Loading...
A. City officials and agency employees shall not use or threaten to use any official authority or influence to discourage, restrain, or interfere with another person’s attempt to report possible violations of law to the Ethics Commission or another governmental entity.
B. City officials and agency employees shall not use or threaten to use any official authority or influence to effect any action as a reprisal against another person who reports a possible violation of law to the Ethics Commission or another governmental entity.
C. A person who believes that the person has been subjected to an action prohibited by this Section may file a confidential complaint with the Ethics Commission.
D. The Ethics Commission may refer retaliation complaints to appropriate agencies for disciplinary purposes.
A. City officials, agency employees, appointees awaiting confirmation by the City Council, and candidates for elected City office shall not misuse or attempt to misuse their positions or prospective positions to create or attempt to create a private advantage or disadvantage, financial or otherwise, for any person.
B. City officials and agency employees shall not engage in political activity in the following scenarios:
1. While on duty for the City.
2. In any manner that implies the City official or agency employee is speaking on behalf of the City or communicating a City position. This may include but is not limited to engaging in political activity in the following scenarios:
a. While wearing a uniform or official City insignia; or
b. Using a City title or position.
3. In a room or building that is owned by the City or primarily paid for or used by the City and occupied by a City official or agency employee in the discharge of City duties. This does not include a City room or building that is available to the public for organized campaign activities as long as the City official or agency employee does not use the room or building during the official’s or employee’s City working hours and does not use other City resources for the activity.
4. Using City equipment, vehicle, supplies, or resources, including but not limited to mailing and distribution lists, electronic mail, and electronic data.
C. A person shall not induce or coerce or attempt to induce or coerce another person to engage in activity prohibited by Subsections A. or B.
D. This Section does not prohibit the use of City resources to provide information to the public about the possible effects of a bond issue or ballot measure relating to City activities, operations, or policies when the use of public resources is otherwise legally authorized.
A. City officials shall not make, participate in making, or attempt to use their official positions to influence City decisions in which they know or have reason to know they have a financial interest.
B. In the first 12 months of City service, a City official or agency employee shall not knowingly make, participate in making, or attempt to use their official position to influence a City decision directly relating to a contract when a party to the contract is a person by whom the individual was employed in the 12 months immediately prior to entering City service.
C. Statements of City-Related Business.
1. An elected City officer, a candidate for elected City office, a member of a City board or commission, a general manager or chief administrative officer of an agency, and an individual holding an appointive office named in the Charter shall file a statement of City-related business with the Ethics Commission within ten calendar days after a City action, other than a ministerial action, affects the individual’s personal financial interests.
2. For purposes of the statement, a City action affects an individual’s personal financial interests if it involves one or more of the following held by, required of, or sought by the individual, the individual’s spouse or registered domestic partner, or a business entity in which either the individual or the individual’s spouse or registered domestic partner holds an ownership interest of five percent or more:
a. The sale of real or personal property; or
b. The performance of services pursuant to a contract; or
c. A grant, loan, or forgiveness or payment of indebtedness; or
d. An application for a license, certificate, permit, franchise, change of zone, variance, credential, or other benefit or relief.
3. The statement shall be in sufficient detail as to dates, amounts, identifying numbers or symbols, locations, and subject matter to make the action identifiable by reference to City records.
4. The statement shall be filed under penalty of perjury in a method prescribed by the Ethics Commission.
5. The statement shall satisfy the requirements of Section 304 of the City Election Code.
D. Recusal Notification.
1. A member of a City board or commission who is required to file a statement of economic interests pursuant to the Political Reform Act shall file a recusal notification form each time the member recuses themself in relation to an actual or apparent conflict of interests.
a. The member shall file a copy of the completed form with the executive secretary for the commission or board (or the person acting in that capacity) as soon as possible after the posting of the agenda containing the item involving the member’s conflict of interests.
b. The member shall file the original form, along with a copy of the meeting agenda containing the item involving the conflict of interests, with the Ethics Commission within 15 calendar days after the date of the meeting at which the recusal occurred.
c. The member shall file the form even if the member is not present at the meeting.
2. The form shall be filed under penalty of perjury in a method prescribed by the Ethics Commission and shall include, at a minimum, the following:
a. The member’s name;
b. The name of the member’s board or commission;
c. The date of the meeting at which the recusal occurred or would have occurred;
d. The agenda item number, a brief description of the matter, and a statement of whether the matter concerns the making of a contract; and
e. The specific interest causing the recusal and a statement of whether the interest is financial.
E. Every agency shall make every effort to avoid hiring or appointing City officials who hold and are unwilling or unable to sell assets that would present significant and continuing conflicts of interests.
A. City officials and agency employees shall not engage in outside employment during any hours they are paid to engage in City business. A person shall not induce or coerce or attempt to induce or coerce a City official or agency employee to engage in such outside employment.
B. Elected City officers shall not receive any payment, including honoraria, for their services other than that provided for by City Charter Section 218. However, they may receive compensation for serving on governmental entities where payment is authorized for other governmental officers or employees serving in such capacity.
C. City officials, other than elected City officers and part-time board and commission members, shall not accept a payment for honoraria or other outside earned income or employment without prior written approval.
