West Virginia
Ethics Commission

210 Brooks Street, Suite 300
Charleston, WV 25301
Phone
(304)558-0664
WV Toll-Free
1 (866) 558-0664
Fax
(304)558-2169
Office Hours
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Email:
ethics@wv.gov

Ethics Commission > Advisory Opinions > Ethics Opinions

Ethics Advisory Opinions

To view the Index of Ethics Advisory Opinions by Topic, click here: AO Index


			AO 1991-01	AO 1991-02
AO 1991-03	AO 1991-04	AO 1991-06	AO 1991-07	AO 1991-08
AO 1991-09	AO 1991-10	AO 1991-11	AO 1991-13	AO 1991-14
AO 1991-15	AO 1991-16	AO 1991-17	AO 1991-18	AO 1991-20
AO 1991-20 Supp.	AO 1991-21	AO 1991-22	AO 1991-23	AO 1991-26
AO 1991-27	AO 1991-28	AO 1991-29	AO 1991-30	AO 1991-31
AO 1991-32	AO 1991-33	AO 1991-35	AO 1991-37	AO 1991-38
AO 1991-39	AO 1991-41	AO 1991-43	AO 1991-45	AO 1991-47
AO 1991-48	AO 1991-50	AO 1991-51	AO 1991-52	AO 1991-53
AO 1991-54	AO 1991-55	AO 1991-56	AO 1991-57	AO 1991-58
AO 1991-60	AO 1991-61	AO 1991-62	AO 1991-63	AO 1991-64
AO 1991-65	AO 1991-66	AO 1991-67	AO 1991-68	AO 1991-69
AO 1991-70	AO 1991-71	AO 1991-72	AO 1991-73	AO 1991-74
AO 1991-75	AO 1991-76	AO 1991-77	AO 1991-78	AO 1991-79
AO 1991-80	AO 1991-81	AO 1991-82	AO 1991-83	AO 1991-84
AO 1991-85	AO 1991-86	AO 1991-87	AO 1991-89	AO 1991-90
AO 1991-91	AO 1991-92	AO 1991-93	AO 1991-94	AO 1992-01
AO 1992-02	AO 1992-03	AO 1992-04	AO 1992-05	AO 1992-06
AO 1992-07	AO 1992-08	AO 1992-09	AO 1992-10	AO 1992-11
AO 1992-12	AO 1992-13	AO 1992-15	AO 1992-16	AO 1992-18
AO 1992-19	AO 1992-20	AO 1992-21	AO 1992-22	AO 1992-23
AO 1992-24	AO 1992-25	AO 1992-26	AO 1992-27	AO 1992-30
AO 1992-31	AO 1992-32	AO 1992-33	AO 1992-34	AO 1992-35
AO 1992-36	AO 1992-37	AO 1992-38	AO 1992-39	AO 1992-40
AO 1992-40 Supp	AO 1992-41	AO 1992-42	AO 1992-43	AO 1992-44
AO 1992-45	AO 1992-46	AO 1992-47	AO 1992-48	AO 1992-49
AO 1992-50	AO 1992-51	AO 1992-52	AO 1992-53 Overuled by AO 1993-32 and AO 1993-49	AO 1993-01
AO 1993-02	AO 1993-03	AO 1993-04	AO 1993-05	AO 1993-06
AO 1993-07	AO 1993-08	AO 1993-10	AO 1993-11	AO 1993-12
AO 1993-13	AO 1993-14	AO 1993-15	AO 1993-17	AO 1993-18
AO 1993-19	AO 1993-20	AO 1993-21	AO 1993-22	AO 1993-23
AO 1993-24	AO 1993-25	AO 1993-26	AO 1993-27	AO 1993-29
AO 1993-30	AO 1993-31	AO 1993-32	AO 1993-33	AO 1993-34
AO 1993-35	AO 1993-37	AO 1993-39	AO 1993-42	AO 1993-43
AO 1993-44	AO 1993-45	AO 1993-46	AO 1993-47	AO 1993-48
AO 1993-49	AO 1993-50	AO 1993-51	AO 1994-01	AO 1994-02
AO 1994-03	AO 1994-04	AO 1994-05	AO 1994-06	AO 1994-07
AO 1994-08	AO 1994-09	AO 1994-10	AO 1994-11	AO 1994-12
AO 1994-13	AO 1994-14	AO 1994-16	AO 1994-17	AO 1994-18
AO 1994-19	AO 1994-20	AO 1994-21	AO 1994-22	AO 1994-23
AO 1994-25	AO 1994-26	AO 1994-27	AO 1994-28	AO 1994-29
AO 1994-30	AO 1994-31	AO 1994-32	AO 1994-33	AO 1994-34
AO 1994-35	AO 1994-36	AO 1994-37	AO 1994-39	AO 1995-01
AO 1995-02	AO 1995-03	AO 1995-05	AO 1995-06	AO 1995-07
AO 1995-8A	AO 1995-8B	AO 1995-09	AO 1995-11	AO 1995-13
AO 1995-14	AO 1995-15	AO 1995-17	AO 1995-18	AO 1995-19
AO 1995-20	AO 1995-21	AO 1995-22	AO 1995-23	AO 1995-24
AO 1995-25	AO 1995-26	AO 1995-27	AO 1995-28	AO 1995-29
AO 1995-30	AO 1995-31	AO 1955-32	AO 1995-33	AO 1995-34
AO 1995-35	AO 1995-36	AO 1995-37	AO 1995-38	AO 1995-39
AO 1995-40	AO 1995-41	AO 1995-43	AO 1995-44	AO 1995-45
AO 1995-46	AO 1995-47	AO 1955-48	AO 1995-49	AO 1995-51
AO 1995-52	AO 1995-53	AO 1995-54	AO 1996-02	AO 1996-03
AO 1996-04	AO 1996-05	AO 1996-06	AO 1996-07	AO 1996-08
AO 1996-09	AO 1996-10	AO 1996-11	AO 1996-12	AO 1996-13
AO 1996-14	AO 1996-15	AO 1996-16	AO 1996-17	AO 1996-18
AO 1996-19	AO 1996-20	AO 1996-21	AO 1996-22	AO 1996-23
AO 1996-24	AO 1996-27	AO 1996-28	AO 1996-29	AO 1996-30
AO 1996-31	AO 1996-32	AO 1996-33	AO 1996-34	AO 1996-36
AO 1996-37	AO 1996-38	AO 1996-39	AO 1996-40	AO 1996-41
AO 1996-42	AO 1996-43	AO 1996-44	AO 1996-45	AO 1996-46
AO 1996-47	AO 1996-49	AO 1996-50	AO 1996-51	AO 1996-52
AO 1996-53	AO 1996-54	AO 1996-55	AO 1996-56	AO 1996-57
AO 1997-02	AO 1997-03	AO 1997-04	AO 1997-06	AO 1997-07
AO 1997-08	AO 1997-09	AO 1997-11	AO 1997-12	AO 1997-13
AO 1997-14	AO 1997-15	AO 1997-16	AO 1997-17	AO 1997-18
AO 1997-19	AO 1997-20	AO 1997-21	AO 1997-22	AO 1997-23
AO 1997-24	AO 1997-25	AO 1997-26	AO 1997-27	AO 1997-28
AO 1997-29	AO 1997-30	AO 1997-31	AO 1997-32	AO 1997-33
AO 1997-34	AO 1997-35	AO 1998-01	AO 1998-02	AO 1998-03
AO 1998-04	AO 1998-05	AO 1998-06	AO 1998-07	AO 1998-08
AO 1998-09	AO 1998-10	AO 1998-11	AO 1998-12	AO 1998-13
AO 1998-14	AO 1998-15	AO 1998-16	AO 1998-17	AO 1998-18
AO 1998-19	AO 1998-20	AO 1998-21	AO 1998-22	AO 1998-23
AO 1998-24	AO 1998-26	AO 1998-27	AO 1998-28	AO 1998-29
AO 1998-30	AO 1998-31	AO 1999-01	AO 1999-02	AO 1999-03
AO 1999-04	AO 1999-05	AO 1999-06	AO 1999-07	AO 1999-08
AO 1999-09	AO 1999-10	AO 1999-11	AO 1999-12	AO 1999-14
AO 1999-15	AO 1999-16	AO 1999-17	AO 1999-18	AO 1999-19 Overruled by AO 2021-08
AO 1999-20	AO 1999-22	AO 1999-23	AO 1999-24	AO 1999-25
AO 1999-26	AO 1999-27	AO 1999-28	AO 1999-29	AO 1999-30
AO 1999-31	AO 1999-32	AO 1999-34	AO 1999-35	AO 1999-36
AO 1999-37	AO 1999-38	AO 1999-39	AO 2000-01	AO 2000-02
AO 2000-03	AO 2000-04	AO 2000-05	AO 2000-06	AO 2000-07
AO 2000-08	AO 2000-10	AO 2000-11	AO 2000-12	AO 2000-13
AO 2000-14	AO 2000-15	AO 2000-16	AO 2000-17	AO 2000-18
AO 2000-19	AO 2000-20	AO 2000-21	AO 2000-22	AO 2000-23
AO 2000-24	AO 2000-25	AO 2000-26	AO 2000-27	AO 2000-28
AO 2000-29	AO 2000-30	AO 2000-31	AO 2000-32	AO 2000-34
AO 2000-35	AO 2000-36	AO 2000-37	AO 2000-38	AO 2000-39
AO 2000-41	AO 2000-42	AO 2001-01	AO 2001-02	AO 2001-03
AO 2001-04	AO 2001-05	AO 2001-07	AO 2001-08	AO 2001-09
AO 2001-10	AO 2001-11	AO 2001-12	AO 2001-13	AO 2001-14
AO 2001-15	AO 2001-16	AO 2001-17	AO 2001-18	AO 2001-19
AO 2001-20	AO 2001-21	AO 2001-22	AO 2001-24	AO 2001-25
AO 2001-27	AO 2001-28	AO 2001-29	AO 2001-30	AO 2001-31
AO 2001-32	AO 2001-33	AO 2001-34	AO 2001-35	AO 2001-36
AO 2001-37	AO 2002-01	AO 2002-02	AO 2002-03	AO 2002-04
AO 2002-05	AO 2002-06	AO 2002-08	AO 2002-09	AO 2002-10
