SECOND ENROLLMENT
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2464
(By Delegates Miley, Boggs, Fragale, Poling, Morgan, Hunt,
Fleischauer, Moore, Ellem, Hamilton and Lane)
[Amended and again passed, in an effort to meet the objections of
the Governor, March 18, 2011; in effect July 1, 2011.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §6B-2-6 and §6B-2-7 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, and to amend and reenact §6B-3-2
of said code, all relating to the Ethics Act generally;
requiring public servants and spouses to disclose additional
information on financial disclosure statements including, with
limited exceptions, certain spousal information; defining a
spouse; directing the ethics commission to publish and make
available to the public notice of delinquent filing of
financial statements; providing that the ethics commission
publish financial statement in certain circumstances and
clarifying existing requirements; and prohibiting certain
public employees and public servants from registering as a
lobbyist during and for a year following state government
employment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §6B-2-6 and §6B-2-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, and that 6B-3-2 be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA ETHICS COMMISSION; POWERS AND DUTIES;
DISCLOSURE OF FINANCIAL INTEREST BY PUBLIC
OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES; APPEARANCES BEFORE PUBLIC
AGENCIES; CODE OF CONDUCT FOR ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
JUDGES.
§6B-2-6. Financial disclosure statement; filing requirements.
(a) The Financial disclosure statement shall be filed on the
first day of February of each calendar year to cover the period of
the preceding calendar year, except insofar as may be otherwise
provided herein. The following persons must file the financial
disclosure statement required by this section with the ethics
commission:
(1) All elected officials in this state, including, but not
limited to, all persons elected statewide, all county elected
officials, municipal elected officials in municipalities which
have, by ordinance, opted to be covered by the disclosure
provisions of this section, all members of the several county or
district boards of education and all county or district school
board superintendents;
(2) All members of state boards, commissions and agencies appointed by the governor; and
(3) Secretaries of departments, commissioners, deputy
commissioners, assistant commissioners, directors, deputy
directors, assistant directors, department heads, deputy department
heads and assistant department heads.
A person who is required to file a financial disclosure
statement under this section by virtue of becoming an elected or
appointed public official whose office is described in subdivision
(1), (2) or (3) of this subsection, and who assumes the office less
than ten days before a filing date established herein or who
assumes the office after the filing date, shall file a financial
disclosure statement for the previous twelve months no later than
thirty days after the date on which the person assumes the duties
of the office, unless the person has filed a financial disclosure
statement with the commission during the twelve-month period before
he or she assumed office.
(b) A candidate for public office shall file a financial
disclosure statement for the previous calendar year with the state
ethics commission no later than ten days after he or she files a
certificate of candidacy, but in all circumstances, not later than
ten days prior to the election, unless he or she has filed a
financial disclosure statement with the state ethics commission
during the previous calendar year.
The ethics commission shall file a duplicate copy of the financial disclosure statement required in this section in the
following offices within ten days of the receipt of the candidate's
statement of disclosure:
(1) Municipal candidates in municipalities which have opted,
by ordinance, to be covered by the disclosure provisions of this
section, in the office of the clerk of the municipality in which
the candidate is seeking office;
(2) Legislative candidates in single county districts and
candidates for a county office or county school board in the office
of the clerk of the county commission of the county in which the
candidate is seeking office;
(3) Legislative candidates from multi-county districts and
congressional candidates in the office of the clerk of the county
commission of the county of the candidate's residence.
After a ninety-day period following any election, the clerks
who receive the financial disclosure statements of candidates may
destroy or dispose of those statements filed by candidates who were
unsuccessful in the election.
(c) No candidate for public office may maintain his or her
place on a ballot and no public official may take the oath of
office or enter or continue upon his or her duties or receive
compensation from public funds unless he or she has filed a
financial disclosure statement with the state ethics commission as
required by the provisions of this section.
(d) The ethics commission may, upon request of any person
required to file a financial disclosure statement, and for good
cause shown, extend the deadline for filing such statement for a
reasonable period of time:
Provided, That no extension of time
shall be granted to a candidate who has not filed a financial
disclosure statement for the preceding filing period.
(e) No person shall fail to file a statement required by this
section.
(f) No person shall knowingly file a materially false
statement that is required to be filed under this section.
(g) The ethics commission shall publish either on the internet
or by printed document made available to the public, a list of all
persons who have violated any ethics commission's financial
disclosure statement filing deadline.
(h) The ethics commission shall, in addition to making all
financial disclosure statements
available for inspection upon
request
:
(1) Publish on the internet all financial disclosure
statements filed by members of the legislature and candidates for
legislative office, elected members of the executive department and
candidates for the offices that constitute the executive
department, and members of the Supreme Court of Appeals and
candidates for the Supreme Court of Appeals, commencing with those
reports filed on or after January 1, 2012; and
(2)
Publish on the internet all financial disclosure
statements filed by any other person required to file such
financial disclosure statements, as the commission determines
resources are available to permit the ethics commission to make
such publication on the internet. The Commission shall redact
financial disclosure statements published on the internet to
exclude from publication personal information such as signatures,
home addresses and mobile and home telephone numbers.
