State of California M E M O R A N D U M REFERENCE CODE: 2003-014 DATE: March 20, 2003 TO: Employee Relations Officers Personnel Officers Training Officers Ethics Officers Statement of Economic Interest Filing Officers FROM: Department of Personnel Administration Policy and Operations Division SUBJECT: Ethics Orientation Training for Filers of Statements of Economic Interest CONTACT: Nora Cheek, Personnel Program Manager (916) 324-0441 FAX: (916) 322-8869 Email: NoraCheek@dpa.ca.gov Effective January 1, 2003, all officers, employees, and consultants who are required to file a Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests must complete an orientation training course on ethics every two years. This requirement is the result of Assembly Bill 3022, which revised Sections 11146(b) and 11146.3 of the Government Code (GC). Every State office, department, division, bureau, board, and commission in the Executive Branch is subject to these sections. The Legislative Branch is subject to its own requirements under a 1990 law. LAW CHANGES GC Section 11146(b) now defines a "filer" as each member, officer, or designated employee of a State department who is required to file a statement of economic interests under either GC Section 87200 or Section 87300 et seq. GC Section 11146.3 requires all filers who held positions on January 1, 2003, to complete the ethics training by December 31, 2003. This includes filers who have previously taken the training. All filers must retake the training at least once during each subsequent two-year period starting on January 1, 2005. Any person who becomes a filer after January 1, 2003, must take the training within six months and must retake the training at least once during each two-year period starting on the first odd-numbered year thereafter. TRAINING COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY Since 1999, departments have been required to provide ethics training. AB 3022 increases the number of employees who must take the training. There are two components to the required ethics training: core training and department-specific training. The core training includes laws, regulations, policies, and issues that are applicable to all filers. Department-specific training includes the department's conflict of interest statement and any other laws, regulations, or policies that are applicable only to filers within that department. Some departments provide the complete training for their filers. Other departments provide only the department-specific training and supplement it with the core ethics training provided by the Attorney General's (AG) Office. The AG's core ethics training course is available in four formats: 1. An online interactive format is available at http://caag.state.ca.us/ethics/ (click on "Interactive Course"). This format requires a Windows computer operating system. The training takes approximately two hours to complete. After completing the course, the trainee can print a Certificate of Completion to meet the record-keeping requirements (see below). 2. The interactive format is also available on a CD-ROM for use in group-teaching settings. This format is useful when either the department's computer operating system or individual computers do not support the online interactive format. Departments can obtain a copy of the CD-ROM from the AG's Office, Public Inquiry Unit, P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550, (800) 952-5225. 3. A noninteractive text-based format is available at http://caag.state.ca.us/ethics/ (click on "Non-Interactive Accessible Course"). This format is useful when a filer's computer operating system does not support the interactive software, and for persons who cannot use a computer mouse. 4. A video-based format for use in either individual or group-teaching settings. The Department of Personnel Administration distributed copies of the video to all departments in 1999. An errata sheet updating the original video is available at http://caag.state.ca.us/ethics/ (click on "Video Tape"). Agencies may obtain a copy of the video from the AG's Office, Public Inquiry Unit, P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550, (800) 952-5225. There is a video-captioned edition for those who are hearing impaired. USE OF INTERACTIVE COMPUTER-BASED TRAINING SITE Approximately 40,000 State agency filers must complete this training by December 31, 2003. The responsibility for timely completion of the course lies with each department and each filer. Many filers will be able to complete the core training using the online interactive format described above. This training is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Filers can take the training at any time. However, to reduce the risk of overloading the computer system, the AG's Office has requested that departments encourage their filers to take the training during the applicable month identified on the attached calendar. The training software was designed for use with Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating systems. Consequently, it may not work well if you are using Windows XP, Windows 2000, or other operating systems. If the online interactive format does not work well on your employees' operating systems, consider using the noninteractive or CD-ROM formats described above. TRAINING RECORDS Departments must keep records of which employees attend the training, each attendee's job title, and the dates of their attendance. Keep records for both the core training and the department-specific training; note if both are provided in one session. Records must be retained for five years. Filers who complete the AG's core ethics training course can print out a Certificate of Completion to file with their department. QUESTIONS ON ETHICS TRAINING Questions from filers regarding ethics training and course content should be directed to their department's ethics officer, filing officer, or other designated person. Questions from departments (not individual filers) should be directed to AG's Office at (800) 952-5225. Bob Painter, Chief Policy and Operations Division Attachments will be distributed via mail.