January 2, 2012
Members of the Broward County Commission and all elected municipal officials in Broward County are subject to the Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics does not yet apply to municipal advisory board members or public municipal employees.
The Code of Ethics also does not apply to those municipalities that have a Charter provision governing the same subject matter to the extent of any conflicts.
Elected municipal officials must disclose all outside/concurrent employment (including any remuneration received therefrom), all charitable contribution fundraising, and all campaign fundraising for other candidates. These officials must also disclose the acceptance of any tickets to charitable events given by a lobbyist, vendor or contractor (within 30 days of the event, the official must reimburse the donor for the value of food and beverage consumed). As of December 2015, elected municipal officials are no longer required to disclose any communications with lobbyists. Lobbyists are now required to complete a contact log disclosing all lobbying activity within three (3) days, irrespective of the location of such activity.
Elected municipal officials must certify annually that they have completed the four (4) hour ethics training requirement.
All disclosure forms are prepared by the Broward County Attorney’s Office and available on this website. The forms must be filed with the official’s city manager or city clerk and made available on the city’s website.
Florida law also requires elected municipal officials to file disclosures related to financial interests, gifts and other matters. Please contact our office for additional information.
This disclosure must be filed by July 1 of each year for the preceding calendar year.
The Code of Ethics does not define “remuneration” for purposes of this disclosure. Our office has issued ethics advisory opinions providing the municipal elected officials that we represent with a definition of this term. Copies of our opinions are available on this website.
Elected municipal officials must obtain a minimum of four (4) hours of continuing education training annually on the topics of the Sunshine Law, public records and public service ethics. At least two (2) of these hours must be received in an interactive setting (group or individual).
Newly elected officials must complete a minimum of four (4) hours of training, as directed by their local government attorney, on the Sunshine Law, public records and public service ethics within one hundred twenty (120) days of taking office.
Elected municipal officials must certify annually that they have completed this training requirement.
The Code of Ethics states that training may be obtained through regional universities, municipal or local government organization, or the state or regional Bar associations. Our law firm regularly conducts ethics training programs for our municipal clients.
The Code of Ethics does not define “annual” for purposes of this filing. Our office has issued ethics advisory opinions advising our municipal clients that each elected municipal official has twelve (12) months from the date they were elected to complete this requirement. Copies of our opinions are available on this website.
No. The Code of Ethics does not provide a specific process for tracking participation in ethics training by elected municipal officials. We have advised municipal clients that we represent to sign in, if possible, to verify attendance at ethics training programs; however, the Code only requires elected municipal officials to certify annually that they have completed the training requirement.
We may only issue formal ethics advisory opinions pursuant to the Code of Ethics to elected officials serving municipalities represented by our office. Please contact our office for additional information.
The Code of Ethics is enforced by the Broward County Office of the Inspector General in accordance with the Broward County Charter.
