Ethics: Statutory Definitions of Public Official / Public Officer
Table for each state and each territory
February 2008
Many state legislators balance their public office with other employment, although they face regulations that address the type of jobs they may have. Regulations exist in the areas of holding another elected office, becoming a lobbyist, having a contract with government and representing a client before state government. States also have regulated state legislators holding another public sector job. Dual employment, also known as double-dipping, is the practice of drawing two government incomes from current employment.
Is a state legislator a public official? Is a state employee a public officer? And why does this matter?
In many states, ethics laws are written to apply to "public officials" or "public officers." The subtleties in defining these terms play a significant role in determining who and what offices are subject to state ethics regulations.
Definition. According to Black's Law Dictionary a "public official" is "[o]ne who holds or is invested with a public office; a person elected or appointed to carry out some portion of a government's sovereign powers." "Public officer" is defined in a similar way. For this research, the terms "public officials" and "public officers" are interchangeable.
While each state has taken slightly different approaches, both terms usually include persons who have been elected to an office at the state or local levels. States differ on including appointed offices, judges and state employees.
Appointed offices. About half of the states also include offices which are appointed, instead of elected, in their definitions of "public official." Georgia, Nevada, and Utah take a slightly more restrictive approach and deem appointive positions to be "public officials" only when the officeholder is authorized to exercise some portion of the government's sovereign powers. New York includes appointed officials who receive minimal remuneration.
Judicial branch. Eight states exclude members of the judicial branch from their definition of public official. These states are California, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma and South Carolina, those South Carolina designates probate judges as public officials.
Public employees. Less than half of the states include state employees in their definitions of "public official" and of those, most only include high-level employees. Effective June 2008, Illinois added "sworn law enforcement or peace officers" to their definition.
Excluding legislators. A few states, including New Hampshire and North Carolina, exclude legislators from definition of "public official?" In New Mexico, legislators are excluded from certain ethics laws that govern public officials.
State variations. Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon define "public official" differently for different state statutes. Texas defines "appointed officer," "elected officer," "state employee," and "state officer" separately.
Table for each state and each territory
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