Section 520-RICR-00-00-1.1 - Definitions1.1.1Definition of State or Municipal Elected Official (36-14-2(1)) "State or municipal elected official" means any person duly elected to or holding any elective public office pursuant to a general or special election.
1.1.2Additional Definitions ( 36-14-2001)A. "Complainant" means a person or persons who files a sworn statement with the Commission against a person subject to the statute containing allegations of prohibited activities.B. "Respondent" means a person against whom a complaint has been filed.C. "Business subject to direct state or municipal regulation" means a business which is directly regulated by a state or municipal agency as defined herein other than in a de minimus manner. This includes a business funded with state or municipal funds or federal funds disbursed by a state or municipal agency. If a specific regulatory body exists to control or supervise the business, and such body regulates and monitors the business' activities, it is a business subject to direct regulation. Utilities, insurance companies and regulated financial institutions are included. A business is not directly regulated because it is subject to general laws, tax or health laws for example, applicable to all businesses or, the fact that a business requires a license to operate, or a professional license is obtained. Businesses regulated by professional boards and occupational boards are excluded.D. "Cash value interest" means an ownership interest or a financial interest in the nature of an investment such as bonds, notes, debentures, mortgages and similar business investment interests. Deposits in any financial institution, savings and checking accounts, shares in a credit union or a cooperative bank, life insurance policies and annuities are not included.E. "Doing business" means engaging in a financial transaction, about which the public official has actual or constructive knowledge, which transaction constitutes a loan, purchase, sale or other type of transfer or exchange of money, goods, other property, or services for value. Doing business does not include the retail purchase of consumer goods bought primarily for personal, family or household purposes, and financial transactions of a personal nature, such as personal loans and individual insurance transactions.F. "Income" means any money or thing of value received or to be received as a claim on future services whether in form of a fee, salary, expenses, allowance, forbearance, forgiveness, interest, dividend, royalty, rent, capital gain, or any other form of recompense that constitutes income under the Federal Internal Revenue Code.G. "Ownership interest" means an interest in stock, assets, net profits, or losses of a business. The value of an ownership interest is determined at its highest fair market value in the calendar year.H. "Persons within the third degree of consanguinity": Persons within the third degree of consanguinity include any of the following relations: Brothers, sisters, parents, sons, daughters, grandparents, great grandparents, grandchildren. great grand- children, uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters-in- law, mothers and fathers-in-law, nieces and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters-in-law, and sons and daughters-in-law.I. "State or municipal agency" shall also include any group of persons, or corporations, organization, or other entity, however created, which: 1. exercises governmental functions other than in an advisory nature, and expends public funds in excess of $10,000 yearly; or2. those entities whose directors or other governing members are appointed by or through the governing body or highest official of state or municipal government.J. "Political party officials": Elected or appointed officers in a state, county, town or city political party organization are not elected or appointed officials subject to this act.1.1.3Additional Definitions ( 36-14-2002)A. "State or municipal elected official" means any person holding any elective public office pursuant to a general or special election.B. "State or municipal appointed official" means any officer or member of a state or municipal agency as defined herein who is appointed to an office specified by the constitution or a statute of this state or a charter or ordinance of any city or town or who is appointed by, through or with the advice and consent of a governing body, or any court, in state or municipal government, or highest official of state or municipal government.C. "Employees of state and local government, of boards, Commissions and agencies" means: 1. any individual receiving a salary from a state or municipal agency, whether elected or not, on a full-time or part-time basis;2. any individual in the classified, non-classified and unclassified service of the judicial, executive and legislative branches of state government;3. any individual in the classified, non-classified and unclassified service of any municipality within the state;4. any individual receiving a salary from any public or quasi-public state or municipal board, commission, corporation, or other public or quasi-public agency however named; and5. any state or municipal appointed official who receives a salary or stipend for their appointed service.D. "State agency" means any department, division, agency, commission, board, office, bureau, authority, corporation or subsidiary, or quasi-public authority within the executive branch of the state government of Rhode Island, either branch of the Rhode Island general assembly, or any agency or committee thereof, the judiciary, or any other department, division, agency, commission, board, office, bureau, authority, corporation or subsidiary, or quasi-public authority that is in any branch of the Rhode Island state government and which exercises governmental functions other than in a purely advisory nature.E. "Municipal agency" means any department, division, agency, commission, board, office, bureau, authority, corporation or subsidiary, quasi-public authority, or school, fire or water district within Rhode Island, other than a state agency, and whether comprised of officials and employees from a single or multiple municipalities, and any other agency that is in any branch of municipal government and which exercises governmental functions other than in a purely advisory nature.1.1.4Representing Oneself or Others, Defined ( 36-14-5016)A. In addition to any other definition or provision of the Code of Ethics: 1. A person will "represent him or herself before a state or municipal agency" if:a. He or she participates in the presentation of evidence or arguments before that agency for the purpose of influencing the judgment of the agency in his or her own favor; b. pursuant to his or her authorization and/or direction, another person participates in the presentation of evidence or arguments before that agency for the purpose of influencing the judgment of the agency in his or her favor; orc. he or she engages in the conduct described in §§1.1.4(A)(1)(a) or (b) of this Part before another agency for which he or she is the appointing authority or a member thereof.2. A person will "represent any other person before a state or municipal agency" if: a. He or she is authorized by that other person to act, and does in fact act, as the other person's attorney at law or his or her attorney in fact in the presentation of evidence or arguments before that agency for the purpose of influencing the judgment of the agency in favor of that other person;b. he or she acts as an expert witness with respect to any matter the agency's disposition of which will or can reasonably be expected to directly result in an economic benefit or detriment to him or herself, or any person within his or her family or any business associate of the person or any business by which the person is employed or which the person represents; orc. he or she engages in the conduct described in §§1.1.4(A)(2)(a) or (b) of this Part before another agency for which he or she is the appointing authority or a member thereof.1.1.5Reasonable Foreseeability ( 36-14-7001)A public official has reason to believe or expect a Conflict of Interest exists when it is "reasonably foreseeable". The probability must be greater than "conceivably", but the Conflict of Interest need not be certain to occur.
1.1.6Governmental Decision ( 36-14-7002)A. A public official makes a governmental decision when the public official acting within the authority of his or her office:3. obligates a state or municipal agency to a course of action;4. enters into any contractual agreement on behalf of a state or municipal agency; or5. determines not to act within the meaning of §§1.1.6(A)(1) through (4) of this Part because of a potential Conflict of Interest.520 R.I. Code R. 520-RICR-00-00-1.1