AO 2002-11	AO 2002-12	AO 2002-13	AO 2002-14	AO 2002-15
AO 2002-16	AO 2002-17	AO 2002-18	AO 2002-19	AO 2002-20
AO 2003-01	AO 2003-02	AO 2003-03	AO 2003-04	AO 2003-05
AO 2003-06	AO 2003-07	AO 2003-08	AO 2003-09	AO 2003-10
AO 2003-11	AO 2003-12	AO 2003-13	AO 2003-14	AO 2003-15
AO 2003-16	AO 2003-17	AO 2004-01	AO 2004-02	AO 2004-03
AO 2004-04	AO 2004-05	AO 2004-06	AO 2004-07	AO 2004-08
AO 2004-09	AO 2004-10A	AO 2004-10B	AO 2004-11	AO 2004-12
AO 2004-13	AO 2004-14	AO 2004-15	AO 2004-16	AO 2004-17
AO 2004-18	AO 2004-19	AO 2004-20	AO 2004-21	AO 2004-22
AO 2004-24	AO 2004-25	AO 2004-26	AO 2004-27	AO 2004-28
AO 2005-01	AO 2005-02	AO 2005-03	AO 2005-06	AO 2005-07
AO 2005-08	AO 2005-09	AO 2005-10	AO 2005-11	AO 2005-12 Overruled, in part, by AO 2021-21
AO 2005-13	AO 2005-14	AO 2005-15	AO 2005-16	AO 2005-18
AO 2005-21	AO 2005-22	AO 2005-23	AO 2006-01	AO 2006-03
AO 2006-04	AO 2006-06	AO 2006-07	AO 2006-09	AO 2006-11
AO 2006-12	AO 2006-13	AO 2006-14	AO 2006-15	AO 2006-16
AO 2006-17	AO 2006-18	AO 2007-01	AO 2007-02	AO 2007-03
AO 2007-04	AO 2007-05	AO 2007-07	AO 2007-08	AO 2007-10
AO 2007-11	AO 2007-12	AO 2007-13	AO 2007-14	AO 2008-01
AO 2008-03	AO 2008-05	AO 2008-06	AO 2008-07	AO 2008-08
AO 2008-09	AO 2008-10	AO 2009-01	AO 2009-02	AO 2009-03
AO 2009-04	AO 2009-05	AO 2009-06	AO 2009-07	AO 2009-08 Overruled, in part, by AO 2017-22
AO 2009-09	AO 2009-10	AO 2009-11	AO 2009-14	AO 2010-01
AO 2010-02	AO 2010-03	AO 2010-04	AO 2010-05	AO 2010-06
AO 2010-07	AO 2010-08	AO 2010-09	AO 2010-10	AO 2010-11
AO 2010-13	AO 2010-14	AO 2010-15	AO 2010-16	AO 2010-18
AO 2010-19	AO 2010-20 (obsolete)	AO 2010-21	AO 2010-22	AO 2010-23
AO 2010-24	AO 2011-01	AO 2011-02	AO 2011-03	AO 2011-04
AO 2011-05	AO 2011-08	AO 2011-09	AO 2011-10	AO 2011-11
AO 2011-12	AO 2011-13	AO 2011-14	AO 2011-15 Overruled, in part, by AO 2021-08	AO 2011-16 Overruled, in part, by AO 2021-08
AO 2011-17	AO 2011-18 Overruled, in part, by AO 2017-22	AO 2011-19	AO 2011-20	AO 2011-21
AO 2011-22	AO 2012-01	AO 2012-02	AO 2012-03	AO 2012-04 Overruled, in part, by AO 2016-04
AO 2012-06	AO 2012-07 Overruled, in part, by AO 2021-21	AO 2012-08	AO 2012-09	AO 2012-11
AO 2012-12	AO 2012-13	AO 2012-15	AO 2012-16	AO 2012-17
AO 2012-18	AO 2012-19	AO 2012-20	AO 2012-21	AO 2012-22
AO 2012-23	AO 2012-24	AO 2012-25	AO 2012-26	AO 2012-27
AO 2012-28	AO 2012-29	AO 2012-30	AO 2012-31	AO 2012-32
AO 2012-33	AO 2012-34	AO 2012-36	AO 2012-37	AO 2012-38
AO 2012-39	AO 2012-40	AO 2012-41	AO 2012-42	AO 2012-43
AO 2012-44	AO 2012-45	AO 2012-46	AO 2012-47	AO 2012-48
AO 2012-49	AO 2012-50	AO 2012-51	AO 2012-52	AO 2012-53
AO 2013-01	AO 2013-02	AO 2013-03	AO 2013-04	AO 2013-05
AO 2013-06	AO 2013-07	AO 2013-08	AO 2013-09	AO 2013-10
AO 2013-11	AO 2013-12	AO 2013-13	AO 2013-14	AO 2013-15
AO 2013-16	AO 2013-17	AO 2013-18	AO 2013-19	AO 2013-20
AO 2013-21	AO 2013-22	AO 2013-23	AO 2013-24	AO 2013-25 (obsolete)
AO 2013-26	AO 2013-27	AO 2013-28	AO 2013-30	AO 2013-31
AO 2013-32	AO 2013-33	AO 2013-34	AO 2013-35	AO 2013-36
AO 2013-37 overruled by AO 2022-08	AO 2013-38	AO 2013-39	AO 2013-40	AO 2013-41
AO 2013-42	AO 2013-43	AO 2013-45	AO 2013-46	AO 2013-47
AO 2013-48	AO 2013-49	AO 2013-50	AO 2013-51	AO 2013-52
AO 2013-53	AO 2013-54	AO 2013-55	AO 2013-56	AO 2013-57
AO 2013-58	AO 2013-59	AO 2013-60 overruled by AO 2020-05	AO 2013-61	AO 2014-01
AO 2014-02	AO 2014-03	AO 2014-04	AO 2014-05	AO 2014-07
AO 2014-08	AO 2014-09	AO 2014-10	AO 2014-11	AO 2014-12
AO 2014-13	AO 2014-14	AO 2014-15	AO 2014-16	AO 2014-17
AO 2014-18	AO 2014-19	AO 2014-20	AO 2014-21	AO 2014-22
AO 2014-23	AO 2014-24	AO 2014-25	AO 2014-26	AO 2015-01
AO 2015-02	AO 2015-03	AO 2015-04	AO 2015-05	AO 2015-06
AO 2015-07	AO 2015-08	AO 2015-10	AO 2015-11	AO 2015-12
AO 2015-13	AO 2015-14	AO 2015-15	AO 2015-16	AO 2015-17
AO 2015-18	AO 2015-19	AO 2015-20	AO 2015-21	AO 2015-22
AO 2015-23	AO 2016-01	AO 2016-02	AO 2016-03	AO 2016-04
AO 2016-06	AO 2016-07	AO 2016-08	AO 2016-09	AO 2016-10
AO 2016-11	AO 2016-12	AO 2016-13	AO 2016-14	AO 2016-16
AO 2016-18	AO 2017-02	AO 2017-03	AO 2017-04	AO 2017-05
AO 2017-06	AO 2017-07	AO 2017-08	AO 2017-09	AO 2017-10
AO 2017-11	AO 2017-12	AO 2017-13	AO 2017-14	AO 2017-15
AO 2017-16	AO 2017-17	AO 2017-18	AO 2017-19	AO 2017-20
AO 2017-22	AO 2017-24	AO 2018-01	AO 2018-02	AO 2018-03
AO 2018-04	AO 2018-05	AO 2018-06	AO 2018-07	AO 2018-09
AO 2018-10	AO 2019-01	AO 2019-02	AO 2019-03	AO 2019-04
AO 2019-05	AO 2019-06	AO 2019-07	AO 2019-08	AO 2019-09
AO 2019-10	AO 2019-11	AO 2019-12	AO 2019-13	AO 2019-14
AO 2019-15	AO 2019-16	AO 2019-17	AO 2019-18	AO 2019-19
AO 2019-21	AO 2019-22	AO 2019-23	AO 2019-24	AO 2019-25
AO 2019-26	AO 2019-27	AO 2019-28	AO 2019-29	AO 2020-01
AO 2020-03	AO 2020-04	AO 2020-05	AO 2020-06	AO 2020-07
AO 2020-08	AO 2020-09	AO 2020-10	AO 2020-11	AO 2020-12
AO 2020-13	AO 2020-14	AO 2021-01	AO 2021-02	AO 2021-03
AO 2021-04	AO 2021-05	AO 2021-06	AO 2021-07	AO 2021-08
AO 2021-09	AO 2021-10	AO 2021-11	AO 2021-12	AO 2021-13
AO 2021-14	AO 2021-15	AO 2021-16	AO 2021-17	AO 2021-18
AO 2021-19	AO 2021-20	AO 2021-21	AO 2021-22	AO 2021-23
AO 2022-01	AO 2022-02	AO 2022-03	AO 2022-04	AO 2022-05
AO 2022-06	AO 2022-07	AO 2022-08	AO 2022-09	AO 2022-10
AO 2022-11	AO 2022-12	AO 2022-13	AO 2022-14	AO 2022-15
AO 2022-17

Index of Ethics Opinions by Topic

(Indexed Opinions start with 1996 to present)

Conflict of Interest

Confidential Information

Contract Exemptions

Contracts

Double Dipping

Employment: Restrictions

Employment: Post Employment Restrictions

Endorsements

Financial Disclosure

Gifts - Acceptance and Solicitation

Persons Covered by the Act

Private Gain

Property Purchase Restrictions

Revolving Door

Solicitation of Business

Voting and Recusal

W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 County Officers (Criminal Provision)

____________________________________________________________________________________

Conflict of Interest

1994-06 State Employee

A State staff attorney may work in the same agency as her husband.

