Proposal of Final Provisions

1. Definitions

Except where otherwise specified, "County Official" means those Clark County officials who are elected, who are appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, or whose appointment must, by statute or ordinance, be ratified by the Board of Commissioners.

"Board " means the Clark County Board of Commissioners.

A "conflicting interest" is any interest of the County Official (financial, personal, collaborative or otherwise) that could reasonably impair, or that could be construed as impairing by a reasonable third party, his or her ability to act in the Countys or publics best interests in the matter. Potentially conflicting interests often arise from outside employment, donor/donee or debtor/creditor relationships, consulting arrangements, family or personal relationships, legal or fiduciary arrangements and business investments. A County Official should be careful to evaluate such arrangements before acting on a matter that may pose a conflict.

Disclosure of Conflicts

Before acting on any matter, a County Official will disclose to his superior or to the Board any conflicting interest.

3. Abstention.

Following disclosure of a conflicting interest, the County Official will determine whether or not to abstain from the matter as to which he or she has disclosed a conflicting interest. The County Official shall abstain unless he or she determines, in good faith, that (1) his or her actions in the matter will be in the Countys or publics best interests, and (2) that the independence of his or her judgment will not be impaired. The County Official shall disclose that determination and the reasons for it to his or her superior or, if a member of the Board, to the Board at a public meeting, prior to any action or participation.

The Nevada Ethics Commission has provided guidance for public officials considering disclosure and abstention. It its opinion issued December 22, 1999 at the request of Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, the Commission offers suggested questions that a public official should ask and answer in deliberating his or her decision to abstain on an issue. That opinion is attached for reference. While the advice is specific to the circumstances that prompted the Commissioner to request the opinion, any other public official could extrapolate sound guidelines to apply to any situation. The task force highly recommends that public officials familiarize themselves with this opinion and apply its principles.

In the case of a County Official who is an employee of the County, his or her supervisor may remove the employee from the matter, even if the employee-County Official believes

abstention is not required, since an employee is subject to the direction and control of his supervisor.

4. Advice Regarding Disclosures and Abstention.

In deciding whether or not to disclose and abstain, the County Official may seek the advice of the County Counsel, of the County Manager, or of the Board at a public meeting. However, the decisions will be the responsibility of the County Official.

5. Effect of Abstention.

If a County Official abstains from a matter, he or she will not participate in it in any way, whether by voting, discussion, persuasion or otherwise. If the Official is other than a member of the Board, his or her supervisor shall designate a person to act in the officials place on the item of conflict. If the Official is the County Manager, then the Assistant County Manager with supervisory responsibilities in that area shall act in the Managers place.

6. Public Disclosure of Conflicts and Abstentions.

At least monthly, the County Manager will make available to the public and to the press a report of all conflict disclosures and abstentions by County Officials, specifying as to each such official all of his or her disclosures and whether or not each such disclosure resulted in abstention.

7. Prohibition of Acceptance of Gifts.

A County elected Official shall not accept any gift with a value in excess of $50 unless he or she can demonstrate that the gift was not offered because of his or her position as a County Official. For purposes of this section, political campaign contributions, meals, non-profit fund raising events, and functions sponsored by public institutions will not be considered as gifts, but multiple gifts from the same source within the same year will be aggregated for purposes of the $50 exclusion.

8. Cooling Off Period

For purposes of this Section 8, County Official includes (in addition to the persons specified in Section 1, above) any county employee whose position is included within the County Management Plan.

For a period of twelve months following termination of his or her service to Clark County, a County Official will not represent or act for others before Clark County government (or any employee or agent of Clark County Government). This prohibition does not apply to a County Official who leaves the service of Clark County for employment at another government agency, so long as he or she limits his or her representation to the affairs of that government agency.

If a County Official violates this section by representing others before the Clark County government within the proscribed period, that period may be lengthened by six months for each such violation by action of the Board. Before extending the period of proscription, the Board shall provide the alleged violator with an opportunity to be heard, to be represented by counsel and to otherwise receive due process of law. Any such extension decision shall be made by vote of the Board in public session.

9. Sanctions.

In addition to the sanction provided by Section 8, the following sanctions are available, among possible others, for violations of these provisions: As to County Officials who are employees of the County, appropriate employee discipline, up to and including termination of employment; and as to County Officials who are elected, censure by the Board as voted in a public meeting, or referral by the Board to the State Ethics Commission or to the office of the District Attorney.

In addition to these existing and available sanctions, the Task Force recommends that the County ask the state legislature to amend existing state law to provide that these rules may be enforced by the State Ethics Commission and that the sanctions provided to that commissiona set of escalating finesbe available for its use in that enforcement.

10. Additional Recommendations.

The Task Force strongly recommends that an educational program be undertaken, regularly, to educate County Officials about these rules and other ethical conduct. A memorandum from Professor Walton and staff on this subject, which the commission endorses, is attached.

The Task Force also recommends that the County work with the State Bar of Nevada to study the extent to which the "imputed disqualification" rules of the Bar may inappropriately cause elected officials to disqualify themselves from the publics business, particularly in the case of conflicts that are deliberately created to disqualify an official from so acting; and, to the extent appropriate, to modify those rules to avoid that result.