Views expressed in this informational presentation are those of the presenters and not of the Attorney General or the Attorney General’s Office

 Assumption: attendees have received some prior Ethics Act training  Scope of Ethics Act:  Persons covered  Timing of coverage

 Conflicts of Interest  Special Privileges  Gifts  Use of State Resources  Confidential Information  Outside Employment  Honoraria  Post-State Employment

 Failure to produce responsive records; RCW (4)

 EEB Web Page ( )  Ethics Manual  Ethics Act and Rules  Advisory Opinions  Training  BPPM Summary of Ethics Law and Policies  EP 4 – Electronic Publishing Policy

The unit you have been managing for the past eight years has successfully (and legally) used a software application to improve capacity and productivity in an extremely customer-friendly way. The software manufacturer has asked to interview one of your best and brightest employees for the purposes of recording a user testimonial. May you grant this request?

 Can the contract help answer this question?  Is this a request for an endorsement?  Supporting/promoting the interests of an outside organization or group?  WAC (6)(b)  Exceptions:  Provided for by law  Approved by agency head or designee

A donor who has several trusts set up to benefit WSU sends a development officer (DO) an expensive silk scarf with a note saying how much she appreciates their visits. The note explains that the donor saw the scarf during her last trip to Italy and just knew it would go perfectly with DO’s blue suit. Her note mentions that she is really looking forward to their lunch meeting later in the month and hopes the DO will be wearing the scarf. May the DO accept the gift?

 Is it a non-gift under RCW (10)(a)? Gift between friends “where it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the gift was not made as part of any design to gain or maintain influence in the agency of which the recipient is an officer or employee.”  Would the gift influence the action or judgment of the employee or be considered part of a reward for action? RCW

 RCW  If value does not exceed $50 and DO has not accepted any gifts from this donor during this calendar year, DO may accept or decline the gift at the DO’s pleasure.  If value exceeds $50:  Decline  Pay donor  Donate to charitable organization within 30 days

 Value?  Section 4 employee?  Non-gift under RCW (10)?  Prohibited under RCW (influence employee’s action or judgment or be considered reward for past action or inaction)?  Does an exception to $50 single source limit apply under RCW ?  Non-gift under RCW (10) (again)?

A section manager has been asked to present a talk at a national conference. She will discuss recent changes to standard practices as a result of changes to federal law. The section manager asks her assistant to pull together some material and do a little research on the subject she is presenting. The section manager spends two days in the office putting together her presentation. The section manager has not yet mentioned her planned participation at the conference to her supervisor. Do these facts present any Ethics Act issues?

 Determine whether presentation is within the scope of duties:  Job description, performance plan  Communication with supervisor  If not part of official duty:  Cannot use state resources for personal use or to benefit another; RCW ; WAC (6)  Subordinate’s time  Employee’s time  Office supplies and equipment  Prepare off duty and attend on approved leave  Faculty Manual treats participation in professional organizations differently  EP4 permits some use of IT resources for this purpose

Because the section manager took a position in another WSU department, you were required to attend the national conference in her absence. You have set up your travel plans to include a brief vacation at a resort hotel located a few hours from the conference site. You discover that this resort hotel offers a government rate well below the standard rate. May you accept the reduced government rate?

 Ethics Act section at issue:  Special Privileges  EEB FAQ:  If the rate is offered to all government employees, whether or not they are on official business, then yes  If the hotel requires you to be on official business, then you cannot accept the government rate; to do so would be using your official position to secure a special privilege

Your short vacation is over and the conference has begun. As a registered attendee, your name was automatically entered in a door prize drawing. At the first plenary session in front of the other 500 attendees, you are called to the podium to receive an I-POD as the grand prize winner. Congratulations! What should (or must) you do with the I-POD?

 Can you accept it?  Whose I-POD is it?  Who paid for your attendance at the conference?  Ethics Advisory Opinion 98-10, amended July 2007

After calling the University Ethics Officer and learning the ethics rules regarding prizes and drawings, you begin questioning your Ethics Act knowledge and judgment. You now wonder whether you can accept the souvenir tote bag commemorating this year’s national conference as well as the promotional items you accepted as you walked through the vendor display area. Your tote bag contains the following items: pieces of candy, note pads, pens, highlighters, a moderately nice stuffed animal worthy of re-gifting to your niece, two bottles of water, a visor with a vendor’s logo, and a 2GB thumb drive with a vendor’s logo. You also consumed about $20 worth of food at the vendor-sponsored reception. Was accepting the food and promotional items permissible?

 Are each of the promotional items of nominal value?  Section 4 employees may also accept promotional items of nominal value  Non-Section 4 employees may use the $50 single source rule  A Section 4 employee may accept food at a reception (stand up) where attendance is related to the employee’s duties

One of your subordinate employees complains to you that another one of your subordinate employees is improperly using state resources by listening to Internet radio on his state- owned computer on the agency network. What, if anything, should you do?

 Use of state resources  RCW  WAC  EEB Web page (ethics.wa.gov) ethics training quiz: listening to Internet radio over a state computer is more than de minimis use.  Does it make a difference if the Internet radio broadcast is already on the WSU network (e.g., WSU radio)?

While paying for your meal at a local restaurant, you notice a large fish bowl near the cash register. The bowl contains numerous assorted business cards. Written instructions near the fish bowl confirm your hunch that persons leaving their business cards in the fish bowl become eligible for a free lunch based on a weekly drawing. You also notice a business card belonging to a University vice president’s assistant in the fish bowl. You personally know this employee to be very ethical. May you also place your business card in the fish bowl?

 Use of state resources  RCW  WAC  EEB Advisory Opinion 98-10, amended July 2007:  State business cards should not be used for drawings

Questions?

 Frank Hruban Assistant Attorney General  Heather Lopez Director, Internal Audit