1994-07 County Parks and Recreation Commissioner

A Parks and Recreation Commissioner who owns an ATV business may answer questions from the commission about ATV issues.

1997-14 City Building Commission Member

A City Building Commission member may serve as an uncompensated member of a non-profit organization that manages a city community center.

1998-01 State Board Member

A State Board member may serve as its interim executive director under exigent circumstances.

2005-11 State Official

No Ethics Act provision prohibits state elected official from holding appointed federal position, but State constitutional limitations may apply.

2006-01 County Solid Waste Authority
Rewards program for law enforcement officers reporting illegal dumps not permissible.

2006-03 State Administrative Law Judge
Not prohibited from conducting outside law practice
May not represent individuals he regulates
May not use state resources for private business activities

2006-04 County Employee
Spouse’s work for developer does not bar him from providing support services to county agencies considering developer’s permit applications.

2006-06 State Legislator
May not use position to influence appropriations to non-profit employer

2007-04 Assistant Attorney General
May send letter at own expense to clients he represented as government attorney advising of his move to private practice.

2007-05 County Commissioner
May provide information on web site for law practice which relates to his role as an elected Commissioner

2007-07 Mayor
Appointment of Mayor’s son as City Attorney would create “inescapable” conflict of interest.

2007-13 Administrative Law Judge
Permitted to engage in outside practice of law, provided certain limitations are followed.

2011-01 County Council Member

County Council Member’s business may appraise estates so long she recuses herself from any matters coming before the County Council involving the probate of any estate her business has appraised.
County Council Member’s business may not appraise any estates over which the Sheriff has been appointed by the County Council as the administrator.
County Council Member’s business should be removed from the Fiduciary Supervisor’s list of available appraisers.
County Council Member may not appear, as a representative or witness, before the Council, either about the appraised value, or the amount of her compensation.
County Council Member may not accept protected persons from the Sheriff for placement in her nursing home, absent a contract exemption for the Sheriff.

2011-02 County Council Member

County Council Member’s business may contract with a multi-county Conservation District under the following circumstances:

(1) the contract is let via a sealed bid process;
(2) the project is not funded by County money;
(3) the project is not the subject of an agreement between the District and the County including any agreement for flood control as authorized by W.Va. Code § 19-21A-13 ; and
(4) the affected Member recuses himself from the District’s appropriation request or any request for funding.

Opinion does not authorize the employment of County Commissioners or County Council Members, their spouses or dependents, by Conservation Districts in the County where they serve.

2011-09 County Hospital

County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of equipment and related services from appointed board member.
County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of real property from appointed board member so long as: there are no financial conditions associated with the property transfer; and the body notifies the public of the member’s offer and allows other property owners to offer their property.
County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of real property from appointed board member even if there are unresolved issues requiring mitigation (e.g. environmental hazards, or outstanding liens), but only if an independent evaluation determines that the overriding benefit is to the governing body rather than the donor and it receives permission from the Ethics Commission.

Modifies AO 95-09 by clarifying that the donation (as opposed to the leasing) of property does not constitute a public contract.

2012-17 Presiding Officer of a house of West Virginia Legislature

May not be retained to provide legal services to an Association which is actively engaged in lobbying Legislature on behalf of its members who are public employees.
Proposed employment contract presents an inescapable conflict, given the unique position held and power wielded by the presiding officer.
Access to confidential information may have chilling effect on other legislators, if proposed employment contract permitted.
Public may perceive that Association has hired him because of his unique ability to influence legislation.
Other Associations that do not employee a high ranking member of the Legislature may believe that they are at a disadvantage in the legislative process.

Opinion limited to Presiding Officers of houses of West Virginia Legislature.

2012-19 Member of the Legislature

May be retained to provide consulting services to Public University during and after his term of office.
Conflict of interest cured by his removal from potentially overlapping committees.
Must consult with Presiding Officer of his house and abide by appropriate legislative voting rule.
May not use influence of legislative position to attempt to affect the actions of University personnel to enhance his contractual benefits; introduce, sponsor or advocate legislation to benefit the University in any way; influence either the State’s distribution of federal grant money or State funds to the University for any purpose, not just those related to his consulting contract; or influence the appropriation of public funds to benefit the University in any way.

2013-02 County Board of Education

School coach may privately employ School Principal.
Principal may not evaluate coach who is his private employer, nor make recommendations to BOE concerning his subordinate employee/employer.
Assistant Principal may evaluate coach so long as Superintendent or designee, who is not Principal’s subordinate, reviews evaluation.
Prohibition against direct solicitation of business from subordinate relates to commercial transactions such as sale of goods or services, not employment.

2013-09 County Prosecutor

Ethics Act does not prohibit Assistant Prosecutor from serving as elected County Commissioner in another County, even if counties are situated in same judicial circuit.
Assistant Prosecutor must perform County Commission duties on his own time, not during public work hours.

2013-11 State Legislator

State Legislator may not sponsor legislation relating to issue upon which he advised a client of his private law practice prior to his election to Legislature when bill uniquely affects his client, rather than class of five or more.
Presiding Officer determines whether to excuse Legislator from voting.

2013-16 Solid Waste Authority

A solid waste authority may accept funds from companies it regulates, for an event with public purpose and significant public benefit, where solicitation was directed to the general public for this event.
However, the solid waste authority may not accept funds from a company who is currently negotiating a long term land lease and potential private/public partnership with the authority.

2013-21 County Commission

A County Commission may not employ a private attorney for civil matters (as employee, or on a contract basis) if that attorney maintains a private criminal defense practice in the same county.
Regardless of the lack of involvement in setting the budget for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, an inescapable conflict is created in serving both positions simultaneously, such that both positions of attorney for county commission and private criminal defense attorney in same county, may not be held.

2013-25 Conservation District Member

A Conservation District may not reimburse landowner expenses where the provider is a member of the Conservation District Board unless the Conservation District seeks and obtains a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission. (Obsolete by statute.)

2013-30 State Agency Commissioner

The Ethics Act prohibits the Commissioner of a State Agency that promotes and regulates live dog and horse racing throughout the state from retaining a 20% ownership interest in a horse that will compete in WV. (This commissioner would be subject to regulations which he/she is charged with enforcing, creating a conflict of interest.)
WV Code § 6B-2-5(k) states there can be no participation in rate making or licensing where the ownership interest is greater than 10%.
WV Code § 6B-2-5(j) prohibits public servants from voting on matters in which they have a financial interest; therefore the State Agency Commissioner is prohibited from voting on matters related to horse racing.
The Commissioner of this State Agency is privy to confidential information, and must avoid the appearance of impropriety, or unfair advantage over other horse owners.

2013-33 Elected State Official

An Elected State Official may serve as Secretary of a local Masonic Lodge and accept an expense reimbursement stipend of $300 per month.
None of the Elected State Official’s public duties overlap with serving as the Secretary of a local Masonic lodge.
Both positions are permissible so long as there is no public contract involved, no regulation of the lodge by the official’s state office, and no private work during public work time or with public resources. The stipend must be unrelated to the • Elected State Official’s public position.

2013-34 Sheriff's Tax Deputy

A Sheriff’s Tax Deputy may provide security services to residents and law enforcement throughout the state through a limited liability company with some exceptions.
The Sheriff’s Tax Deputy is prohibited from charging fees for any goods or services that he or the LLC provides to any government agencies within the county which he/she serves. He/she may not use more than a de minimus amount of public resources for private purposes.
W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(o) states there may be no solicitation of private business from subordinate public officials or public employees whom he/she has authority to direct, supervise or control.
The Sheriff’s Tax Deputy must recuse himself/herself from handling delinquent taxpayer accounts for current or prospective customers of his/her private business.

2013-35 Housing Authority Inspector/Mayor (Conflict of Interest, Employment Restrictions, Vote)

A Housing Authority may continue to employ a part time inspector who was recently elected Mayor of a nearby town, with limitations.
The Mayor must recuse himself/herself from any matters regarding his Housing Authority employer.
If the Mayor also serves as Municipal Judge, additional care must be taken when citizens under his/her authority as housing inspector appear in municipal court. • He/she must disclose the conflict, and if requested by either party, must recuse himself/herself. The Mayor will also be prohibited from presiding as municipal judge when he/she performed a housing inspection for a party within the last six months.

