This Advisory Opinion concerns the following issue as formulated from facts and/or circumstances furnished by a requestor. The Commission approved this opinion on May 3, 1996, basing its approval solely on the facts and circumstances stated herein.

May an individual operating an auto parts business apply for and receive a loan from a Planning and Development District when the individual's spouse's half brother serves on the District's board of directors?

    State law restricts the Mississippi Ethics Commission to interpreting and issuing opinions on Sections 25-4-101 through 25-4-119, 1972 Mississippi Code Annotated and Article IV, Section 109, Mississippi Constitution of 1890. Therefore, this opinion does not address the Mississippi laws outside the Commission's jurisdiction nor the governmental entity's internal rules and regulations.

The pertinent conflict of interest laws to be considered here are:

Code Section 25-4-103(q) states:

"(q) 'Relative' means the spouse, child or parent."

    Pertinent facts and circumstances provided by the requestor, absent identifying data, are set forth as follows and considered a part of this opinion.

This letter is a follow up of our telephone conversation regarding an ethics opinion for an individual who is the owner of an auto sales and service business.

As I understand it the individual has an application pending with the Planning and Development District for a loan where his wife's 1/2 brother serves on the board of directors.

The director of the planning and development district has asked the individual to secure an ethics opinion regarding there maybe a conflict of interest in the planning district loaning money to the individual with his wife's 1/2 brother serving on the board.

    Based solely on the facts and circumstances presented by the requestor, the Commission's opinion is that the conflict of interest laws would not prohibit a planning and development district from lending funds to an individual whose spouse's half brother serves on the district's board of directors.
 

Ronald E. Crowe Executive Director