Annual Ethics Training Requirement Expanded to Now Include Municipal Officers

By Dana Crosby-Collier
March 19, 2015
Group of people with their hands in

Over the past couple of years, Florida's Code of Ethics, found at Part III, Chapter 112, Florida Statutes, has been the rare subject of legislative amendments. A recent major addition to the Code of Ethics is the requirement that all constitutional officers complete four hours of ethics, public records, and Sunshine law training each calendar year. At the time of the initial passage of this training requirement, the following individuals were included: the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Chief Financial Officer, the Commissioner of Agriculture, state attorneys, public defenders, sheriffs, tax collectors, property appraisers, supervisors of elections, clerks of the circuit court, county commissioners, district school board members, and superintendents of schools. Municipal officers were not included in the 2013 training requirement; however, the law was amended again in 2014 to expand the training requirement to include municipal officers. Therefore, effective January 1, 2015, all elected municipal officers must also complete four hours of ethics, public records, and Sunshine law training on an annual basis. Additionally, beginning on January 1, 2015, all officers will be required to certify that the officer completed the training at the time the officer files his/her annual financial disclosure form. There are many opportunities for municipal and county officers to compete this training requirement. In addition to live training opportunities occurring throughout the year, there are a number of free or inexpensive resources available including: - Free video tutorials and audio presentations available at the Florida Commission on Ethics website. All have been prepared by the Commission on Ethics staff. These trainings are free and can be easily accessed at any time from one's computer by going to http://ethics.state.fl.us (use the left drop down menu); and - The Institute of Government offers online ethics and Sunshine law training for a nominal fee at http://iog.fsu.edu/events/online_training/index.html. The Florida Commission on Ethics will continue to post training opportunities as they become available. Please check their website frequently for updates at http://ethics.state.fl.us.