2013-36 County Assessor (Conflict of Interest, Public Contracts, Private Gain)

A County Assessor may purchase office supplies from a company owned by his employee’s fiancé. (The employee has no involvement with supply purchases. The County Assessor has no financial or personal relationship with the employee or his/her fiancé.)
W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 is applicable to the County Assessor, but not to all county employees.
There may be no interest in public contracts and no favoritism. The employee has no voice over purchases, and is not a “county official”. The County Assessor is a county official, but there is no Ethics Act violation because the employee has no control over purchases and the County Assessor has no personal or financial relationship with the employee or his/ her fiancé.

2013-37 Civil Service Board Member

A Civil Service Board member may not sit on the board while he/she is employed by the Sheriff. The board member’s recusal is not appropriate. The board member may only continue sitting on the Civil Service Board if he/she resigns from employment with the Sheriff.
Employment by a public agency constitutes a personal financial interest which prohibits a public employee from voting on matters which affect his/her employer.
On the Civil Service board, this board member would be required to investigate the sheriff’s office and his/her coworkers, as well as review tests/training certifications to determine promotions, and judge propriety of disciplinary action; all of which equate to prohibited financial interests. (Overruled by 2013-47.)

2013-41 County Employee

A county employee may not serve on County Commission while employed full time by the County Ambulance Authority.
W. Va. Code §61-10-15 prohibits county officials from having an interest in public contracts. The County Commission appoints all members of the County Ambulance Authority and has authority to make contributions to the ambulance authority from general funds. If elected, the county employee would have voice, influence or control over the County Ambulance Authority who has control over his/her employment, via the Authority’s Executive Director.

2013-43 Members of County Solid Waste Authority

The individual members of a County Solid Waste Authority do not violate the Ethics Act by continuing a meeting after a member with a purported conflict of interest has refused to recuse himself/herself. Instead, the member who refuses recusal likely violates the Act.

2013-47 Town Council Members, County Employees

Town Council members who are currently employed, or whose spouses are currently employed by the County Board of Education may vote on issues concerning property deeded to the Board of Education.
W. Va. Code §6B-1-3(b) defines business as “any entity through which business for profit is conducted”. This definition does not include a governing body.
W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d) states that no elected or appointed public official or public employee or member of his/her immediate family or business with which he/she is associated may be a party to or have an interest in the profits or benefits of a contract which the official or employee may have direct authority to enter into or over which he/she may have control.
W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(j)(1)(A) states that public officials may not vote on a matter in which they or an immediate family member or a business with which they or an immediate family member is associated have a financial interest.
The Ethics Commission overrules AO 2012-05, and finds that the Ethics Act does not prohibit a public official from voting on a matter with which his/her public employer has a financial interest. Further, retired employees have no financial interest. Here, a council member who is currently employed by the County Board of Education as a teacher is subject to W.Va. Code§ 61-1-15, but has no voice or control over the contract under these facts.

2013-48 State Agency Employees

A state agency may not allow its death investigators to provide contract services to the county as County Medical Examiners. Investigators would have a conflict of interest as they would be in the position of awarding contracts to one another. If this state agency is unable to find qualified candidates, it may seek a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission.

2013-50 State Agency Employees

State agency employees assigned to various Conservation Districts may participate in a state funded Agricultural Enhancement program that is administered by the Districts because they have no authority or control over these matters. However, state agency employees are cautioned not to take any action related to their own participation in the program except ministerial functions.

2013-51 Commercial Supervisor in County Assessor's Office

A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may lease residential property in the county in which he/she is employed, because this property is not subject to his/her regulatory action.
A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may not purchase, sell or lease commercial property in the county where he/she works, because either he/she or his/her subordinates take annual regulatory action on this property. (Personal transactions for personal homes are exceptions.)
A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may not purchase any commercial property at property tax lien auctions. (The purchase of residential property over which he/she has no regulatory control is permissible at tax auction.)
The only exception is if a property exemption is sought and obtained from the Ethics Commission.
Any employee of the County Assessor’s office who had the authority to select property for sale at auction and/or control the price or value thereof is prohibited from purchasing the property at auction. Employees of the County Assessor’s office may not engage in real estate transactions, including purchasing property at auction while on the public clock.

2013-52 Board President, County Ambulance Authority

A County Ambulance Authority may purchase property from the brother of its Board President. The Board President’s brother is outside the definition of immediate family and there is no financial relationship between them. The County Ambulance Authority Board President is also not subject to restriction because he/she is a part time appointed official.
The Board President has no financial interest, and therefore may vote on the property purchase. However, favoritism is prohibited in selecting property.

2013-53 County Board of Education

A county Board of Education member may vote on changing the Board of Education’s financial institution to a local bank in which he/she is a shareholder. He/she holds less than 1% stock so that neither the Ethics Act or W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibit the Board of Education from contracting with the bank in which the board member owns stock. Some limitations apply.
The board member is prohibited from steering business to this bank, may not use undue influence, and still must recuse himself/herself on votes regarding the bank.
It is generally impermissible for a county official to have a pecuniary interest in a contract over which he/she has control. (W.Va. Code § 61-10-15(a))
There is a specific exception for interest in banks in W.Va. Code § 61-10-15(f), though, as long as the person recuses himself/herself from the “deliberations or ultimate determination” of the depository of funds.

2013-55 County Assessor

A County Assessor’s adult daughter may purchase property in the same county in which he/she works, as the daughter does not reside with the Assessor, and neither the Assessor nor his/her spouse has an ownership interest in the property.
The Assessor and his/her spouse may also engage in property purchase transactions in the county, if they are for personal residences. (The Deputy Assessor is authorized to assess the Assessor’s property.)

2013-58 County Commission/Regional Drug Court Team

A Regional Drug Court Team and its Advisory Board may contract with a County Commissioner to provide dental services to a drug court participant, with limitations.
The contract for dental work must be let out via a sealed bid process, dental work must not be funded by or comingled with funds from the county commission, and the affected county commissioner must recuse himself/herself from any Drug Court requests for funding directed to the County Commission.
This dental work was to be paid for from individual donations and grants, and voluntary allocation of County Commission funds did not constitute direct authority or control.

2013-59 State Licensing Board

The Ethics Commission lacked jurisdiction to answer the question presented regarding the licensing board’s enabling legislation, and the potential conflict of interest posed by a member of the State Licensing board accepting a paid position with a private entity and that member’s ability to remain on the state licensing board.
The state licensing board should consult the Governor’s office, which has appointing authority for state licensing board members regarding any potential conflicts of interest.

2013-60 State Licensing Board Member overruled by AO 2020-05

Under these facts, the public and private roles are too inextricably intertwined and present an impossible impediment to impartiality. This state licensing board member is unable to perform both positions without creating unavoidable conflict of interest and an impermissible use of public office for private gain.

2014-02 State Board Members
Are not prohibited from serving on the State Board or from voting on the applications submitted by municipalities with which they have a relationship. The Ethics Act’s definition of “business” does not include a governing body, therefore these State Board members do not have a financial interest in the municipal applications under W.Va. Code § 6B-1-3(b).

2014-04 Assistant Park Superintendent

May serve at the same park where his/her brother has a contract to operate its marina, with limitations. A third party must investigate complaints and report these to his/her supervisor. Assistant Park Superintendent should not inspect the concessions or initiate corrective action, but should either assign another employee to do so, or do so along with another non-subordinate employee.
Prohibition against interest in public contract is limited to “immediate family members” based on the inherent financial relationships between spouses who live together, as well as dependent children, grandchildren, and parents. By contrast, an adult sibling is not presumptively financially dependent on another sibling.
Therefore, the contract between Assistant Park Superintendent’s brother and the state agency is not prohibited under W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d).

2014-05 County Board of Education

May purchase a scoreboard from an athletic booster organization, a private, non-profit charitable organization, despite having a member who is common to both the governing body and the private organization.
Common member to each organization is not compensated by the athletics boosters organization, has no financial relationship with the boosters organization, and is not a party to the boosters organization loan for the scoreboard.
Common member is not required to recuse him/herself on any matters related to any contract or transaction between the governing body and the boosters. Non- profit organizations are not encompassed in the Ethics Act definition of a “business” in W.Va. Code § 6b-1-3(b).
Neither W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 nor 6B-2-5(d)(1) prohibits the contract, as the common member does not have a personal interest in the contract, and the non-profit’s financial interest cannot be imputed to the common member by virtue of his position on the non- profit board, without evidence that he/she receives financial benefit in the transaction.

2014-08 Appointed Member of County Solid Waste Authority

May, in his/her private capacity, bring a civil suit against the authority on whose board he/she serves, with limitations.
Member must recuse him/herself from deliberations or votes related to his/her lawsuit, as he/she has a direct financial interest in the litigation, and is a party to the litigation. Member is further prohibited from discussing, deliberating, or voting on waste hauling certificates of convenience and necessity by the Public Service Commission, the subject matter of the lawsuit.
Member is further prohibited from participating in the authority’s development of any plan regarding related matters, unless done as a member of a class of five or more similarly situated parties.
Member must not use his/her public position to further his/her private interests, must not use confidential information obtained through his/her public position to further private interests, and may not informally communicate with fellow appointed members of the authority to influence voting related to the lawsuit.

2014-09 Candidate for County Board of Education

May, if elected, be employed as a teacher for a multi-county area vocational center that services the county because the Board of Education is not the teacher’s employer.
County board of education member is not prohibited from voting on matters related to the vocational center because he/she does not have a financial interest in the funding for the vocational center as an employee of the vocational center.
Candidate/employee does not have the requisite control in employment decisions to invoke prohibitions in WV Code § 61-10-15.
Some conditions apply: If elected, candidate may not use his/her position on the county board of education to obtain a position at the vocational center, to promote raises or other benefits to his/herself or others, unless the class exception is applicable, and may not serve on the vocational center’s Administrative council. Candidate may not use public resources, including county board of education staff to perform private work for the vocational center.

