Bill Text: AZ HB2603 | 2012 | Fiftieth Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Financial disclosures; elected officials
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-03-06 - House Committee of the Whole action: Retained on the Calendar [HB2603 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2012-HB2603-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: financial disclosures; elected officials |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fiftieth Legislature Second Regular Session 2012
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HB 2603 |
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Introduced by Representative Mesnard
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AN ACT
amending sections 38-541, 38-542, 38-543, 38-544 and 38-545, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to public officers.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 38-541, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
38-541. Definitions
In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Business" includes any enterprise, organization, trade, occupation or profession, whether or not operated as a legal entity or for profit, including any business trust, corporation, partnership, joint venture or sole proprietorship.
2. "Compensation" means anything of value or advantage, present or prospective, including the forgiveness of debt.
3. "Controlled business" means any business in which the public officer or any member of his household has an ownership or beneficial interest, individually or combined, amounting to more than a fifty per cent interest.
4. "Dependent business" means any business in which the public officer or any member of his household has an ownership or beneficial interest, individually or combined, amounting to more than a ten per cent interest, and during the preceding calendar year the business received from a single source more than ten thousand dollars and more than fifty per cent of its gross income.
5. 3. "Gift" includes any gratuity, special discount, favor, hospitality, service, economic opportunity, loan, loan FORGIVENESS or discharge or other benefit received without equivalent consideration and not provided to members of the public at large.
6. 4. "Local public officer" means a person holding an elective office of an incorporated city or town, or a county or a groundwater replenishment district established under title 48, chapter 27.
7. 5. "Member of the public officer's household" means a public officer's spouse, and any minor child of whom the public officer has legal custody and any other person who resides with the public officer other than a person who is subject to a written lease agreement.
8. 6. "Public officer" means a member of the legislature and any judge of the court of appeals or the superior court, or a person holding an elective office the constituency of which embraces the entire geographical limits of this state. Members of Congress are not public officers as defined in this paragraph.
Sec. 2. Section 38-542, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
38-542. Duty to file financial disclosure statement; contents; exceptions
A. In addition to other statements and reports required by law, every public officer, as a matter of public record, shall file with the secretary of state on a form prescribed by the secretary of state a verified sworn financial disclosure statement covering the preceding calendar year. The statement shall disclose:
1. The name and address of the public officer and each member of his household and all names and addresses under which each does business and the name of any person who resided with the public officer during the reporting period, except for any person for whom DISCLOSURE is otherwise prohibited by law.
2. The name and address of each employer, including the public officer's governmental employer, and of each other source of compensation other than gifts amounting to more than one five thousand dollars received during the preceding calendar year by the public officer and members of his the public officer's household in their own names, or by any other person for the use or benefit of the public officer or members of his household, a description of the services for which the compensation was received and the nature of the employer's business. This paragraph shall not be construed to require the disclosure of individual items of compensation that constituted a portion of the gross income of the business from which the public officer or members of his the public officer's household derived compensation or other benefits received as a result of holding public office and that are provided by a governmental entity.
3. For a controlled business, a description of the goods or services provided by the business, and if any single source of compensation to the business during the preceding calendar year amounts to more than ten thousand dollars and is more than twenty‑five per cent of the gross income of the business, the disclosure shall also include a description of the goods or services provided to the source of compensation. For a dependent business the statement shall disclose a description of the goods or services provided by the business and a description of the goods or services provided to the source of compensation from which the dependent business derived the amount of gross income described in section 38‑541, paragraph 4. If the source of compensation for a controlled or dependent business is a business, the statement shall disclose a description of the business activities engaged in by the source of compensation in which the public officer or any member of the public officer's household has an ownership or beneficial interest, either individually or combined, all of the following:
(a) The name and address of the business.
(b) The corporate or other legal form of the business.
(c) A description of the nature of the business.
(d) The names and addresses of the five largest creditors, if any, to whom the business owed a debt of more than five hundred thousand dollars during the preceding calendar year.
(e) The names and addresses of the five largest debtors, if any, that owed the business a debt of more than five hundred thousand dollars.
