ADVISORY OPINION NO. 06-005-E

February 3, 2006

The Mississippi Ethics Commission issued this opinion on the date shown above in accordance with Section 25-4-17(i), Mississippi Code of 1972, as reflected upon its minutes of even date. The Commission is empowered to interpret and opine only upon Article IV, Section 109, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, and Article 3, Chapter 4, Title 25, Mississippi Code of 1972. This opinion does not interpret or offer indemnity from liability for any other laws, rules or regulations. The Commission based this opinion solely on the facts and circumstances provided by the requestor as restated herein. The indemnity provided under Section 25-4-17(i) is limited to the individual who requested this opinion and to the accuracy and completeness of these facts.

I. LAW

No portion of the Ethics in Government Laws are relevant to this question and none are cited herein.

II. FACTS

Facts provided by the requestor are set forth below, with identifying information redacted, and are considered a part of this opinion.

Last fall, the National ... Association (N...A), a 501(c)(3) organization, collected donations from its members to assist [a class of public servants] affected by Hurricane Katrina. [The National Association] would like to transfer those funds, approximately $35,000.00 to the Mississippi ... Association (M...A) [the government supported professional association for that class of public servants]. They believe [the Mississippi Association] can better decide which [public servants], or staff members in [their offices], need assistance.

[The Mississippi Association] is a non-profit association. It is not an official state entity. They have requested my opinion as the Director of [an associated state government division], as to whether there are any ethical problems with accepting this money and distributing it to state and local [public servants]. These [public servants] could be state employees, county employees, or city employees. I can not find anything in the ethics rules which would prohibit these government employees from accepting monetary assistance. However, [the Mississippi Association] and this office thought it might be prudent to solicit an advisory opinion from the Commission to ensure no ethics rules or statutes would be
violated.

There was a concern by some [public servants] that accepting assistance that is conditioned on the recipient being a state or local government employee in a [government] office, would be considered compensation other non-government citizens were not entitled to receive. We would request an opinion on whether any standards of conduct rules would be violated by accepting these funds.

III. ANALYSIS

The Ethics in Government Laws do not prohibit the receipt of charitable donations by public servants per se. Moreover, no violation of the Ethics in Government Laws is likely to arise when the donations are made by a tax exempt organization for the purpose of natural disaster relief. Therefore, the public servants in question are not prohibited under the Ethics in Government Laws from receiving charitable donations for Hurricane Katrina relief from the national association distributed by the Mississippi association.

MISSISSIPPI ETHICS COMMISSION



BY: Tom Hood, Executive Director and
Chief Counsel