2014-10 Members of City Council

May vote, despite being potentially affected by ward boundary adjustment.
No distinction is made between members of city council who plan to run for reelection versus those who do not. Each is voting on an issue which will impact the status of future city councils, not the current city council of which they are a part. Neither current city council member has a direct interest, financial or otherwise, in the terms of future elected officials for purposes of the Ethics Act.

2014-11 Sheriff

• May expend funds from the Sheriff’s Concealed Weapons Fund for the purpose of fitness supplies and equipment to assist the Sheriff’s deputies in meeting annual fitness requirements of the position because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties.
• May expend funds from the Sheriff’s Concealed Weapons Fund for the purpose of paying for dry-cleaning of officers’ uniforms because the expenditure meets the Ethic Act’s definition of “the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services”.
• Expenditures from the Sheriff’s Concealed Weapons Fund are public funds, and may not be used for private gain, must be authorized expenditures, and must be related to law enforcement purposes, or the operating needs of the Sheriff’s Office.

2014-12 Sheriff
May not sell unused or surplus weapons directly to the son of a Deputy Sheriff and deposit the money into the Concealed Weapons Fund, as it would be using his public position to benefit the son of a subordinate in violation of the Act’s prohibition against use of public office for private gain, and would be an unavoidable conflict of interest.

2014-14 City Council Member/Municipal Employee

May vote on general issues affecting municipal employees such as better working conditions, including raises, so long as there are more than five municipal employees, as well as issues affecting the overall municipal budget. He may further vote on issues directly affecting other departments which do not employ him.
May not vote to advocate on behalf of municipal employees in his own department or deliberate on matters specific to that department unless there are five or more employees in that department.
He must further recuse himself completely from any matters which affect him uniquely.

2014-15 State Agency

May sell advertising to defray the cost of wellness tools on its website to assist public employees to improve their health because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties and the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services.
Selling such advertising does not constitute prohibited endorsement of a vendor or product, and so the state agency must include a disclaimer with the advertisement making clear that the appearance of the advertising should not be construed as endorsement.
Must allow equal access for advertising to all businesses or classes of businesses related to health and wellness.

2014-17 County Sheriff
Does not have a prohibited conflict of interest if his father-in-law bids on or is awarded a contract with the Sheriff’s office. The definition of “immediate family member” does not include father-in-law, and there is no financial relationship between the Sheriff and his father-in-law, so there is no prohibited financial interest.

2014-18 Retired State Agency Employee
May accept a new position with a private consulting firm which contracts with his/her former employer, with limitations. The retired employee may not improperly disclose confidential information or use it for his/her own or another’s personal interests. Revolving door restrictions do not apply, because the retired employee’s state agency position was not created by law, was not appointed by the governor, and was not either the position of attorney or accountant. If the retired employee must appear before his/her former agency, he/she must first seek the agency’s approval to do so.

2014-19 State Regulatory Agency
May employ someone who owns stock in a regulated company, and whose spouse is employed in the regulated industry, as its Division Director. Where stock ownership was less than 5%, the director would file Financial Disclosure Statements, would have no authority over contracts, and regulation would be pursuant to statutory formula, employment was permissible. Such employment is not prohibited under revolving door rules, nor would such employment create an inescapable conflict.

2014-22 State Death Investigator
State death investigator may provide services to his State agency when a co-worker selects him by strict adherence to the rotation list without subjective input and favoritism by the co-worker.

2014-23 County Commissioners
Board of Education (BOE) employees and retirees and their spouses may serve as county commissioners and may vote on funding requests made by the BOE.

2014-24 County Positions
Executive director of county economic development authority (EDA) may be employed by the EDA and serve as a member of the board of the county public service district.

2014-25 County Positions
Board member of county economic development authority (EDA) may serve as a common board member to both the EDA and public service district (PSD), and the Requester may vote on any matters between the EDA and the PSD.

2015-01 Legislators
Legislator may continue his employment during the Legislative session as an attorney with a company that employs registered lobbyists when the legal services he provides are unrelated to the company’s lobbying activities.

2015-03 State Employees
State employee who is charged with oversight of safety and training for a statewide industry may offer private safety classes to individuals because his public duties are not regulatory, but ministerial.

2015-06 State Ratings Officer
May conduct federal rating examinations of her spouse’s region based on the specific facts presented. If those ratings affect her spouse in any way, then a different employee should conduct the examinations.

2015-10 A City Code Enforcement Officer
Is prohibited from acquiring property within the city which he/she regulates without first obtaining a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission.

2015-16 County Building Commission Member
A County Building Commission member may purchase and develop property owned and managed by a County Urban Renewal Authority without violating W. Va. Code §§ 6B-2-5(d)(1), 6B-2-5(b) or 61-10-15.

2016-07 State Board Member
A State Board Member may testify as an expert witness in a civil action against a defendant that has previously appeared before the State Board when the testimony would not be based upon test results or other information gained from the Board Member’s public position. The Board Member may not improperly use his position on the Board for his personal benefit, a plaintiff’s benefit or to the detriment of a defendant who may appear before the Board as this would result in improper private gain. The Board Member is prohibited from knowingly and improperly disclosing any confidential information acquired in the course of his official duties and from using such information to further his personal interests or the interests of another person.

2017-09 Cabinet Secretary

No provision of the Ethics Act per se prohibits Requester from owning 20 percent of non-voting Class B stock in a health care consulting firm or from being the sole member of a limited liability company that owns the building leased by the health care consulting firm.
The Ethics Commission cannot speculate as to what future acts the Requester could take in his official capacity which might violate the Ethics Act.

2017-12 A County Commissioner
Neither the Ethics Act nor W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits an appointed parks board member from serving as an uncompensated member of a Convention and Vistior's Bureau ("CVB") board or from serving as the president of the parks board and the CVB board at the same time. Nothing in the Ethics Act or W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 per se prohibits the president of a chamber of commerce from also serving as the president of a parks board and as the president of a CVB board. If the president of the chamber of commerce is compensated for his or her service on the chamber's board, then additional limitations may apply.

2017-17 A County Planning Commission Member
County planning commission members may not attend public hearings before the planning commission on which they serve on projects with which they are associated. They may, however, pursuant to a specific exception in the Ethics Act and related Code provision, communicate with planning commission staff outside of meetings and public hearings regarding the projects.

2017-18 A Cabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary’s former stock ownership interest in a consulting firm does not require him to remove himself from matters involving the firm or its clients.

W. Va Code § 6B-2-5(h) does not prohibit a Cabinet Secretary’s lease of real property to a firm which has or may have regulatory matters before his department as the lease predates his appointment to public office and is being continued under its original terms. He may not use his public office to unlawfully benefit the firm and must seek a Property Exemption from the Ethics Commission if he seeks to make a material change, such as a rent increase, to the terms of the lease.

2019-09 A City Council Member
The Ethics Act’s “revolving door” provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(g), does not prohibit a City Council member from representing a client before the City’s Board of Zoning Appeals in a building permit dispute.

2019-23 County Airport Authority member
The Ethics Act does not generally prescribe who is eligible to serve on a public body. The Act does not prohibit the Requester from simultaneously serving on the boards of the Airport Authority and the Chamber of Commerce while maintaining his employment with a local hotel.

2019-27 City Council Member

The Ethics Act’s “revolving door” provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(g), and prohibited representation provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(f), do not prohibit a City Council member from representing a client in traffic code violations before the City’s Municipal Court.

2019-28 Pre-candidate for Sheriff
The Ethics Act permits a Sheriff to continue to operate a real estate business that leases and sells property to individuals and businesses in the same county. A Sheriff may not seek to sell or lease property to persons who have been the subject of a regulatory matter within the last 12 months or which currently have a matter before the Sheriff’s Office, such as persons under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office, delinquent in paying county taxes or subject to a warrant.

2020-03 A State Appeals Board member

The Ethics Act does not prohibit a State Appeals Board member from serving as a member of a Political Executive Committee. While nothing in the Ethics Act prohibits a public official from serving as a member of a Political Party Executive Committee, the Commission has no jurisdiction to rule whether other laws or policies prohibit it.

2021-12 Municipal Officials 

A Mayor must recuse himself from matters related to a for-profit emergency services organization to which the municipality makes annual appropriations because he is an officer and/or a board member. As a for-profit organization, the organization qualifies as a business. A City Recorder and Council Members must recuse themselves from matters related to a business if they own five percent or more of the outstanding stock.

2022-05 County Commission

A municipal judge may serve on the county commission in the same county as the municipality because the County Commission does not appoint Town officials or employees or appropriate money to the Town.

2022-06 County Board of Health President

The Ethics Act does not prohibit a member of the Board of Health, including the President, from being an unpaid member of the board of directors of a nonprofit hospital/health system when the only other health system in the County is not represented on the Board of Health.

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Confidential Information

2000-02 Municipal Hospital Board Member

A Municipal Hospital Board Member is not disqualified from serving on the hospital board because she owns a competing OB-GYN medical practice; she may not vote or use confidential data about the hospital's OB-GYN activities.

2002-08 County Board of Education member

A County Board of Education member may bid on a BOE contract after her term expires but may not use confidential information to her advantage. Revolving door and prohibited representation provisions are not applicable.