4. The names and addresses of all businesses and trusts in which the public officer or members of his household, or any other person for the use or benefit of the public officer or members of his household, had an ownership or beneficial interest of over one thousand dollars at any time during the preceding calendar year, and the names and addresses of all businesses and trusts in which the public officer or any member of his household held any office or had a fiduciary relationship at any time during the preceding calendar year, together with the amount or value of the interest and a description of the interest, office or relationship. For a business in which the public officer or any member of the public officer's household has an ownership or beneficial interest, either individually or combined, that amounts to more than a fifty per cent interest, and in addition to the information prescribed in paragraph 3 of this subsection all of the following:
(a) The names of the businesses or individuals, if any, who provided at least twenty-five per cent of the gross income to the business.
(b) A description of the goods and services provided in exchange by the business to those businesses or individuals, if any, listed in subdivision (d) of this paragraph.
(c) the names and addresses of the five largest creditors, if any, to whom the business owed a debt of more than one hundred thousand dollars during the preceding calendar year.
(d) The names and addresses of the five largest debtors, if any, that owed the business a debt of more than one hundred thousand dollars during the preceding calendar year.
5. All Arizona real property interests and real property improvements, including specific location and approximate the address, and if there is no address available, the parcel number, and the estimated size, in which the public officer, any member of his the public officer's household or a controlled or dependent business held legal title or a beneficial interest at any time during the preceding calendar year, and the estimated fair market value of any such interest, except that this paragraph does not apply to a real property interest and improvements thereon used as the primary personal residence or for the personal recreational use of the public officer. If a public officer, any member of his the public OFFICER'S household or a controlled or dependent business acquired or divested any such interest during the preceding calendar year, he the public officer shall also disclose that the transaction was made and the date it occurred. If the controlled or dependent business is in the business of dealing in real property interests or improvements, disclosure need not include individual parcels or transactions as long as the aggregate value of all parcels of such property is reported.
6. The names and addresses of all creditors to whom the public officer or members of his the public officer's household, in their own names or in the name of any other person or to whom the public officer personally GUARANTEED repayment without regard to whether the guarantee is in CONJUNCTION with a business, owed a debt of more than one ten thousand dollars on December 31 of the reporting year and that are not credit card or retail installment contracts or, if a CANDIDATE, on the final day of the final month of the reporting period. or to whom a controlled business or a dependent business owed a debt of more than ten thousand dollars which was also more than thirty per cent of the total business indebtedness at any time during the preceding calendar year, listing each such creditor. This paragraph shall not be construed to require the disclosure of debts owed by the public officer or any member of his household resulting from the ordinary conduct of a business other than a controlled or dependent business nor shall disclosure be required of credit card transactions, retail installment contracts, The statement is not required to disclose debts on residences or recreational property exempt from disclosure under paragraph 5 of this subsection, debts on motor vehicles not used for commercial purposes, debts secured by cash values on life insurance or debts owed to relatives. It is sufficient disclosure of a creditor if the name and address of a person to whom payments are made is disclosed. If the public officer, any member of his household or a controlled or dependent business incurred or discharged a debt which is reportable under this subsection during the preceding calendar year, the report shall disclose that the transaction was made and the date it occurred.
7. The identification and amount of each debt exceeding one five thousand dollars owed at any time during the preceding calendar year to the public officer and members of his the public officer's household in their own names, or to any other person for the use or benefit of the public officer or any member of his the public officer's household. The disclosure shall include the identification and amount of each debt exceeding ten thousand dollars to a controlled business or dependent business which was also more than thirty per cent of the total indebtedness to the business at any time during the preceding calendar year. This paragraph shall not be construed to require the disclosure of debts from the ordinary conduct of a business other than a controlled or dependent business. If the public officer, any member of his household or a controlled or dependent business incurred or discharged a debt which is reportable under this subsection during the preceding year, the report shall disclose that the transaction was made and the date it occurred.
8. The name of each source of any gift, or accumulated gifts from a single source, of more than five hundred dollars received by the public officer and members of his the public officer's household in their own names during the preceding calendar year, or by any other person for the use or benefit of the public officer or any member of his the public officer's household except gifts received by will or by virtue of intestate succession, or received by way of distribution from any inter vivos or testamentary trust established by a spouse or by an ancestor, or gifts received from any other member of the household or relatives to the second degree of consanguinity. Political campaign contributions shall not be construed as gifts if otherwise publicly reported as political campaign contributions as required by law.
9. A list of all business and professional licenses issued to, held by or in which the public officer or any member of his the public officer's household had an interest at any time during the preceding calendar year, including the name in which the license was issued, and the type of business and its location.
