Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout93-530 AfflerbachThe Honorable Roy C. Afflerbach Senate of Pennsylvania Senate Post Office Box 16 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120 -0030 STATE ETHICS COMMISSION 309 FINANCE BUILDING P.O. BOX 11470 HARRISBURG, PA 17108 -1470 TELEPHONE (717) 783 -1610 ADVICE OF COUNSEL March 26, 1993 Re: Nominees; FIS; Amendment; Addendum. Dear Senator Afflerbach: 93 - 530 This responds to your letter of March 9, 1993, in which you requested advice from the State Ethics Commission. Issue: Whether under the Public Official and Employee Ethics Law, errors or omissions on a Statement of Financial Interests may be corrected by an attached addendum. Facts: As Majority Caucus Secretary in the Senate of Pennsylvania, you are charged with the responsibility of processing the paperwork that accompanies the Governor's nominees to Boards, Commissions, Agencies, and Authorities which require Senate confirmation. Part of that paperwork includes the State Ethics Commission's Statement of Financial Interests. You have discovered that many of the nominees are submitting financial statements that contain errors or omissions. Prior to processing these nominations for confirmation consideration, your office has been contacting nominees and requesting written statements detailing necessary corrections to flawed financial statements. The statement corrections have been distributed appropriately and attached to the initial Statement of Financial Interests as an amendment. You state that this procedure appears to be the most expeditious manner with which to rectify the errors and continu* the confirmation process in a timely fashion. You request an advisory from the State Ethics Commission as to this procedure so that you may be assured that no regulations or legal requirements are being jeopardized. The Honorable Roy C. Aff lerbach March 26, 1993 Page 2 Discussion: It is initially noted that advisories are issued as to future prospective conduct only, and address only those questions posed by the rquestor. In this case, your inquiry pertains to Section 4(c) of the Ethics Law which requires that nominees for public office file a Statement of Financial Interests as follows: Section 4. Statement of financial interests required to be filed (c) Each State -level nominee for public office shall file a statement of financial interests for the preceding calendar year with the commission and with the official or body that is vested with the power of confirmation at least ten days before the official or body shall approve or reject the nomination. Each nominee for a county - level or local office shall file a statement of financial interests for the preceding calendar year with the governing authority of the political subdivision in which he or she is a nominee and, if different, with the official or body that is vested with the power of confirmation at least ten days before the official or body shall approve or reject the nomination. 65 P.S. 5404(c). The specific inquiry which you have posed ,is whether errors or omissions on the Statements of Financial Interests of . such nominees may be corrected through amendment, by attaching statement corrections as an addendum. It is initially noted that the Commission Regulations permit the attachment of addenda to the Statement of Financial Interests. 51 Pa. Code 55.1(c). Additionally, it has been the practice of the Commission to permit the filing of amendments to a Statement of Financial Interests, without requiring the entire form to be completed anew. However, given that it is a statutory requirement that, "All information requested on the statement shall be provided to the best of the knowledge, information and belief of the person required to file and shall be sinned under oath or equivalent affirmation," 65 P.S. 5405(a) (Emphasis added), any such amendment to the Statement of Financial Interests must also reflect that it is signed under oath or equivalent affirmation. In this respect, any addendum must contain the following language: The undersigned hereby affirms that the foregoing information is true and correct to the best of said person's knowledge, information and belief; said affirmation being The Honorable Roy C. Afflerbach - March 26, 1993 Page 3 made subject to the penalties prescribed by 18 Pa.C.S.A: §4094 (unsworn falsifications to authorities) and The Public Official and Employee Ethics Law 65 P.S. S409(b). and must also bear an original signature the filer as well as the date of execution. The question which you have-posed has only been addressed under the Ethics Law; the applicability of any other statute code, ordinance, regulation or other code of conduct other than the Ethics: Law has not been considered in that they do not involve an interpretation of the Ethics Law. Conclusion: A nominee for public office may correct errors or omissions to his :Statement" of Financial Interests through the attachment of a corrective addendum, conditioned upon the addendum reflecting that it is signed under oath or equivalent affirmation. Lastly, the propriety of the proposed conduct has only been addressed. under the Ethics Law: Pursuant to Section 7(11), this. Advice is a complete defense in any enforcement proceeding initiated by the Commission, and evidence of good conduct in any other civil or criminal proceeding, providing the requestor has disclosed truthfully all the material facts and committed the acts complained of in reliance on the Advice given. This letter is a public record and will be made available as such. Finally, if you disagree with this Advice or if you have any reason to challenge same, you may request that the full Commission review this Advice. A personal appearance before the Commission will be scheduled and a formal Opinion from the Commission will be issued. Any such appeal must be in writing and must be received at the Commission within 15'days of the date of this Advice pursuant to 51 Pa._ Code S2.12. cerely, 1%"`'.'")(\ )1,it Vincent Chief Counsel