2012-17 Presiding Officer of a house of West Virginia Legislature

May not be retained to provide legal services to an Association which is actively engaged in lobbying Legislature on behalf of its members who are public employees.
Proposed employment contract presents an inescapable conflict, given the unique position held and power wielded by the presiding officer.
Access to confidential information may have chilling effect on other legislators, if proposed employment contract permitted.
Public may perceive that Association has hired him because of his unique ability to influence legislation.
Other Associations that do not employee a high ranking member of the Legislature may believe that they are at a disadvantage in the legislative process.
Opinion limited to Presiding Officers of houses of West Virginia Legislature.

2012-25 State Employee

May represent clients before his former agency upon his departure from government without waiting one year.
One-year limitation does not apply because position not created by law, oath of office not taken and employee is not a full-time staff attorney or accountant.
May register as lobbyist upon his departure from government without waiting one year since he is not under direct supervision of member of Executive Department.

2012-36 State Employee

May contract with State of West Virginia to compile official papers of former Governor.
Does not have control over contract.
Does not have access to confidential information related to contract award.
May not use public resources, including Requester’s own time and subordinate staff, to perform the duties of the contract.

2012-38 Part-time Appointed Member of a Review Commission

May provide referral list of names of companies and individuals as prospective buyers to owners of distressed properties appearing before Review Commission.
May, if Review Commission unable to assist in facilitating sale of distressed property (despite providing list of prospective buyers), as part-time appointed public official, purchase property from interested person subject to the foloowing limitations:
May not use confidential information acquired in course of official duties to further own personal interests or the interests of another person; and
Must recuse self from all matters relating to subject property.

2013-03 Solid Waste Authority

Member/banker who has been directly involved in approving loans for Board Member/waste hauler within past 12 months must recuse himself from matters affecting Member/waste hauler, unless he is affected as member of class of five or more.
If Member/banker is only a bank board member who has not been directly involved with loans to Member/waste hauler, then recusal is not required.

2013-11 State Legislator

State Legislator may not sponsor legislation relating to issue upon which he advised a client of his private law practice prior to his election to Legislature when bill uniquely affects his client, rather than class of five or more.
Presiding Officer determines whether to excuse Legislator from voting.

2013-30 State Agency Commissioner

The Ethics Act prohibits the Commissioner of a State Agency that promotes and regulates live dog and horse racing throughout the state from retaining a 20% ownership interest in a horse that will compete in WV. (This commissioner would be subject to regulations which he/she is charged with enforcing, creating a conflict of interest.)
WV Code § 6B-2-5(k) states there can be no participation in rate making or licensing where the ownership interest is greater than 10%.
WV Code § 6B-2-5(j) prohibits public servants from voting on matters in which they have a financial interest; therefore the State Agency Commissioner is prohibited from voting on matters related to horse racing.
The Commissioner of this State Agency is privy to confidential information, and must avoid the appearance of impropriety, or unfair advantage over other horse owners.

2013-39 Former State Employee

The Ethics Act contains a one-year “cooling off” period which prohibits certain high-ranking government officials and employees from registering as Lobbyists for one year following their departure from government. The Ethics Commission has no statutory authority to grant exemptions.
This former employee, as general counsel to an agency under the Executive Department, did not report directly to the Governor and was not directly supervised by his staff. Employee reported directly to a Cabinet Secretary and Deputy Secretary for Legal Services.
The Ethics Act’s revolving door prohibition is inapplicable to this former state employee, but he may not use or reveal any confidential information from his past position.

2013-54 State Agency Employee
Staff attorneys for a State Agency may serve as Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys. The salary for the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney was not paid by the county Prosecutor’s Office, but by the State Agency. Therefore there is no prohibited private gain and the use of acquired information does not constitute knowing and improper disclosure.

2014-08 Appointed Member of County Solid Waste Authority

May, in his/her private capacity, bring a civil suit against the authority on whose board he/she serves, with limitations.
Member must recuse him/herself from deliberations or votes related to his/her lawsuit, as he/she has a direct financial interest in the litigation, and is a party to the litigation. Member is further prohibited from discussing, deliberating, or voting on waste hauling certificates of convenience and necessity by the Public Service Commission, the subject matter of the lawsuit.
Member is further prohibited from participating in the authority’s development of any plan regarding related matters, unless done as a member of a class of five or more similarly situated parties.
Member must not use his/her public position to further his/her private interests, must not use confidential information obtained through his/her public position to further private interests, and may not informally communicate with fellow appointed members of the authority to influence voting related to the lawsuit.

2014-18 Retired State Agency Employee
May accept a new position with a private consulting firm which contracts with his/her former employer, with limitations. The retired employee may not improperly disclose confidential information or use it for his/her own or another’s personal interests. Revolving door restrictions do not apply, because the retired employee’s state agency position was not created by law, was not appointed by the governor, and was not either the position of attorney or accountant. If the retired employee must appear before his/her former agency, he/she must first seek the agency’s approval to do so.

2021-22 City Council Member

The Ethics Act does not prohibit a governing body from barring audio recordings of executive sessions of public meetings. The Ethics Act also does not prohibit a public official from audio recording executive sessions, but the recording may not be improperly disclosed or used to further the official's own interests or the interests of another person if it contains confidential information.

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Contract Exemptions

1997-35 Town

A Town may purchase the Mayor’s land due to hardship. [non-precedential]

1998-03 Town

A Town was granted an exemption to buy a truck from the city street commissioner at below retail value.

1998-19 Board of Education

A Board of Education was granted an exemption to use a BOE member’s towing company in emergency situations.

1999-10 City

A City may not contract with the mayor's hardware store because it failed to demonstrate that substantial harm to the City would be certain to occur.

2003-01 Town Council

A Town Council may not contract with its mayor to lease property for the city hall. Granted contract exemption, however, because it would have created an undue hardship on the Town to bar it from leasing the property.

2004-14 State Board

A State Board may not lease a storage unit from the executive director without a contract exemption.

2004-20 Town Council

The Town Council may not contract with the spouse of the mayor to perform repair work on the town's water lines. Granted contract exemption, however, due to four other contractors turning down the project

2006-11 County Prosecuting Attorney

Commission will not grant hardship waiver where contract is prohibited by W. Va. Code 61-10-15 [Note: Subsequent amendment to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 provides discretion to Commission to grant waivers]

2012-36 State Employee

May contract with State of West Virginia to compile official papers of former Governor.
Does not have control over contract.
Does not have access to confidential information related to contract award.
May not use public resources, including Requester’s own time and subordinate staff, to perform the duties of the contract.

2016-06 County Public Service District
A contract exemption is not required when board members’ pecuniary interests are de minimis.

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Contracts

1994-05 Community College Faculty Member

A Community College chemistry faculty member may contract with college for environmental technology services.

1994-20 City Housing Authority Member

A Housing Authority member is a part-time appointed official.

1994-22 County Board of Education/RESA Member

A BOE member/RESA member may not contract with RESA or subcontract with the BOE. May contract directly with vocational school.

1994-23 Municipal Judge

A Municipal Judge may contract with the city and citizens for real estate appraisal work.

1994-29 State Authority

A State Authority may not contract with its managers for uplink services.

1995-02 State Employee

A State supervisor may not have a contract for psychological services with his public employer because he has control over the contract by monitoring it.

1995-23 Legislator

A Legislator may have a contract with a state agency, subject to not using office for private gain.

1995-35 City Council Member

A former City Council member may not bid for city property that he voted to abandon when he was in office.

1996-03 State Licensing Board

A State License Board may not sublet office space from a board member, unless the member subleases for the same amount as the lease.

1996-15 State Board Member

A State Board member may be employed by a company that does business with his agency due to the “part-time appointed” exception.

1996-31 County Commission

A County Commission may appoint a member’s spouse to the hospital board because the position is uncompensated.

1996-34 State Official

A State agency may lease office space from an official in his agency since the official has no authority or control over the lease.

1996-44 County Board of Education Member

A County BOE member may buy a building from an athletic booster organization.

1996-45 Prosecutor

A Prosecutor may hire his adult child if he follows the nepotism guideline, at W. Va. Code R. § 158-6-3.

1996-49 County Board of Education

A County BOE may purchase textbooks that were selected from a publisher that employs the superintendent's wife due to the pre-existing contract.

1996-51 State Board

A State board may pay attorney fees to a member’s law firm, due to the “part-time appointed” exception.

1997-09 County Commission

A County Commission may place its legal ads in the only qualified newspaper even though a commissioner is an employee and part-owner of the newspaper. The lack of choice eliminates the commissioner’s authority or control.

1997-23 County Commission/Economic Authority Member

A County Commission may issue bonds that may benefit a company for which a county commissioner/ EDA member works as the financial interest is too remote to prohibit it.

1997-27 County BOE Employee

A County BOE Director of Technology may have less than a one percent ownership in a county contract as the financial interest is de minimis.

1997-31 City Council Member

A City Council member has control over a contract by suggesting the need for the contract, having been involved in the evaluation of potential contract vendors, or having evaluated compliance with contract specifications. Council has no control over the sanitary board or VFD.

1998-06 A State Board

A State Board may contract with a member’s company under the “part-time appointed” exception.

1998-10 City Council Member

A City Council member may accept his real estate sales commission from his private employer even if the purchaser receives a forgivable loan from the City, subject to proper recusal.

1998-24 City Council Member

A City Council member may receive a loan from the City’s Housing Department absent preferential treatment.

1998-29 Town Employee

A Town employee who performs only clerical work may contract with the Town to prepare police activity reports on her own time.

