Ohio Ethics Commission extends filing deadline
The Ohio Ethics Commission has extended the due date for Financial Disclosure forms.
The Commission extended the deadline from April 15 to April 17 this year to be consistent with 2012 IRS requirements. The Commission reminds public officials and employees that the forms must be received or postmarked by that date.
Financial Disclosure Statements are annual reports filed by approximately 11,000 public officials and employees. In the statements, filers are required under Ohio statutes to report sources of income, investments, real estate holdings, and other financial interests.
The Ohio Ethics Commission also issued two advisory opinions related to conflict of interest questions at the meeting.
The Commission first determined that there are limits on a city employee and an employee of a finance port authority who are married to one another and when their employers interact on development projects.
In the opinion, the Commission noted that all agreements between the two agencies are collaborative. Because the interests of the two agencies are the same, and neither spouse received any personal benefits from the agreements, the Commission concluded that the Ethics Law did not prohibit either public employee from participating in these joint projects that involve his or her spouse’s employer.
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A second advisory opinion addressed a question from a non-profit corporation comprised of public employees and retirees that promotes charitable, educational, and recreational activities for its members.
The opinion stated that it would not be a violation of the Ethics Law if the non-profit corporation accepted donations from vendors or potential vendors of the public agency to be used as raffle prizes at its events.
However, the Commission cautioned that the law prohibits members of the non-profit who are public employees from soliciting or accepting a raffle prize donated by the vendor.
The Commission also heard a report on the status of pending advisory opinion requests. The Commission has met its goal of responding to all advisory requests within 90 days of their receipt.