10. A list of all stocks, bonds not issued by a GOVERNMENTAL entity, warrants, options, TRUSTS, public and private retirement accounts and other investments that are not otherwise DISCLOSED on this form, together with their value, issued by this state or any political subdivision of this state and held at any time during the preceding calendar year by the public officer or any member of his the public officer's household, which bonds if issued by a single entity had a value in excess of one five thousand dollars. If the public officer or any member of his the public officer's household acquired or divested any bonds INVESTMENTS during the preceding calendar year which that are reportable under this paragraph, the fact that the transaction occurred and the date shall also be shown. If stocks or bonds are held in a mutual fund, the name and address of the fund constitutes sufficient disclosure.
B. If an amount or value is required to be reported pursuant to this section, it is sufficient to report whether the amount or value of the equity interest falls within:
1. Category 1, one five thousand dollars to twenty‑five one hundred thousand dollars.
2. Category 2, more than twenty‑five one hundred thousand dollars to one five hundred thousand dollars.
3. Category 3, more than one five hundred thousand dollars.
C. This section does not require the disclosure of any information that is privileged by law.
D. The statement required to be filed pursuant to subsection A of this section shall be filed by all persons who qualified as public officers at any time during the preceding calendar year on or before January 31 of each year with the exceptions that:
1. A public officer appointed to fill a vacancy shall, within sixty days following his the taking of such office, shall file a financial disclosure statement covering as his the annual period the twelve month period ending with the last full month prior to the date of his taking office. , and a public officer whose final term expires less than thirty‑one days into the immediately following calendar year may file the public officer's final financial disclosure at the same time as the disclosure for the last immediately preceding year.
2. A public officer who completes the term of office in January is exempt from filing a financial disclosure statement for the calendar year in which the term of office is completed, except if the public officer serves a subsequent term of office during that calendar year.
3. A public officer who is elected in the calendar year before the public officer takes office is exempt from filing a financial disclosure statement for the calendar year in which the public officer is elected, except if the public officer served in some other public office during the year elected.
E. The secretary of state shall prepare written guidelines, forms and samples for completing the financial disclosure statement required by this section. A copy of the guidelines, forms and samples shall be distributed to each public officer and shall be made available to each candidate required to file a financial disclosure statement pursuant to section 38‑543.
F. Except for financial disclosure forms filed by judges of the court of appeals and the superior court, the secretary of state shall post completed financial disclosure forms on the secretary of state's website. The secretary of state may redact information from submitted forms before posting, including personal residence addresses and names of minor children.
G. Disclosure of information pursuant to subsection A of this section creates a rebuttable presumption that the public officer or candidate intended that disclosure to apply to other provisions of this section that require similar disclosures.
Sec. 3. Section 38-543, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
38-543. Duty to file financial disclosure statement by candidate for public office
A candidate for public office as specified in section 38‑541, paragraph 8 shall file a financial disclosure statement covering the preceding twelve month period and containing the information described in section 38‑542 on a form prescribed by the secretary of state or containing the information required pursuant to an ordinance, rule, resolution or regulation adopted pursuant to section 38-545 at the time of filing of nomination papers.
Sec. 4. Section 38-544, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
38-544. Violation; classification
A. Any public officer, local public officer or candidate who knowingly fails to file a financial disclosure statement required pursuant to section 38‑542, 38‑543 or 38‑545, who knowingly files an incomplete financial disclosure statement or who knowingly files a false financial disclosure statement is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.
B. Any public officer, local public officer or candidate who violates this chapter is subject to a civil penalty of fifty dollars for each day of noncompliance but not more than five hundred dollars that may be imposed as prescribed in section 16‑924.
C. A violation of this chapter is punishable only pursuant to this chapter.
Sec. 5. Section 38-545, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
38-545. Local public officers financial disclosure
Notwithstanding the provisions of any law, charter or ordinance to the contrary, every incorporated city or town or county shall by ordinance, rule, resolution or regulation adopt standards of financial disclosure consistent with the provisions of this chapter applicable to local public officers.
Sec. 6. Secretary of state; revised handbook and forms
The secretary of state shall revise the existing financial disclosure forms and handbook for public officers who are required to file pursuant to section 38-542, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by this act, and shall provide samples for completing the financial disclosure statement.