§6B-2-7. Financial disclosure statement; contents.
(a) The financial disclosure statement required under this
article shall contain the following information:
(1) The name, residential and business addresses of the person
filing the statement and of his or her spouse and all names under
which the person or the person's spouse, or both, do business. For
purposes of this section, the word "spouse" means any individual
who is legally married to and cohabits with the person filing the
statement.
(2) For each position of employment held by the person filing
the statements and the person's spouse:
(A) The name of the employer;
(B) The address of the employer;
(C) The job title; and
(D) A general description of job duties.
(3) The name and address of each business in which the person filing the statement or that person's spouse has or had in the last
year an interest of at least $10,000 at fair market value.
(A) For the purposes of this subsection, business interests
include, but are not limited to, an interest in:
(i) Non-publicly owned businesses;
(ii) Publicly or privately traded stocks, bonds or securities,
including those held in self-directed retirement accounts; and
(iii) Commercial real estate.
(B) For the purposes of this subsection, business interests do
not include mutual funds, specific holdings in mutual funds or
retirement accounts.
(4) The name, address, and brief description of a nonprofit
organization in which the individual or spouse is a director or
officer.
(5) The identification, by category, of every source of income
over $1,000, including distributions from retirement accounts
received during the preceding calendar year, in his or her own name
or by any other person for his or her use or benefit, by the person
filing the statement, or that person's spouse, and a brief
description of the nature of the income producing activities for
which the income was received. This subdivision does not require
a person filing the statement who derives income from a business,
profession or occupation, or who's spouse derives income from a
business, profession or occupation, to disclose the individual sources and items of income that constitute the gross income of
that business, profession or occupation.
(6) If the person filing the statement, or that person's
spouse, profited or benefitted in the year before the date of
filing from a contract for the sale of goods or services to a
state, county, municipal or other local governmental agency either
directly or through a partnership, corporation or association in
which the person, or that person's spouse, owned or controlled more
than ten percent, the person shall describe the nature of the goods
or services and identify the governmental agencies which purchased
the goods or services.
(7) Each interest group or category listed below doing
business in this state with which the person filing the statement,
did business or furnished services and from which the person filing
the statement, or that person's spouse, received more than twenty
percent of his or her gross income during the preceding calendar
year. The groups or categories are electric utilities, gas
utilities, telephone utilities, water utilities, cable television
companies, interstate transportation companies, intrastate
transportation companies, oil or gas retail, wholesale,
exploration, production or drilling companies, banks, savings and
loan associations, loan or finance companies, manufacturing
companies, surface mining companies, deep mining companies, mining
equipment companies, chemical companies, insurance companies, retail companies, beer, wine or liquor companies or distributors,
recreation related companies, timbering companies, hospitals or
other health care providers, trade associations, professional
associations, associations of public employees or public officials,
counties, cities or towns, labor organizations, waste disposal
companies, wholesale companies, groups or associations promoting
gaming or lotteries, advertising companies, media companies, race
tracks, promotional companies, lobbying, economic development
entities, state government, construction, information technology
and legal service providers.
(8) The names of all persons, excluding that person's
immediate family, parents or grandparents residing or transacting
business in the state to whom the person filing the statement,
owes, on the date of execution of this statement in the aggregate
in his or her own name or in the name of any other person more than
$5,000:
Provided, That nothing herein requires the disclosure of
a mortgage on the person's primary and secondary residences or of
automobile loans on automobiles maintained for the use of the
person's immediate family, or of a student loan, nor does this
section require the disclosure of debts which result from the
ordinary conduct of the person's business, profession or occupation
or of debts of the person filing the statement to any financial
institution, credit card company or business, in which the person
has an ownership interest:
Provided, however, That the previous proviso does not exclude from disclosure loans obtained pursuant to
the linked deposit program provided in article one-a, chapter
twelve of this code or any other loan or debt incurred which
requires approval of the state or any of its political
subdivisions.
(9) The names of all persons except immediate family members,
parents and grandparents residing or transacting business in the
state (other than a demand or savings account in a bank, savings
and loan association, credit union or building and loan association
or other similar depository) who owes on the date of execution of
this statement more than, in the aggregate, $5,000 to the person
filing the statement, either in his or her own name or to any other
person for his or her use or benefit. This subdivision does not
require the disclosure of debts owed to the person filing the
statement which debts result from the ordinary conduct of the
person's business, profession or occupation or of loans made by the
person filing the statement to any business in which the person has
an ownership interest.
