(1) All employees
of the Florida Lottery are subject to the provisions of Chapter 112, Part III,
F.S., Chapter 24, F.S., and rules promulgated thereunder. Where there are
differences between this rule and the statute, the stricter provisions will
apply.
(2) Definitions. For
purposes of this rule:
(a) "Chief ethics
officer" means the Lottery's Deputy General Counsel.
(b) "Employee" means any person employed by
the Florida Lottery.
(c) "Gift"
means anything accepted by a person or on that person's behalf, whether
directly or indirectly, for that person's benefit and for which no payment is
made. Examples of gifts are: real property or the use thereof; tangible or
intangible personal property or the use thereof; preferential rate or terms on
a transaction not available to others similarly situated; forgiveness of a
debt; transportation, lodging or parking; food or beverage; dues, fees and
tickets; plants and flowers; personal services for which a fee is normally
charged; or any other thing or service having an attributable value.
"Gift" does not include:
1. Salary, benefits, services, fees,
commissions, gifts or expenses associated primarily with the donee's
employment, business, or service as an officer or director of a corporation or
organization (the donee's principal employer or business occupation and
unrelated to the donee's public position); or
2. Contributions reported pursuant to the
campaign financing law (Chapter 106, F.S.), campaign-related personal services
provided by individuals volunteering their time, or any other contribution or
expenditure by a political party; or
3. An honorarium or expense related to an
honorarium event paid to a person or the person's spouse by someone other than
a lobbyist or principal of a lobbyist; or
4. An award, plaque, certificate or similar
personalized item given in recognition of the donee's public, civic, charitable
or professional service, provided that such item has no separate commercial
value; or
5. Honorary membership in
a service or fraternal organization presented as a courtesy by the
organization; or
6. Use of a public
facility for a public purpose made available by a governmental agency;
or
7. Transportation provided by an
agency in relation to officially approved governmental business; or
8. Anything of value provided directly or
indirectly by a state, regional or national organization which promotes the
exchange of ideas between, or the professional development of, governmental
officials or employees, and whose membership is primarily composed of elected
or appointed public officials or staff, to members of that organization, or
staff of a governmental agency that is a member of the organization.
(d) "Lobby" means to seek, on
behalf of another person, to influence an agency with respect to a decision of
the agency in the area of policy or procurement or an attempt to obtain the
goodwill of an agency official or employee.
(e) "Lobbyist" means a person who is employed
and receives payment for the purpose of lobbying, or a person who is
principally employed for governmental affairs by another person or governmental
entity to lobby on behalf of that other person or governmental entity,
excluding an employee of an agency or of a legislative or judicial branch
entity acting in the normal course of his or her duties.
(f) "Principal" means the person, firm,
corporation or other entity which has employed or retained a
lobbyist.
(g) "Procurement
employee" means any employee who participates through decision, approval,
disapproval, recommendation, preparation of any part of a purchase request,
influencing the content of any specification or procurement standard, rendering
of advice, investigation, or auditing or in any other advisory capacity in the
procurement of contractual services or commodities as defined in Section
287.012, F.S., if the cost of such services or commodities exceeds $1,000 in
any year.
(h) "Relative" means a
person who is related to an agency official or employee as father, mother, son,
daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband,
wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson,
stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, grandparent,
great grandparent, grandchild, great grandchild, step grandparent, step great
grandparent, step great grandchild, engaged to be married to the agency
official or employee, or who otherwise holds himself or herself out as or is
generally known as the person whom the agency official or employee intends to
marry or with whom the agency official or employee intends to form a household,
or any other natural person having the same legal residence as the agency
official or employee.
(i)
"Reporting individual" means any employee who is required by Section 112.3145,
F.S., to file a full or limited public disclosure of his or her financial
interests.
(j) "Secretary" means
the Secretary of the Florida Lottery or an employee of the Lottery authorized
to act on behalf of the Secretary.
(3) Avoiding the Appearance of Impropriety.
Employees of the Lottery will use the powers and resources of the Lottery to
further the public interest and not for any financial or personal benefit other
than salaried compensation and employer-provided benefits.
