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Section 2601. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
   1.   "Advisory committee" means a committee, council, board or similar entity constituted to provide advice or recommendations to the city and having no authority to take a final action on behalf of the city or take any action which would have the effect of conditioning, limiting or requiring any final action by any other agency, or to take any action which is authorized by law.
   2.   "Agency" means a city, county, borough or other office, position, administration, department, division, bureau, board, commission, authority, corporation, advisory committee or other agency of government, the expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the city treasury, and shall include but not be limited to the council, the offices of each elected official, the board of education, community school boards, community boards, the financial services corporation, the health and hospitals corporation, the public development corporation, and the New York city housing authority, but shall not include any court or any corporation or institution maintaining or operating a public library, museum, botanical garden, arboretum, tomb, memorial building, aquarium, zoological garden or similar facility.
   3.   "Agency served by a public servant" means (a) in the case of a paid public servant, the agency employing such public servant or (b) in the case of an unpaid public servant, the agency employing the official who has appointed such unpaid public servant unless the body to which the unpaid public servant has been appointed does not report to, or is not under the control of, the official or the agency of the official that has appointed the unpaid public servant, in which case the agency served by the unpaid public servant is the body to which the unpaid public servant has been appointed.
   4.   "Appear" means to make any communication, for compensation, other than those involving ministerial matters.
   5.   A person or firm "associated" with a public servant includes a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent or sibling; a person with whom the public servant has a business or other financial relationship; and each firm in which the public servant has a present or potential interest.
   6.   "Blind trust" means a trust in which a public servant, or the public servant's spouse, domestic partner, or unemancipated child, has a beneficial interest, the holdings and sources of income of which the public servant, the public servant's spouse, domestic partner, and unemancipated child have no knowledge, and which meets requirements established by rules of the board, which shall include provisions regarding the independent authority and discretion of the trustee, and the trustee's confidential treatment of information regarding the holdings and sources of income of the trust.
   7.   "Board" means the conflicts of interest board established by this chapter.
   8.   "Business dealings with the city" means any transaction with the city involving the sale, purchase, rental, disposition or exchange of any goods, services, or property, any license, permit, grant or benefit, and any performance of or litigation with respect to any of the foregoing, but shall not include any transaction involving a public servant's residence or any ministerial matter.
   9.   "City" means the city of New York and includes an agency of the city.
   10.   "Elected official" means a person holding office as mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president or member of the council.
   11.   "Firm" means sole proprietorship, joint venture, partnership, corporation and any other form of enterprise, but shall not include a public benefit corporation, local development corporation or other similar entity as defined by rule of the board.
   12.   "Interest" means an ownership interest in a firm or a position with a firm.
   13.   "Law" means state and local law, this charter, and rules issued pursuant thereto.
   14.   "Member" means a member of the board.
   15.   "Ministerial matter" means an administrative act, including the issuance of a license, permit or other permission by the city, which is carried out in a prescribed manner and which does not involve substantial personal discretion.
   16.   "Ownership interest" means an interest in a firm held by a public servant, or the public servant's spouse, domestic partner, or unemancipated child, which exceeds five percent of the firm or an investment of twenty-five thousand dollars in cash or other form of commitment, whichever is less, or five percent or twenty-five thousand dollars of the firm's indebtedness, whichever is less, and any lesser interest in a firm when the public servant, or the public servant's spouse, domestic partner, or unemancipated child exercises managerial control or responsibility regarding any such firm, but shall not include interests held in any pension plan, deferred compensation plan or mutual fund, the investments of which are not controlled by the public servant, the public servant's spouse, domestic partner, or unemancipated child, or in any blind trust which holds or acquires an ownership interest. The amount of twenty-five thousand dollars specified herein shall be modified by the board pursuant to subdivision a of section twenty-six hundred three.
   17.   "Particular matter" means any case, proceeding, application, request for a ruling or benefit, determination, contract limited to the duration of the contract as specified therein, investigation, charge, accusation, arrest, or other similar action which involves a specific party or parties, including actions leading up to the particular matter; provided that a particular matter shall not be construed to include the proposal, consideration, or enactment of local laws or resolutions by the council, or any action on the budget or text of the zoning resolution.
   18.   "Position" means a position in a firm, such as an officer, director, trustee, employee, or any management position, or as an attorney, agent, broker, or consultant to the firm, which does not constitute an ownership interest in the firm.
   19.   "Public servant" means all officials, officers and employees of the city, including members of community boards and members of advisory committees, except unpaid members of advisory committees shall not be public servants.
   20.   "Regular employee" means all elected officials and public servants whose primary employment, as defined by rule of the board, is with the city, but shall not include members of advisory committees or community boards.
   21.   a.   "Spouse" means a husband or wife of a public servant who is not legally separated from such public servant.
      b.   "Domestic partner" means persons who have a registered domestic partnership pursuant to section 3-240 of the administrative code, a domestic partnership registered in accordance with executive order number 123, dated August 7, 1989, or a domestic partnership registered in accordance with executive order number 48, dated January 7, 1993.
   22.   "Supervisory official" means any person having the authority to control or direct the work of a public servant.
   23.   "Unemancipated child" means any son, daughter, step-son or step-daughter who is under the age of eighteen, unmarried and living in the household of the public servant.
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Administrative Code Appendix A at L.L. 1998/027.