BILL REQ. #:  S-3255.1 

Read first time 01/09/12.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to ethics in public service; amending RCW 42.52.420 and 42.52.520; reenacting and amending RCW 42.52.010; adding a new section to chapter 42.52 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that ensuring public trust in government is among its paramount duties. The public expects its elected officials and state employees to adhere to the highest ethical standards during their service, and this includes a commitment to full and independent investigations, with proper penalties, in cases where the ethics in public service act is violated.

Sec. 2   RCW 42.52.010 and 2011 c 60 s 28 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Agency" means any state board, commission, bureau, committee, department, institution, division, or tribunal in the legislative, executive, or judicial branch of state government. "Agency" includes all elective offices, the state legislature, those institutions of higher education created and supported by the state government, and those courts that are parts of state government.
     (2) "Assist" means to act, or offer or agree to act, in such a way as to help, aid, advise, furnish information to, or otherwise provide assistance to another person, believing that the action is of help, aid, advice, or assistance to the person and with intent so to assist such person.
     (3) "Beneficial interest" has the meaning ascribed to it under the Washington case law. However, an ownership interest in a mutual fund or similar investment pooling fund in which the owner has no management powers does not constitute a beneficial interest in the entities in which the fund or pool invests.
     (4) "Compensation" means anything of economic value, however designated, that is paid, loaned, granted, or transferred, or to be paid, loaned, granted, or transferred for, or in consideration of, personal services to any person.
     (5) "Confidential information" means (a) specific information, rather than generalized knowledge, that is not available to the general public on request or (b) information made confidential by law.
     (6) "Contract" or "grant" means an agreement between two or more persons that creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular thing. "Contract" or "grant" includes, but is not limited to, an employment contract, a lease, a license, a purchase agreement, or a sales agreement.
     (7) "Ethics" means adherence to the standards laid out in the ethics in public service law and includes a commitment by all state officers and employees to promote public trust in government, avoid both actual and apparent conflicts of interest in discharging their duties, and safeguard state resources.
     (8) "Ethics boards" means the commission on judicial conduct, the legislative ethics board, and the executive ethics board.
     (((8))) (9) "Family" has the same meaning as "immediate family" in RCW 42.17A.005.
     (((9))) (10) "Gift" means anything of economic value for which no consideration is given. "Gift" does not include:
     (a) Items from family members or friends where it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the gift was not made as part of any design to gain or maintain influence in the agency of which the recipient is an officer or employee;
     (b) Items related to the outside business of the recipient that are customary and not related to the recipient's performance of official duties;
     (c) Items exchanged among officials and employees or a social event hosted or sponsored by a state officer or state employee for coworkers;
     (d) Payments by a governmental or nongovernmental entity of reasonable expenses incurred in connection with a speech, presentation, appearance, or trade mission made in an official capacity. As used in this subsection, "reasonable expenses" are limited to travel, lodging, and subsistence expenses incurred the day before through the day after the event;
     (e) Items a state officer or state employee is authorized by law to accept;
     (f) Payment of enrollment and course fees and reasonable travel expenses attributable to attending seminars and educational programs sponsored by a bona fide governmental or nonprofit professional, educational, trade, or charitable association or institution. As used in this subsection, "reasonable expenses" are limited to travel, lodging, and subsistence expenses incurred the day before through the day after the event;
     (g) Items returned by the recipient to the donor within thirty days of receipt or donated to a charitable organization within thirty days of receipt;
     (h) Campaign contributions reported under chapter 42.17A RCW;
     (i) Discounts available to an individual as a member of an employee group, occupation, or similar broad-based group; and
     (j) Awards, prizes, scholarships, or other items provided in recognition of academic or scientific achievement.
     (((10))) (11) "Head of agency" means the chief executive officer of an agency. In the case of an agency headed by a commission, board, committee, or other body consisting of more than one natural person, agency head means the person or board authorized to appoint agency employees and regulate their conduct.
     (((11))) (12) "Honorarium" means money or thing of value offered to a state officer or state employee for a speech, appearance, article, or similar item or activity in connection with the state officer's or state employee's official role.
     (((12))) (13) "Official duty" means those duties within the specific scope of employment of the state officer or state employee as defined by the officer's or employee's agency or by statute or the state Constitution.
     (((13))) (14) "Participate" means to participate in state action or a proceeding personally and substantially as a state officer or state employee, through approval, disapproval, decision, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise but does not include preparation, consideration, or enactment of legislation or the performance of legislative duties.
     (((14))) (15) "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, firm, institution, or other entity, whether or not operated for profit.
     (((15))) (16) "Regulatory agency" means any state board, commission, department, or officer, except those in the legislative or judicial branches, authorized by law to conduct adjudicative proceedings, issue permits or licenses, or to control or affect interests of identified persons.
     (((16))) (17) "Responsibility" in connection with a transaction involving the state, means the direct administrative or operating authority, whether intermediate or final, and either exercisable alone or through subordinates, effectively to approve, disapprove, or otherwise direct state action in respect of such transaction.
     (((17))) (18) "State action" means any action on the part of an agency, including, but not limited to:
     (a) A decision, determination, finding, ruling, or order; and
     (b) A grant, payment, award, license, contract, transaction, sanction, or approval, or the denial thereof, or failure to act with respect to a decision, determination, finding, ruling, or order.
     (((18))) (19) "State employee" means an individual who is employed by an agency in any branch of state government. For purposes of this chapter, employees of the superior courts are not state officers or state employees.
     (((19))) (20) "State officer" means every person holding a position of public trust in or under an executive, legislative, or judicial office of the state. "State officer" includes judges of the superior court, judges of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, members of the legislature together with the secretary of the senate and the chief clerk of the house of representatives, holders of elective offices in the executive branch of state government, chief executive officers of state agencies, members of boards, commissions, or committees with authority over one or more state agencies or institutions, and employees of the state who are engaged in supervisory, policy-making, or policy-enforcing work. For the purposes of this chapter, "state officer" also includes any person exercising or undertaking to exercise the powers or functions of a state officer.
     (((20))) (21) "Thing of economic value," in addition to its ordinary meaning, includes:
     (a) A loan, property interest, interest in a contract or other chose in action, and employment or another arrangement involving a right to compensation;
     (b) An option, irrespective of the conditions to the exercise of the option; and
     (c) A promise or undertaking for the present or future delivery or procurement.
     (((21))) (22)(a) "Transaction involving the state" means a proceeding, application, submission, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, case, or other similar matter that the state officer, state employee, or former state officer or state employee in question believes, or has reason to believe:
     (i) Is, or will be, the subject of state action; or
     (ii) Is one to which the state is or will be a party; or
     (iii) Is one in which the state has a direct and substantial proprietary interest.
     (b) "Transaction involving the state" does not include the following: Preparation, consideration, or enactment of legislation, including appropriation of moneys in a budget, or the performance of legislative duties by an officer or employee; or a claim, case, lawsuit, or similar matter if the officer or employee did not participate in the underlying transaction involving the state that is the basis for the claim, case, or lawsuit.
     (((22))) (23) "University" includes "state universities" and "regional universities" as defined in RCW 28B.10.016 and also includes any research or technology institute affiliated with a university, including ((without limitation, the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute and the Washington Technology Center)) innovate Washington.
     (((23))) (24) "University research employee" means a state officer or state employee employed by a university, but only to the extent the state officer or state employee is engaged in research, technology transfer, approved consulting activities related to research and technology transfer, or other incidental activities.