1. Prior written approval must first be obtained from the general manager or chief administrative officer of the City official’s department.
a. General managers, chief administrative officers, and members of the Board of Public Works must obtain prior written approval from their appointing authorities.
b. City Council staff members must obtain prior written approval from their City Council members.
c. A City official who does not have an appointing authority must obtain prior written approval from the Ethics Commission.
2. If the general manager, chief administrative officer, or appointing authority approves the payment, the City official must determine whether the source is a restricted source for the City official. If the source is a restricted source, the City official shall not accept the payment without also obtaining prior written approval from the Ethics Commission.
3. The approval required by Subdivisions 1. and 2. shall be denied if the general manager, chief administrative officer, appointing authority, or Ethics Commission determines that receipt of the payment would be inconsistent, incompatible, in conflict with, or inimical to the City official’s official duties, functions, or responsibilities. Such a determination must be made if one or more of the following factors applies:
a. The payment or the services for which the payment would be received would involve any of the following:
i. The actual use of or the appearance of the use of public office, employment, time, facilities, equipment, or supplies for private gain;
ii. The City official’s performance of an act that could later be subject to the control, inspection, review, audit, or enforcement of the City official’s agency; or
iii. Such time demands that the City official’s performance of official City duties would be rendered less efficient.
b. The City official would be accepting payment from a person other than the City official’s agency for performing an act that the City official would be required or expected to render in the regular course of performing City duties.
c. The City official is in a position to make, participate in making, or influence a City decision that could foreseeably have a material financial effect on the source of the payment.
4. A request for approval from the Ethics Commission shall be treated as a request for written advice under Charter Section 705(b).
A. A person shall not offer or make and a City official shall not solicit or accept a gift when it is reasonably foreseeable that the City official could be influenced by the gift in the performance of an official act.
B. City officials shall comply with the gift requirements and restrictions in the Political Reform Act and California Constitution. When the Political Reform Act’s gift provisions, other than gift limits, refer to a lobbying entity, the reference shall include a City lobbying firm and lobbyist.
C. In addition to the state requirements and restrictions identified in Subsection B., City officials shall also comply with the following gift restrictions for restricted sources.
1. A City official shall not solicit a gift from a restricted source. A City official shall not accept a gift that exceeds the applicable gift limit from a restricted source.
2. A person who is a restricted source to a City official shall not offer or make a gift that exceeds the applicable gift limit to that City official.
3. A restricted source shall not act as an agent or intermediary in or arrange for the making of a gift by another person to a City official that exceeds the applicable gift limit.
4. The applicable gift limits are as follows:
b. For all other restricted sources, the applicable gift limit is one-hundred dollars ($100) per calendar year.
5. The applicable gift limits for restricted sources do not apply to the following:
a. Items received by a City official from a union representing that City official.
b. Food and beverages received by a City official from a union representing a bargaining unit of City officials.
c. Items received by a City official acting in an official City capacity from an organization to which the City, the City official, or the City official’s agency belongs as a member.
d. Nominal and routine office courtesies received by a City official in a restricted source’s place of business, as long as the courtesies are available to any person who visits that place of business.
e. Payments for travel and meals that are made by an organization that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, a bona fide educational institution as defined by Section 203 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code, or a governmental entity and where the payments are exempt from the gift limits in the Political Reform Act.
6. A City official has the duty to determine whether a person is a restricted source to the City official. A person offering or making a gift to a City official has the duty to determine whether the person is a restricted source to that City official.
i. A City official may presume that a person is not a restricted source to the City official if the person is not identified in the electronic filing system for lobbying entities under Section 48.06 B. on the date the gift is offered or made, the City official has conducted a reasonable inquiry into whether the person is a restricted source between database updates, and the City official does not have personal knowledge that the person qualifies as a restricted source.
ii. The electronic filing system for lobbying entities is a reference for compliance and enforcement purposes for gifts offered or made as of the date the database was last updated.
i. A City official may presume that a person is not a restricted source to the City official if the person is not identified in the database in Section 49.5.11 B. on the date the gift is offered or made, the City official has conducted a reasonable inquiry into whether the person is a restricted source between database updates, and the City official does not have personal knowledge that the person qualifies as a restricted source.
ii. The restricted source gift limit does not apply to sources that are only identified in Section 49.5.2 J.1.b. or Section 49.5.2 J.2.b. until the Ethics Commission and the City Council initially certify that the database in Section 49.5.11 B. provides enough information for a City official to determine whether a person is a restricted source to the City official under Section 49.5.2 J.1.b. or 49.5.2 J.2.b.
iii. The database is a reference for compliance and enforcement purposes for gifts offered or made from the date the database is certified through the date the database was last updated.
i. A City official may presume that a person is not a restricted source to the City official if the City official has conducted a reasonable inquiry into whether the person is a restricted source and does not have personal knowledge that the person qualifies as a restricted source.
ii. The Ethics Commission will not maintain a database.
d. A reasonable inquiry includes asking the source, asking a responsible employee in the relevant agency, and reviewing the City Clerk’s council file management system.
D. A ticket or pass distributed by an agency to a City official in accordance with Chapter 5 of Los Angeles Administrative Code Division 24 is not a gift to the City official. (Added by Ord. No. 183,731, Eff. 8/4/15.)
Loading...