Ethics and Disclosure Act amendments.

21LSO-0060
2021
STATE OF WYOMING
21LSO-0060
Numbered
2.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0032

Ethics and Disclosure Act amendments.

Sponsored by: Joint Judiciary Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to government ethics; amending and establishing definitions and procedures for the Ethics and Disclosure Act; expanding the scope of the Act to include local governmental entities, the judicial branch and additional state employees; amending offenses and penalties of the Ethics and Disclosure Act; amending financial disclosure requirements; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 9
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13
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102(a)(xii)(intro), (xv), by creating new paragraphs (xvii) through (xxi) and by
renumbering (xvii) as (xxii), 9
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13
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104, 9
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13
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105(a), (b)(intro), (ii) and (c), 9
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13
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106(a)(intro) and (b), 9
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13
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107, 9
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13
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108(a)(iii) and (b) and 9
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13
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109(a) and (b) are amended to read:

9
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13
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102.

Definitions.

(a)

As used in this article:

(xii)

"Public employee" means any
of the following state employees:
employee or at
‑
will contract employee of a state entity or local office;

(xv)

"State entity" means a state agency,
state
office, department, division, bureau, board, commission or council
of the state
, including the legislature,
any court or agency in the judicial branch and the
Wyoming community development authority
;
and Wyoming science, technology and energy authority. The term does not include a court or an agency in the judicial branch;

(xvii)

"Judicial branch" means any court or agency in the judicial branch;

(xviii)

"Judicial officer" means any supreme court justice, district judge, circuit judge, chancery court judge, district court commissioner and magistrate;

(xix)

"Personal or private interest" means an interest that is direct and immediate as opposed to speculative and remote and that provides a greater benefit or a lesser detriment than it does for a large or substantial group or class of persons who are similarly situated;

(xx)

"Private benefit" means the receipt of a gift by the public official, judicial officer, public member or public employee and the receipt of the gift resulted from taking action or inaction or his holding that office;

(xxi)

"Salaried employment" means an employment relationship under which the employee is compensated, at
least in part, by payment of a specified dollar amount for a specified period of service;

(xvii)
(xxii)

"This act" means W.S. 9
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13
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101 through 9
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13
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109.

9
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13
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104.

Nepotism.

(a)

No public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee shall advocate or cause the employment, appointment, promotion, transfer or advancement of a family member to an office or position of
the state, a county, municipality or a school district. A public official, public member or public employee shall not supervise or manage a family member who is in an office or position of the state, a county, municipality or school district
a local office, state entity or the judicial branch
.

(b)

A public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee, acting in his official capacity, shall not participate in his official responsibility or
capacity regarding a matter relating to the employment or discipline of a family member.

(c)

A public official, judicial officer, public member or public employee shall not supervise or manage a family member who is in an office or position of a local office, state entity or the judicial branch, unless the family member began employment in the local office, state entity or judicial branch before the public official, judicial officer, public member or public employee began supervising or managing the family member.

(d)

Nothing in this section shall preclude a public official, judicial officer, public member or public employee from responding to or participating in a preemployment inquiry concerning a family member when that inquiry is initiated by the local office, state entity or the judicial branch.

9
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13
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105.

Misuse of office.

(a)

A public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee shall not use public funds, time, personnel, facilities or equipment for his private benefit or that of another unless the use is authorized by law.

(b)

A public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee shall not use public funds, time, personnel, facilities or equipment for political or campaign activity unless the use is:

(ii)

Properly incidental to another activity required or authorized by law and the public official,
judicial officer,
public employee or public member allocates and reimburses the governmental entity for any additional costs incurred for that portion of the activity not required or authorized by law.

(c)

A public official,
judicial officer,
public employee or public member shall not disseminate to another person official information which the public official,
judicial officer,
public employee or public member obtains through or in connection with his position, unless the
information is available to the general public or unless the dissemination is authorized by law.

9
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13
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106.

Official decisions and votes.

(a)

A public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee shall not make an official decision or vote on an official decision if the public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee has a personal or private interest in the matter
or obtains or stands to obtain a private benefit from the matter
. In determining whether he has a personal or private interest in a matter the public official shall recognize the importance of his right to represent his constituency and shall abstain from voting only in clear cases of a personal or private interest
as defined in this subsection
or a private benefit
. A public official or public member shall not vote to give money or any direct financial benefit to himself except for tax reductions affecting the general public.
For the purposes of this section, a personal or private interest:

(b)

A public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee described by subsection (a) of this section shall abstain from voting on the decision and from making any official decision in the matter. The public official's,
judicial officer's,
public member's or public employee's abstention from voting must be recorded in the governmental entity's official records.

9
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13
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107.

Actions taken while negotiating for employment.

A public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee may not vote or take an official action in a matter affecting a person with whom the public official,
judicial officer,
public member or public employee is negotiating for prospective employment.

9
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13
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108.

Disclosure required.

(a)

Not later than January 31 annually, each of the state's five (5) elected officials and each member of the Wyoming legislature shall file a financial disclosure form
with the secretary of state. The form shall be signed by the elected official or legislator filing it and under a certification that it is accurate. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the financial disclosure form shall contain the following information current as of January 15 of that year:

(iii)

A list of all state entities the person, or the person's business enterprise in which the person owns ten percent (10%) or more interest, has a contract with for services and supplies in an amount greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00). The list shall include all contracts subject to this paragraph entered into by the elected official or legislator on and after January 15 of the prior year. For each contract, this list shall include the name and address of the business enterprise, if applicable, and state entity, the type and description of the contract and the effective date and term of the contract.
For purposes of this paragraph "state entity" as defined in W.S. 9
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13
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102(a)(xv) shall include a court or an agency in the judicial branch.

(b)

Forms may be submitted by
electronic transmission or by
facsimile transmission under the same terms and conditions specified for campaign reports under W.S. 22
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25
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106.
For the purposes of this section, "salaried employment" means an employment relationship under which the employee is compensated, at least in part, by payment of a specified dollar amount for each month, or longer period, of service.

9
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13
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109.

Penalties.

(a)

Any
person
public official, public member, judicial officer or public employee
who violates this act is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable upon conviction by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00).

(b)

Violation of any provision of this act constitutes sufficient cause for termination of a public employee's employment or for removal of a public official or public member from his office or position
in accordance with law
.

Section 2.

W.S. 9
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13
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102(a)(xii)(A) through (E), 9
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13
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103(b) and 9
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13
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106(a)(i) and (ii) are repealed.

Section 3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2021
.

(END)

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HB0032