any manner influencing the executive approval, veto, or amendment of legislation; or the practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the enactment, promulgation, modification, or deletion of regulations before any regulatory body; provided, however, that providing public testimony before a legislative body or regulatory body or any committee thereof shall not be deemed lobbying.
(18) LOBBYIST.
a. The term lobbyist includes any of the following:
1. A person who receives compensation or reimbursement from another person, group, or entity to lobby.
2. A person who lobbies as a regular and usual part of employment, whether or not any compensation in addition to regular salary and benefits is received.
3. A person who expends in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) for a thing of value, not including funds expended for travel, subsistence expenses, and literature, buttons, stickers, publications, or other acts of free speech, during a calendar year to lobby.
4. A consultant to the state, county, or municipal levels of government or their instrumentalities, in any manner employed to influence legislation or regulation, regardless whether the consultant is paid in whole or part from state, county, municipal, or private funds.
5. An employee, a paid consultant, or a member of the staff of a lobbyist, whether or not he or she is paid, who regularly communicates with members of a legislative body regarding pending legislation and other matters while the legislative body is in session.
b. The term lobbyist does not include any of the following:
1. A member of a legislative body on a matter which involves that person's official duties.
2. A person or attorney rendering professional services in drafting bills or in advising clients and in rendering opinions as to the construction and effect of proposed or pending legislation, executive action, or rules or regulations, where those professional services are not otherwise connected with legislative, executive, or regulatory action.
3. Reporters and editors while pursuing normal reportorial and editorial duties.
4. Any citizen not expending funds as set out above in paragraph a.3. or not lobbying for compensation who contacts a member of a legislative body, or gives public testimony on a particular issue or on particular legislation, or for the purpose of influencing legislation and who is merely exercising his or her constitutional right to communicate with members of a legislative body.
5. A person who appears before a legislative body, a regulatory body, or an executive agency to either sell or purchase goods or services.
6. A person whose primary duties or responsibilities do not include lobbying, but who may, from time to time, organize social events for members of a legislative body to meet and confer with members of professional organizations and who may have only irregular contacts with members of a legislative body when the body is not in session or when the body is in recess.
(19) MINOR VIOLATION. Any violation of this chapter in which the public official or public employee receives an economic gain in an amount less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) or the governmental entity has an economic loss of less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250).
(20) PERSON. A business, individual, corporation, partnership, union, association, firm, committee, club, or other organization or group of persons.
(21) PRINCIPAL. A person or business which employs, hires, or otherwise retains a lobbyist. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit a principal from simultaneously serving as his or her own lobbyist.
(22) PROBABLE CAUSE. A finding that the allegations are more likely than not to have occurred.
(23) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. Any person employed at the state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations and authorities, but excluding employees of hospitals or other health care corporations including contract employees of those hospitals or other health care corporations, who is paid in whole or in part from state, county or municipal funds. For purposes of this chapter, a public employee does not include a person employed on a part-time basis whose employment is limited to providing professional services other than lobbying, the compensation for which constitutes less than 50 percent of the part-time employee's income.
(24) PUBLIC OFFICIAL. Any person elected to public office, whether or not that person has taken office, by the vote of the people at state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations, and any person appointed to a position at the state, county, or municipal level of government or their instrumentalities, including governmental corporations. For purposes of this chapter, a public official includes the chairs and vice-chairs or the equivalent offices of each state political party as defined in Section 17-16-2.
(25) REGULATORY BODY. A state agency which issues regulations in accordance with the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act or a state, county, or municipal department, agency, board, or commission which controls, according to rule or regulation, the activities, business licensure, or functions of any group, person, or persons.
(26) REPORTING PERIOD. The reporting official's or employee's fiscal tax year as it applies to his or her United States personal income tax return.
(27) REPORTING YEAR. The reporting official's or employee's fiscal tax year as it applies to his or her United States personal income tax return.
(28) RESPONDENT. A person alleged to have violated a provision of this chapter and against whom a complaint has been filed with the commission.
(29) STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS. A financial disclosure form made available by the commission which shall be completed and filed with the commission prior to April 30 of each year covering the preceding calendar year by certain public officials and public employees.
(30) SUPERVISOR. Any person having authority to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, or discipline other public employees, or any person responsible to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or to recommend personnel action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of the authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.
(31) THING OF VALUE.
a. Any gift, benefit, favor, service, gratuity, tickets or passes to an entertainment, social or sporting event offered only to public officials, unsecured loan, other than those loans made in the ordinary course of business, reward, promise of future employment, or honoraria.
b. The term, thing of value, does not include any of the following, provided that no particular course of action is required as a condition to the receipt thereof:
1. Campaign contribution.
2. Seasonal gifts of an insignificant economic value of less than one hundred dollars ($100) if the aggregate value of such gifts from any single donor is less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250) during any one calendar year.
3. Hospitality extended to a public official, public employee, and his or her respective household as a social occasion in the form of food and beverages where the provider is present, lodging in the continental United States and Alaska incidental to the social occasion, and tickets to social or sporting events if the hospitality does not extend beyond three consecutive days and is not continuous in nature and the aggregate value of such hospitality in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day is reported to the commission by the provider provided that the reporting requirement contained in this section shall not apply where the expenditures are made to or on behalf of an organization to which a federal income tax deduction is permitted under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or any charitable, education or eleemosynary cause of Section 501 of Title 26 of the U.S. Code, and where the public official or public employee does not receive any direct financial benefit. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of the entire expenditure, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
4. Reasonable transportation, food and beverages where the provider is present, and lodging expenses in the continental United States and Alaska which are provided in conjunction with an educational or informational purpose, together with any hospitality associated therewith; provided, that such hospitality is less than 50 percent of the time spent at such event, and provided further that if the aggregate value of such transportation, lodging, food, beverages, and any hospitality provided to such public employee, public official, and his or her respective household is in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day the total amount expended shall be reported to the commission by the provider. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of the entire expenditure, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
5. Payment of or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenditures for travel and subsistence of a public official or public employee in connection with an economic development research or trade mission, or for attendance at a mission or meeting in which he or she is scheduled to meaningfully participate, or regarding matters related to his or her official duties, and for which attendance no reimbursement is made by the state; provided, that any hospitality in the form of entertainment, recreation, or sporting events shall constitute less than 25% of the time spent in connection with the event. If the aggregate value of any such hospitality extended to the public employee, public official, and his or her respective household is in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within a calendar day, the total amount expended for that day shall be reported to the commission by the provider. The reporting shall include the name or names of the recipient or recipients, the value of such expenditures, the date or dates of the expenditure, and the type of expenditure.
6. Promotional items commonly distributed to the general public and food or beverages of a nominal value.
c. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require the disclosure of a personal gift made to a public official or public employee from a spouse, intended spouse, dependent, adult child, sibling, parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, nephews, nieces or cousins of the public official or public employee, except as otherwise provided by law.
d. Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require the disclosure of gifts through inheritance received by a public employee or public official.
(32) VALUE. The fair market price of a like item if purchased by a private citizen.
(Acts 1973, No. 1056, p. 1699, §2; Acts 1975, No. 130, p. 603, §1; Acts 1979, No. 79-698, p. 1241, §1; Acts 1982, No. 82-429, p. 677, § ; Acts 1986, No. 86-321, p. 475, §1; Acts 1995, No. 95-194, p. 269, §1; Acts 1997, No. 97-651, p. 1217, §1.)
