AN
ACT Relating to the code of ethics for municipal officers; and amending RCW
42.23.030.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
42.23.030 and 1996 c 246 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
No
municipal officer shall be beneficially interested, directly or indirectly, in
any contract which may be made by, through or under the supervision of such
officer, in whole or in part, or which may be made for the benefit of his or
her office, or accept, directly or indirectly, any compensation, gratuity or
reward in connection with such contract from any other person beneficially
interested therein. This section shall not apply in the following cases:
(1)
The furnishing of electrical, water or other utility services by a municipality
engaged in the business of furnishing such services, at the same rates and on
the same terms as are available to the public generally;
(2)
The designation of public depositaries for municipal funds;
(3)
The publication of legal notices required by law to be published by any
municipality, upon competitive bidding or at rates not higher than prescribed
by law for members of the general public;
(4)
The designation of a school director as clerk or as both clerk and purchasing
agent of a school district;
(5)
The employment of any person by a municipality, other than a county with a
population of one hundred twenty-five thousand or more, a city of the first or
second class, an irrigation district encompassing in excess of fifty thousand
acres, or a first class school district, for unskilled day labor at wages not
exceeding one hundred dollars in any calendar month;
(6)
The letting of any other contract (except a sale or lease as seller or lessor)
by a municipality, other than a county with a population of one hundred
twenty-five thousand or more, a city with a population of ten thousand or more,
or an irrigation district encompassing in excess of fifty thousand acres:
PROVIDED, That the total volume of business represented by such contract or
contracts in which a particular officer is interested, singly or in the
aggregate, as measured by the dollar amount of the municipality's liability
thereunder, shall not exceed seven hundred fifty dollars in any calendar
month: PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the case of a particular officer of a second
class city or town, or a noncharter optional code city, or a member of any
county fair board in a county which has not established a county purchasing
department pursuant to RCW 36.32.240, the total volume of such contract or
contracts authorized in this subsection may exceed seven hundred fifty dollars
in any calendar month but shall not exceed nine thousand dollars in any calendar
year: PROVIDED FURTHER, That there shall be public disclosure by having an
available list of such purchases or contracts, and if the supplier or
contractor is an official of the municipality, he or she shall not vote on the
authorization: PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the case of a first class school
district, there shall be notice of the proposed contract by publication given
in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the district;
(7)
The leasing by a port district as lessor of port district property to a
municipal officer or to a contracting party in which a municipal officer may be
beneficially interested, if in addition to all other legal requirements, a
board of three disinterested appraisers, who shall be appointed from members of
the American institute of real estate appraisers by the presiding judge of the
superior court in the county where the property is situated, shall find and the
court finds that all terms and conditions of such lease are fair to the port
district and are in the public interest;
(8)
The letting of any employment contract for the driving of a school bus in a
second class school district: PROVIDED, That the terms of such contract shall
be commensurate with the pay plan or collective bargaining agreement operating
in the district;
(9)
The letting of any employment contract to the spouse of an officer of a second
class school district in which less than two hundred full time equivalent
students are enrolled at the start of the school year as defined in RCW 28A.150.040,
when such contract is solely for employment as a certificated or classified
employee of the school district, or the letting of any contract to the spouse
of an officer of a school district, when such contract is solely for employment
as a substitute teacher for the school district: PROVIDED, That the terms of
such contract shall be commensurate with the pay plan or collective bargaining
agreement applicable to all district employees and the board of directors has
found, consistent with the written policy under RCW 28A.330.240, that there is
a shortage of substitute teachers in the school district;
(10)
The letting of any employment contract to the spouse of an officer of a school
district if the spouse was under contract as a certificated or classified
employee with the school district before the date in which the officer assumes
office: PROVIDED, That the terms of such contract shall be commensurate with
the pay plan or collective bargaining agreement operating in the district;
(11) The authorization, approval, or ratification of any
employment contract with the spouse of a public hospital district commissioner
if: (a) The spouse was employed by the public hospital district before the
date the commissioner was initially elected; (b) the terms of the contract are
commensurate with the pay plan or collective bargaining agreement operating in
the district for similar employees; (c) the interest of the commissioner is
disclosed to the board of commissioners and noted in the official minutes or
similar records of the public hospital district prior to the letting or
continuation of the contract; (d) and the commissioner does not vote on the
authorization, approval, or ratification of the contract or any conditions in
the contract.
