Public officers: conflicts of interest: contracts.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 establishes the Fair Political Practices Commission as the agency responsible for enforcing the act. The act authorizes the Commission to issue an opinion or advice to a person with respect to that person's duties under the act, as specified. The act authorizes the Commission to seek and impose administrative and civil penalties against persons who violate the act, as prescribed. Existing law prohibits Members of the Legislature, state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees from being financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members. Existing law identifies certain remote interests that are not subject to this prohibition and other situations in which an official is not deemed to be financially interested in a contract. Existing law makes a willful violation of this prohibition a crime. This bill would establish an additional situation in which an official is not financially interested in a contract as applied to specified public services contracts entered into by certain special districts. This bill would also make a person who violates the prohibition against being financially interested in a contract, or who causes another person to violate the prohibition, subject to administrative and civil fines, as specified. The bill would authorize the Commission to enforce these violations by bringing an administrative or civil action against a person who is subject to the prohibition, as specified, upon written authorization from the district attorney of the county in which the alleged violation occurred. This bill would authorize a person who is subject to those prohibitions to request an opinion or advice from the Commission with respect to those prohibitions, as specified. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.