(a) Safeguarding Impartiality. Employees are
expected to safeguard their ability to make objective, fair and impartial
decisions, and therefore may not accept benefits of any sort under
circumstances in which it could be inferred by a reasonable observer that the
benefit was intended to influence a pending or future decision of the employee,
or to reward a past decision. Employees should avoid any conduct (whether in
the context of business, financial or social relationships) that might
undermine the public trust, whether that conduct is unethical or lends itself
to the appearance of ethical impropriety.
(b) Serving as Officers/Directors of
Governmental and Non-governmental Entities. An employee may serve as an officer
or director of a governmental or non-governmental entity subject to the
approval of the chief ethics officer. Approval shall be requested at the time
of original employment with the Lottery or at the time the employee seeks to be
appointed to such position.
(c)
Screening. To avoid any appearance of impropriety, an employee will not
participate in meetings between and/or decisions directly involving the
employee and his or her former employer or clients/business entities for which
he or she has had substantial, direct responsibility during the one year prior
to assuming his or her present employment with the Lottery. To the extent an
employee seeks to participate in any such meeting or decision, he or she will
first notify the chief ethics officer who will prescribe an appropriate screen
depending on the particular circumstances. Moreover, nothing in this Code is
meant to prohibit an employee from addressing or making decisions relating to
issues that may generally affect an industry or business sector with which the
employee may have had a prior relationship.
(4) Acceptance of Gifts. No employee who is a
reporting individual or a procurement employee ("RIPE") may accept any gift
from a non-lobbyist. There are limited exceptions to the prohibition on the
acceptance of gifts from non-lobbyists, as follows:
(a) Gifts from relatives, regardless of
value.
(b) Gifts received from
personal friends in the ordinary course of friendship, regardless of value,
(including but not limited to birthday and/or anniversary gifts and gifts of
hospitality), provided that any such personal friend is not:
1. The partner, firm, member, employer,
employee or principal of a lobbyist;
2. A person having a special pecuniary
interest (either individually or through a corporation or organization) in a
matter pending before the Lottery;
3. A person who (either individually or
through a corporation or organization) provides goods or services to the
Lottery under contract or agreement;
4. A person who (either individually or
through a corporation or organization) is seeking such business with the
Lottery.
(c) On-site
consumption of food and refreshment at receptions and/or other events, provided
the employee's attendance at such event is an appropriate exercise of the
employee's official duties and the food and refreshments at such event are not
paid for by a lobbyist or the principal of a lobbyist, in which case the
guidelines set forth in subsection (5) below apply.
(d) Gifts accepted on behalf of a
governmental entity or charitable organization, or for which a public purpose
can be shown, provided the gift is not being made by a lobbyist or the
principal of a lobbyist.
(e) Gifts
involving volunteer campaign-related travel, lodging, and/or food or beverage
expenses, provided the chief ethics officer has approved such
acceptance.
(5) Use of
Lobbyists and Lobbyist Expenditures.
(a) The
use of lobbyists will not be required or preferred as a way to obtain access to
Lottery employees.
(b) Employees
shall not solicit any gift, regardless of value, from a lobbyist or principal,
if the gift is for the personal benefit of the employee, the employee's family,
or another employee.
(c) No
employee shall knowingly accept anything of value from a lobbyist or the
principal of a lobbyist, regardless of whether the thing is being offered or
given for the purpose of lobbying, except that an expenditure for the personal
benefit of an employee may be accepted from a lobbyist or principal who is a
relative of the employee.
However,
1. An
employee may attend an event or accept a thing of value that is otherwise
prohibited if the employee pays or provides equivalent consideration
contemporaneously with or preceding the receipt of the item or attendance at
the event. In situations in which it is difficult to place a value (such as
dinner at someone's home), equivalent consideration in the form of a house
gift, appropriate priced bottle of wine or spirits, floral arrangement or
plant, or other appropriately valued item may substitute for monetary
consideration. Attendance at weddings, showers, birthdays or other special
occasions where guests usually bring gifts and the feted person or others on
his or her behalf provide food and entertainment also fall into this
category.