1999-01 State Agency

A State Agency may contract with a labor union to perform certificate testing for crane operators even though most operators in the state are union members.

1999-02 Multi-county vocational school teacher

A Multi-county vocational school teacher may not buy a modular home built by his students due to his control over the building process.

1999-17 County Solid Waste Authority Employee

A County Solid Waste Authority employee who retired may serve on the Authority board because his pension is administered by the state.

1999-18 Regional Planning and Development Council

A Regional Planning and Development Council may not retain an accounting firm in which a council member is a partner. Employment exception does not apply.

1999-22 County Ambulance Authority Board Member

A County Ambulance Authority Board member may be employed by another Authority that sells supplies to the Authority he represents.

1999-27 Mayor and Recorder

A Mayor and Recorder may accept payment for serving on the sanitary board.

1999-38 State Official

A State Official may negotiate a lease that is in a blind trust under unique circumstances.

2000-01 County Board of Education

A Board of Education may not purchase books from a business that employs a BOE member part-time. (Note: Superseded by 2002 amendment to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 creating exception for a public official or a public employee, or a spouse, who is employed by a supplier or vendor).

2000-07 State Commission’s

A State Commission’s local planning district member is not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. May have

a contract under the Ethics Act due to the part-time appointed exception.

2000-12 Regional Airport Authority Members

Regional Airport Authority Members are not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. Under the Ethics Act, a contract may be awarded to the member's employer because the member lacks ten percent ownership interest. The member may not vote on the contract. (The ten percent ownership exception is no longer in the Ethics Act.)

2000-13 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may purchase gas transported through lines owned by the Member's employer under W. Va. Code § 61-15-10 because it is the sole source of that service available to the Board. Not prohibited under the Ethics Act because the member lacks ten percent ownership interest.

The member may not vote on the contract. (The ten percent ownership exception is no longer in the Ethics Act.)

2000-14 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may not employ the superintendent's spouse as a part-time football coach. Exception in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 for spouses’ employment as teachers does not include coaches.

2000-16 Board of Education

A Board of Education may continue its existing contract with a BOE member to maintain a tv satellite system he installed before becoming a member, so long as there is no modification of the contract’s terms and conditions.

2000-18 County Board of Education Member

A County Board of Education Member may serve as an uncompensated coach within the county school system.

2000-23 County Board of Education Member

A County Board of Education Member may purchase electricity from the spouse's employer that was the sole source of electricity, but may not vote to pay bills from the utility company.

2000-24 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may allow a vocational teacher to purchase parts and supplies for the auto shop program from a local automobile dealership where a board member is employed, so long as no funds controlled by the Board of Education are being spent.

2000-25 County Board of Education

A Board of Education may not contract with a non-profit hospital that employs a BOE member’s spouse under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. The Ethics Act does not prohibit the contract.

2000-30 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may contract with a private college that employs a member to use its pool because it is the sole source of local indoor pools.

2000-31 County Prosecutor

A County Prosecutor may not be paid for legal work done for the County Commission under W. Va.

Code § 61-10-15. The Ethics Act does not prohibit the contract.

2000-32 City Council Member

A City Council Member may not vote on a matter that affects a client of the law firm in which her spouse is a member. Public servants have a financial interest in the financial affairs of their spouse. [This decision was based on Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.]

2000-36 County Economic Development Authority

A County Economic Development Authority may not lease or sell property to a business that employs a board member under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. (Note: Superseded by 2002 amendment to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 creating exception for a public official or a public employee, or a spouse, who is employed by a supplier or vendor). The Ethics Act does not prohibit contract.

2000-41 County Board of Health

A County Board of Health may sell a health delivery service to a non-profit on whose board a board of health member sits. The Board member should be recused from consideration of what organization to sell the service.

2001-03 County Board of Education

A Board of Education may contract with a hospital that employs a BOE member’s spouse to provide free training for students. (non-precedential. A 2002 amendment to 61-10-15, creating an exception for salaried employees of a vendor, may apply.)

2001-07 County Employee

A County Employee, working as a project coordinator, is not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15; employee may oversee a project involving an engineering firm that employs her husband’s employer; but may not show preferential treatment to the employer.

2001-08 County Board of Education Employee

A County Board of Education Employee may contract with the BOE to provide speech therapy to students after hours.

2001-09 County Commission

A County Commission was granted an exemption, based on undue hardship, to contract with a newspaper that was substantially owned by a commissioner for running county legal ads . [See 2002 Amendment in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15(i) adding an exception for newspaper legal advertisements.]

2001-11 Board of Education Superintendent

A Board of Education Superintendent is subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 which would prohibit BOE contract for dairy services with the superintendent’s spouse's employer, but the Board may continue under an existing contract so long as there is no modification of its terms. The Ethics Act does not prohibit a contract with a spouse's employer. (Note: Superseded by 2002 amendment to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 creating exception for a public official or a public employee, or a spouse, who is employed by a supplier or vendor).

2001-12 Board of Education Superintendent

A Board of Education Superintendent is subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 and the Ethics Act, and both would prohibit a BOE contact with the superintendent for fuel , but the contract may continue under a prior existing contract so long as there is no modification of its terms.

2001-17 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may not rent to tenants whose rent is subsidized by a housing authority program. May continue existing leases so long as there is no modification of its terms.

2001-24 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may serve on the county’s public transit authority and accept statutory compensation. (Distinguished by Advisory Opinion 2019-07 which restricted compensation that was not nominal and was set by the county commission).

2001-28 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education Member may contract with a behavioral health center that receives BOE funding.

2001-30 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education Member may be employed by a private school that receives benefits from the BOE pursuant to federal law.

2001-33 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education Member may serve as a volunteer judge for school speech teams and be reimbursed for her travel expenses.

2002-02 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may contract with a hospital that employs a BOE member to provide drug testing when there is no other alternative. Contract is permissible under the Ethics Act because employment is not prohibited. (Note: Superseded by 2002 amendment to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 creating an exception for public officials and public employees who are employees of suppliers and vendors).

2002-03 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may work for a non-profit hospital that may receive county funding because the hospital is not a public agency and does not have public employment contracts. (But see Advisory Opinion 2021-10 (prohibiting contract with non-profit CVB.)

2002-08 County Board of Education member

2002-09 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may award a contract to the hospital where a member’s spouse is employed under the Ethics Act, and pursuant to the “salaried employee” exception in W. Va. § 61-10-15(e).

2002-10 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may contract with the superintendent's wife's employer due to the 2002 exception for salaried employees, in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15(e). The superintendent's ministerial actions of signing checks and other non-discretionary routine logistical matters are not enough to bar the contract.

2002-11 County Solid Waste Authority candidate

A County Solid Waste Authority candidate may join the Authority’s Board while it continues to pay off a pre-existing debt owed to the candidate's spouse, so long as there is no modification to the terms of the payoff.

2002-15 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may buy building materials from a retailer who bought the materials from a BOE member’s employer because the member’s financial interest is fixed and immutable when he makes the sale to the retailer. (But, see Advisory Opinion 2017-11).

2002-17 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may buy school supplies from the company that employs the BOE Treasurer’s spouse as a sales representative. Contract provision of the Ethics Act does not apply to spouses, and W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 (e), the salaried employee exception, applies to spouses.

2002-19 State Board

A State Board may not lease office space from its executive director; but was granted an exemption due to financial hardship to the Board.

2002-20 State Board

A State Board may not lease office space from its executive director; but was granted an exemption due financial hardship to the Board.

2003-01 Town Council

2003-06 County Prosecutor

A County Prosecutor, in most situations, may not sell property to the County Commission under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. In this non-precedential opinion, the Commission allowed the sale because there was no other option. (Note: In 2006, the Legislature gave the Commission the power to grant contract exemptions under § 61-10-15.) The Ethics Act does not prohibit this sale, subject to proper recusal.

2003-07 County Farmland Protection Board Member

A County Farmland Protection Board member may participate in a public farmland program in which the participants receive compensation from the Farmland Board to use their private land for agriculture. The member must recuse himself. Opinion limited to the particular facts of that case.

2003-08 County Commission

A County Commission, in most situations, may not buy property from a financial institution on whose board a Commissioner sits. In this non-precedential opinion, the Commission allowed the sale because of the unique nature of the property. (Note: In 2006, the Legislature gave the Commission the power to grant contract exemptions under § 61-10-15.)

2004-02 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education member may work for a private licensed child care center for which the BOE provides pre-kindergarten teachers as part of a collaborative federal program.

2004-08 School Superintendent

School Superintendent has control over all of a school system's financial transactions. He had a de minimis financial interest in the school system's credit union. (non-precedential)

2004-10A and 2004-10B County Board of Education

A County Board of Education member may not work for a multi-county vocational school for three counties where the counties jointly operate the vocational school through a seven-member board which includes a Board Member and School Superintendent from each county.

2004-12 Board of Education

A Board of Education may not buy crushed stone from a company owned by a member's spouse and brother-in-law. While the revenues from potential sales to the BOE represent a limited percentage of the total revenues of the company, they are still more than de minimis.

2004-14 State Board

A State Board may not lease a storage unit from the executive director without a contract exemption.

2004-20 Town Council

2004-25 City

A City may not purchase real property to use as a public street from a council person without a contract exemption. Contract exemption was granted based on hardship.

2004-27 Public Service District

A Public Service District may not, under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15, renegotiate a loan from a bank whose president serves on the PSD. (The part-time appointed exception under the Ethics Act applies to PSD members).

