Personal Financial Disclosure for Legislators
Personal financial disclosure laws require public servants to open
their books, to a certain extent, for mass inspection. Many elected and
appointed office-holders at the local, state and federal level must abide
by versions of these provisions, which are different from campaign finance
disclosures.
The Center for Ethics in Government has compiled several
50-state-charts on requirements. The charts are listed in the right
column.
All but three states - Idaho, Michigan and Vermont - require state
legislators to file personal financial disclosures, also called statements
of economic interest. Forty-five states require that updates be filed
annually. In North Carolina and North Dakota, updates must be filed every
election year.
Most states require lawmakers to state their occupation, the sources of
their income, the names of corporations in which they hold a position such
as director or officer, the addresses of their property, the names of
creditors and debtors and names of businesses in which they hold a
financial interest. More than 2/3 of states mandate the release of
information about each member's spouse and dependent children.
Thirty-one states require disclosure of any connections filers or their
family members have with the state or state subdivision agencies. And 18
states require disclosure of associations with lobbyists.
Amounts for incomes or expenditures are unnecessary in all but 17
states. In these 17 states, filers must disclose an amount or a value
range in some cases.
In most states, legislators don't have to name their clients because
such information is considered privileged and revealing it could
constitute a breach of a professional ethics code. Fifteen states require
client names in certain cases, but most of these allow for exceptions.
Many states require lawmakers to disclose the sources and value of any
gifts or honorariums they receive. Other states ban gifts or
honorariums or restrict the acceptance of them.
Center for Ethics in
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