2. An employee may attend
a community event that is open to all persons.
3. An employee may accept an item or benefit
generally available for free or below the customary rate if the rate is a
government rate available to all other similarly-situated government employees
or a rate that is available to similarly-situated members of the public by
virtue of occupation, affiliation, age, religion, sex or national origin. If
discounted pricing is made possible as a result of sponsorship by a lobbyist or
principal, the discounted pricing may not be accepted unless it is available
equally to all government employees and not intended to benefit a particular
class of employees.
The key question in each of these situations is whether the
expenditure or the available discount is being made for the personal benefit of
the employee, the employee's parent, spouse, child or sibling. If it is,
accepting the expenditure or discount is prohibited.
In determining whether an expenditure is a prohibited one,
the following questions must be asked:
a. Is there
commercial value
involved?
The following items have commercial value and are examples of
prohibited expenditures: food and beverages, tickets to entertainment events
(golf tournament, sporting event, or theatre performance), transportation,
lodging, and honorarium expenses.
b. Is the thing of commercial value primarily
for the benefit of the agency's employees and not generally available to
members of the public (or a large class of persons) on the same terms and
conditions?
c. Does a lobbyist or
principal control who receives the benefit of the thing of value?
d. If a third person (such as a non-profit)
is distributing the thing of value, is it acting under the direction of the
lobbyist or principal?
e. Did an
agency official or employee solicit the lobbyist or principal for the
sponsorship of the event?
If the answer to any of the foregoing
questions a-e is "yes", then the employee may not attend the event or accept
the thing of value without giving appropriate and contemporaneous
consideration. If the answer to all of the foregoing questions
a-e is "no," then the employee may attend the event or accept the thing of
value unless he or she knows or has reason to believe that the arrangement is a
subterfuge for an otherwise prohibited expenditure.
4. Notwithstanding that awards,
plaques, certificates or similar personalized items given in recognition of the
employee's public, civic, charitable or professional service are not considered
"gifts" under Chapter 112, F.S., the employee shall notify the chief ethics
officer of the receipt of any such item.
5. A Lottery vendor who is also a principal
may make expenditures for reasonable and necessary expenses of Lottery sales
conferences and other marketing activities when such payments are made pursuant
to a contractual obligation of the vendor to provide marketing support to the
Lottery under a contract that was entered pursuant to a competitive procurement
process. A Lottery employee's participation in such a sales conference or other
marketing activities shall not be considered to be a violation of this rule.
Employees have a duty to inquire whether the thing of value
is from a lobbyist or principal. Ignorance of the facts is no excuse.
(6)
Reporting Requirements.
(a) Gift Reporting.
This Code permits the acceptance of gifts from non-lobbyists only in certain
specified circumstances set forth in subsection (4) above. RIPEs must report
and disclose any permissible gift unless the gift is from a relative or a
friend; however, gifts from friends must be reported if they exceed $100 in
value.
Pursuant to Section
112.3148,
F.S., RIPEs must file Form 9, quarterly Gift Disclosure, with the Commission on
Ethics on the last day of any calendar quarter following the calendar quarter
in which he or she received a reportable gift. Form 9 need not be filed if no
such gift was received during the calendar quarter. RIPEs must also file with
the Commission on Ethics Form 10, Annual Disclosure of Gifts from Governmental
Entities and Direct Support Organizations and Honorarium Event Related Expenses
by July 1 of each year, along with the employee's Form 1 filing (see paragraph
(6)(b) below), if a reportable gift or expense was received.
(b) Financial Disclosure. In addition,
certain employees, specified in Section 112.3145(1), F.S., are required to make
public disclosure of their financial interests. Conflicts of interest may occur
when public officials are in a position to make decisions that affect their
personal financial interest. This is why public officers and employees are
required to publicly disclose their financial interests. The disclosure process
serves to remind officials of their obligation to put the public interest above
personal considerations. It also helps citizens monitor the considerations of
those who spend their tax dollars and participate in public policy decisions.