Sec. 3   RCW 42.52.420 and 2000 c 211 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) After the filing of any complaint, except as provided in RCW 42.52.450, the staff of the appropriate ethics board shall investigate the complaint as provided in this subsection (1).
     (a) The investigation shall ((be limited to)) investigate the allegations contained in the complaint but may also, in the discretion of the investigating ethics board, investigate other potential ethics violations discovered during the course of its investigation.
     (b) Agency staff may assist ethics board staff in carrying out the investigation, but in all cases ethics board staff must oversee the investigation. Agency staff with actual or apparent conflicts of interest because of a relationship with the persons under investigation must disclose this relationship. Should the ethics board determine that there is a conflict of interest that may affect the investigation, the agency shall designate an independent employee with no conflict of interest to assist the ethics board with its investigation.
     (c) In the discretion of the ethics board, the office of the attorney general or a contracted investigator may be used to conduct or assist with an investigation.
     (2) The results of the investigation shall be reduced to writing and the staff shall either make a determination that the complaint should be dismissed pursuant to RCW 42.52.425, or recommend to the board that there is or that there is not reasonable cause to believe that a violation of this chapter or rules adopted under it has been or is being committed.
     (3) The board's determination on reasonable cause shall be provided to the complainant and to the person named in such complaint.

Sec. 4   RCW 42.52.520 and 1994 c 154 s 222 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A violation of this chapter or rules adopted under it is grounds for disciplinary action. In cases where an ethics board makes specific findings that it designates a serious violation, a state employee who has made such a serious violation shall be terminated by the agency.
     (2) The procedures for any such action shall correspond to those applicable for disciplinary action for employee misconduct generally; for those state officers and state employees not specifically exempted in chapter 41.06 RCW, the rules set forth in chapter 41.06 RCW shall apply. Any action against the state officer or state employee shall be subject to judicial review to the extent provided by law for disciplinary action for misconduct of state officers and state employees of the same category and grade.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   A new section is added to chapter 42.52 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Each agency shall designate an ethics advisor or advisors to provide informal ethics advice to state officers and employees and to ensure uniformity in the agency's operations with respect to the ethics in public service law. Agencies shall inform the appropriate ethics board of their designated advisors, and the advisors shall receive regular training from the appropriate ethics board on a schedule to be determined by the appropriate ethics board. Ethics advisors may solicit informal and formal advice from the appropriate ethics board and may also serve as a point of contact within an agency to assist with ethics investigations or to coordinate ethics trainings and updates.
     (2) Every state officer and employee shall attend an ethics training approved by the appropriate ethics board within one month of taking office or employment, and at least every two years thereafter.