(10) The source of each gift, including those described in
subdivision (2), subsection (c), section five of this article,
having a value of over $100, received from a person having a direct
and immediate interest in a governmental activity over which the
person filing the statement has control, shall be reported by the
person filing the statement when the gift is given to that person in his or her name or for his or her use or benefit during the
preceding calendar year:
Provided, That any person filing a
statement required to be filed pursuant to this section is not
required to report those gifts described in subdivision (2),
subsection (c), section five of this article that are otherwise
required to be reported by a registered lobbyist under section
four, article three of this chapter:
Provided, however, That gifts
received by will or by virtue of the laws of descent and
distribution, or received from one's spouse, child, grandchild,
parents or grandparents, or received by way of distribution from an
inter vivos or testamentary trust established by the spouse or
child, grandchild or by an ancestor of the person filing the
statement are not required to be reported. As used in this
subdivision, any series or plurality of gifts which exceeds in the
aggregate the sum of $100 from the same source or donor, either
directly or indirectly, and in the same calendar year are regarded
as a single gift in excess of that aggregate amount.
(11) The name of each for-profit business of which the person
filing the statement, or that person's spouse, serves as a member
of the board of directors or an officer, as well as a general
description of the type of business.
(12) The name and business address of any child or step-child
who is eighteen years or older and employed by state, county or
municipal government.
(13) The signature of the person filing the statement.
(b) Not withstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, any person serving on a board, commission or agency for
which no compensation, other than expense reimbursement, is
statutorily authorized, is not required to disclose the financial
information relating to his or her spouse as required by
subdivisions three or five of subsection (a) of this section if:
(1) his or her spouse, or a business with which he or she is
associated, are not regulated by, do not have a contract with, or
do not receive any grants or appropriations from, the board, the
commission or agency on which the person filing the statement
serves. A business with which a filer's spouse is associated means
a business in which the person or an immediate family member is a
director, officer, owner, employee, compensated agent, or holder of
stock which constitutes five percent or more of the total
outstanding stocks of any class; and,
(2) the filer executes a signed statement on a form provided
by the commission verifying these facts.
ARTICLE 3. LOBBYISTS.
§6B-3-2. Registration of lobbyists.
(a) Before engaging in any lobbying activity, or within thirty
days after being employed as a lobbyist, whichever occurs first, a
lobbyist shall register with the Ethics Commission by filing a
lobbyist registration statement. The registration statement shall contain information and be in a form prescribed by the Ethics
Commission by legislative rule, including, but not limited to, the
following information:
(1) The registrant's name, business address, telephone numbers
and any temporary residential and business addresses and telephone
numbers used or to be used by the registrant while lobbying during
a legislative session;
(2) The name, address and occupation or business of the
registrant's employer;
(3) A statement as to whether the registrant is employed or
retained by his or her employer solely as a lobbyist or is a
regular employee performing services for the employer which
include, but are not limited to, lobbying;
(4) A statement as to whether the registrant is employed or
retained by his or her employer under any agreement, arrangement or
understanding according to which the registrant's compensation, or
any portion of the registrant's compensation, is or will be
contingent upon the success of his or her lobbying activity;
(5) The general subject or subjects, if known, on which the
registrant will lobby or employ some other person to lobby in a
manner which requires registration under this article; and
(6) An appended written authorization from each of the
lobbyist's employers confirming the lobbyist's employment and the
subjects on which the employer is to be represented.
(b) Any lobbyist who receives or is to receive compensation
from more than one person for services as a lobbyist shall file a
separate notice of representation with respect to each person
compensating him or her for services performed as a lobbyist. When
a lobbyist whose fee for lobbying with respect to the same subject
is to be paid or contributed by more than one person, then the
lobbyist may file a single statement, in which he or she shall
detail the name, business address and occupation of each person
paying or contributing to the fee.
(c) Whenever a change, modification or termination of the
lobbyist's employment occurs, the lobbyist shall, within one week
of the change, modification or termination, furnish full
information regarding the change, modification or termination by
filing with the Commission an amended registration statement.
(d) Each lobbyist who has registered shall file a new
registration statement, revised as appropriate, on the Monday
preceding the second Wednesday in January of each odd-numbered year
and failure to do so terminates his or her authorization to lobby.
Until the registration is renewed, the person may not engage in
lobbying activities unless he or she is otherwise exempt
under
paragraph (B), subdivision (7), section one of this article.
(e) The following public officers or employees may not, during
or up to one year after the termination of their public employment
or service, be allowed to register as lobbyists:
(1) Members of the Legislature;
(2) Members of the Executive Department as referenced in
article VII, section one of the Constitution of West Virgini
a;
(3) Will and pleasure professional employees of the
legislature under the direct supervision of a member of the
legislature;
(4) Will and pleasure professional employees of members of the
Executive Department under the direct supervision of the Executive
Department officer and who regularly, personally and substantially
participates in a decision-making or advisory capacity regarding
agency or department policy;
(5) Members of the Supreme Court of Appeals;
(6) Any department secretary of an executive branch department
created by the provisions of section two, article one, chapter
five-f of this code; and,
(7) Heads of any state departments or agencies.