Pursuant to Section
112.3145
(2)(b), F.S., reporting individuals are required to file with the Commission on
Ethics, Form 1, Statement of Financial Interests, within thirty (30) days of
appointment and by July 1 of each year thereafter.
Employees will be notified by the chief ethics officer if
their position with the Lottery requires them to file financial disclosure
forms.
(7)
General Prohibitions of Chapters 24 and 112, F.S.
(a) Employees shall not solicit or accept
anything of value to the employee, including gifts, loans, rewards, promises of
future employment, favors, or services based upon any understanding that the
official action or judgment of the employee would be influenced
thereby.
(b) Employees shall not
corruptly use or attempt to use their positions to gain special privileges,
benefits or exemptions for themselves or others.
(c) Employees, their spouses and minor
children shall not accept any compensation, payment or thing of value when they
know or should know that it was given to influence the official action of the
employee.
(d) Employees shall not
disclose or use information not available to the public and obtained by reason
of their public positions for the personal benefit of themselves or
others.
(e) Employees shall not
solicit or accept an honorarium that is related to their public office or
duties. Employees may accept payment of expenses related to an honorarium event
unless the payment is from a lobbyist or principal.
(f) Employees acting as purchasing agents
shall not directly or indirectly purchase, rent, or lease any realty, goods or
services for the Lottery from a business in which the employee or the
employee's spouse or child owns more than a 5% interest.
(g) Employees acting in a private capacity
shall not rent, sell or lease realty, goods or services to the
Lottery.
(h) Employees shall not
accept employment that would create a conflict of interest between their
private interests and the performance of their public duties, or accept other
employment with any business entity subject to regulation by, or doing business
with, the Lottery.
(i) Employees
having decisionmaking authority shall not participate in any decision involving
a vendor or retailer with whom they have a financial interest.
(j) Employees having decisionmaking authority
shall not participate in any decision involving a vendor or retailer with whom
they have discussed employment opportunities, without the prior approval of the
Secretary.
(k) Purchase of lottery
tickets by employees or any relatives residing in their household is strictly
prohibited.
(8)
Post-Employment Restrictions.
(a) Employees
who became employed by the Lottery after July 1, 1989, who have authority over
policy or procurement, shall not, for a period of two (2) years after
retirement or termination, personally represent another person or entity for
compensation before the Department, unless employed by another agency of state
government.
(b) Employees shall
not, for a period of two (2) years after retirement or termination, hold any
employment or contractual relationship with a business entity other than a
state agency in connection with any contract for contractual services that was
within the employee's responsibility while employed by the Lottery.
(c) Employees are prohibited, after
retirement or termination, from holding any employment or contractual
relationship with a business entity other than a state agency in connection
with any contract in which the employee participated personally and
substantially through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation,
rendering of advice, or investigation while an employee of the
Lottery.
(d) Employees shall not,
for a period of one (1) year following cessation of employment with the
Lottery, represent any vendor or retailer before the Lottery regarding any
specific matter in which the employee was involved while employed by the
Lottery.
(9) Nepotism.
Employees are prohibited from seeking for a relative any appointment,
employment, promotion or advancement in the unit in which he/she is serving or
over which he/she exercises jurisdiction or control.
(10) Frequent-Flyer Miles Earned Through
State-Reimbursed Travel. Employees may sometimes be required to travel on State
business, requiring them to spend evenings and weekends away from their homes
and families. Per diem reimbursements often do not fully reimburse the employee
for out-of-pocket travel expenses. As a matter of general policy, any
frequent-flyer miles and/or bonus miles awarded to an employee as a result of
State-reimbursed travel may be used for personal use by the employee.
(11) Reporting of Violation. An employee who
believes that a violation of the Lottery Code of Ethics has occurred may report
the suspected violation to the chief ethics office and/or the Lottery's Office
of Inspector General.
(12)
Training. All employees shall receive Code of Ethics training upon appointment
and thereafter on an annual basis.