Senate Bill No. 3 of the 2008
First Extraordinary Session, as amended by SB 769 of the
2008 Regular Session, replaced the general exception to the
ethics code for elected officials to receive certain things
of economic value related to cultural and sporting events.
The new provision allows
a public servant to accept complimentary
admission to certain events as follows:
(1) A civic, non-profit,
educational, or political event IF the
public servant is a
program honoree, giving a speech at the event, or a panel
member for a discussion occurring at the event.
(2) A fundraising event for a
candidate or political party.
The new provision
specifically prohibits complimentary admission to any
professional, semi-professional, or collegiate sporting
event.
Until there are opinions
regarding this provision issued by the Board of Ethics [See,
Opinion 2008-012] and because neither Senate Bill No. 3 or
Senate Bill 769 did not specifically authorize any other
admission, one should presume that all complimentary
admission to any other event, function, or outing is a
prohibited receipt of a thing of economic value.