2004-10A and 2004-10B County Board of Education Member

2007-03 County Assessor
Continued employment of Assessor’s fiancé' in Assessor’s Office following marriage to County Assessor would not violate (d) but would violate W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.

2007-08 Public School Teacher
May enter into vending services contract with school system by which he is employed.

2007-11 Municipal Utilities Commission Board Member
Commission may contract with company owned by part-time appointed Board Member to install water tank, provided Member is recused.

2008-08 City Attorney
Conflict would arise from spouse's business contracting with city
Full-time City attorney is equivalent to a General Counsel or Prosecuting Attorney with inherent authority over municipal contracting.

2008-10 County Commissioner
Contract between County Airport Authority and business owned by County Commissioner not subject to prohibition where Commissioner does not serve on Airport Authority (but see 61-10-15)

2009-08 Board of Directors of State Agency--overruled, in part, by Advisory Opinion 2017-22

Board members associated with entities which may have financial interest in Agency's contracts may not serve on subcommittee which reviews and recommends funding proposals.
Board members associated with entities which may have financial interest in Agency's contracts may continue to serve on Board, but must recuse themselves from discussion, deliberation and decision-making on matters related to those entities with which they are associated.

2009-11 Board of Education / Assistant Principal
Assistant Principal is subject to the prohibitions in § 61-10-15.
Assistant Principal has voice, influence, or control over subject Board of Education contract affecting his school by virtue of his responsibility to oversee all school activities at his school.
Board of Education may not contract with Assistant Principal's private business to provide after-school driver's education program to County students.
2010-03 County Board of Education Candidate
Spouse of county BOE member may be employed as chief mechanic, a service position that meets the exception in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
May not use position to obtain, increase or promote the interests of spouse as a BOE employee.

2010-04 County Board of Education Member

Board may contract with a private non-profit when one of the BOE members sits on the Board of the non-profit so long as the common Board member does not vote on any matters relating to the non-profit and recuses himself from the decision-making process and vote. (This portion overruled by AO 2011-12; common Board member is no longer required to recuse himself and may vote.)
May not use position to obtain, increase or promote the interests of spouse as a BOE employee.

2010-06 Public Library

Ethics Act's prohibition against interest in public contract does not apply to part-time appointed official.
Board member whose law firm represents library may serve on the board but must recuse himself from all matters related to the law firm's contract.
Board member of public library created by Special Act of the Legislature and joint venture of county and city entities is not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.

2010-10  Board of Directors of a County Authority
Ethics Act does not prohibit part time appointed officials from bidding at auction on items sold by Board on which they serve so long as they recuse themselves from all related matters, but W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits part-time appointed officials from bidding at auction on items sold by a board on which they serve.

2010-14  County Board of Education Member
Regarding sales to schools and booster clubs from his restaurant.

2010-15  County Board of Education Member

County BOE member may not be paid to officiate as a sports official in his own county.
County BOE member may volunteer as a referee and receive $1 to obtain insurance coverage.

2010-16 County Board of Education Member
County BOE member may contract with State Department of Education for online teaching even though some teachers from her county may participate.
Subject contract with State, not county BOE, and thus member lacks control over contract.
County BOE member lacks control over county BOE’s reimbursement of county teachers’ expenses incurred in taking member’s online course.

2010-20 Conservation Districts
May not spend public funds in excess of $1,000 to construct project on an elected board member’s property without a contract exemption. (Obsolete given changes to statute.)
Not subject to the prohibitions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
2010-21 County Board of Education
Ethics Act does not prohibit contract with a private club in which an elected board member and treasurer own less than five percent of the outstanding shares of stock.
May not contract with a private club in which an elected board member, treasurer and spouse of the superintendent own stock without a contract exemption due to the prohibitions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
May not contract with a business with which public officials or their spouses serve as a director pursuant to the Ethics Act.

2010-24 Board of Education
May purchase property owned in part by a Sheriff’s Chief Tax Deputy.
Chief Tax Deputy does not exercise control over BOE contracts.
Chief Tax Deputy not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 since position is neither statutorily created nor require an oath of office.
May not purchase property owned in part by a part-time Assistant Prosecutor without a contract exemption due to the prohibitions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
Assistant Prosecutor exercises control over BOE contracts by providing legal representation.
Assistant prosecutor meets the “part-time appointed public official” exception to the Ethics Act’s public contract limitation.
Assistant Prosecutor is a public official for purposes of § 61-10-15 since position is statutorily created and he takes an oath of office.
Assistant Prosecutor exercises voice, influence, or control over BOE contracts.

2011-01 County Council Member

County council member’s business may appraise estates so long she recuses herself from any matters coming before the Council involving the probate of any estate her business has appraised. Council member’s business may not appraise any estates over which the Sheriff has been appointed by the County Council as the administrator. Council member’s business should be removed from the Fiduciary Supervisor’s list of available appraisers.
Council member may not appear as a representative or witness before the Council either about the appraised value or the amount of her compensation.
Council member may not accept protected persons from the Sheriff for placement in her nursing home without a contract exemption.

2011-02 County Council Member
County council member’s business may contract with a multi-county Conservation District under the following circumstances:

(1) the contract is let via a sealed bid process;
(2) the project is not funded by county money;
(3) the project is not the subject of an agreement between the district and the county including any agreement for flood control as authorized by W.Va. Code § 19-21A-13, and
(4) the affected member recuses himself from the district’s appropriation request or any request for funding.

Opinion does not authorize the employment of county commissioners or county council members, their spouses or dependents by Conservation Districts in the county where they serve.

2011-03 County Hospital

County Hospital, whose members are appointed by the county commission, may modify an existing contract with a city-owned hospital that employs a county commissioner.
County commission does not have direct authority or control over the contract; neither the county commission nor the County Hospital appoints the members of the city-owned hospital’s board of trustees or appropriates money to the city-owned hospital.
The county commissioner may not use his position to influence the award of the contract.
If a matter relating to the contract comes before the county commission, the commissioner/city-owned hospital employee should recuse himself from voting.

2011-09 County Hospital

County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of equipment and related services from appointed board member.
County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of real property from appointed board member so long as: there are no financial conditions associated with the property transfer, the body notifies the public of the member’s offer and it allows other property owners to offer their property.
County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of real property from appointed board member even if there are unresolved issues requiring mitigation (e.g. environmental hazards or outstanding liens), but only if an independent evaluation determines that the overriding benefit is to the governing body rather than the donor and it receives permission from the Ethics Commission.
Modifies AO 95-09 by clarifying that the donation (as opposed to the leasing) of property does not constitute a public contract.

2011-10 County Board of Education (BOE)

Spouse of BOE Superintendent may not be employed as Director of Student Services, a prohibited administrative position under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
Spouse of county BOE Superintendent may be employed as School Psychologist, a position that meets the exception in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
Spouse of county BOE Superintendent may be continue to be physically located in the central office without violating W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. The nature of the work performed and not the location is outcome determinative.
Superintendent may not use position to obtain, increase or promote the interests of spouse as a BOE employee.

2011-12 Town Attorney

Town’s elected officials may vote to appropriate funds to a non-profit organization on which they and/or their family members serve as uncompensated board members and/or officers. Overruled portion of AO 2010-04 wherein member of a non-profit board was prohibited from voting as a member of the Board of Education.

2011-20 An Elected County Commissioner

May purchase tax liens at a Sheriff's sale or through the State Auditor's Office, or both, when County Commission had no direct involvement in the assessment of the property.
May not purchase a tax lien on property for which the owner requested adjustment of assessed value or other relief from County Commission sitting as the board of equalization and review.

2012-01 Mayor
• Ethics Act does not prohibit city employed building inspector from serving on City Council, but he must perform his Council duties on his own time, not during his public work hours. Ethics Act does not prohibit a building inspector/city employee from serving on City Council.
• City council member employed by city may not vote on a personnel matter which affects him directly as opposed to affecting five or more employees in the same or similar manner.
• City employed building inspector serving on City Council must recuse himself when citizens who are affected by his official actions come before City Council to address or dispute his official actions.

2012-02 County Commissioner
Ethics Act does not prohibit county from purchasing property from real estate business with which a County Commissioner is associated. Commissioner may not use his position to influence purchase of the property, and may not communicate with fellow County Commissioners or Building Commission members or staff on matters relating to the property. Neither Commissioner nor his immediate family members have ownership interest in property, so there is no prohibited interest.

2012-03 County Agency
• Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son, even though they live in the same house, so long as the Supervisor is completely removed from the hiring process.
• Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son even though they live in the same house.
Supervisor employed by County Agency is not a county officer and therefore is not subject to provisions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• General rule: Public servant should not supervise a relative.
Supervisor employed by County Agency may supervise son on emergency calls and while in the field.

2012-07 Mayor
• may not use public resources for the benefit of his private business;
• may not use subordinate staff to perform work associated with his private business while the subordinates are on the government time clock;
• may not solicit private business from subordinates;
• may not distribute promotional materials concerning his private business from his office and/or in City/Town Hall;
may not have an interest in a public contract, with certain exceptions;
• must recuse himself when a current customer appears before Council; and
• must recuse himself from: drafting bid specifications or requests for proposals;
• recommending selection of the vendor; and/or
approving the method or manner of payment to the vendor; and
• when serving as municipal judge, must:
if customer within past six months appears, disclose the fact thereof and recuse himself if either party requests; and
recuse himself from cases involving customers within the past six months.

2012-12 Local Board of Health
• Board of Health’s part-time appointed Health Officer may accept patient referrals from the Health Department so long as s/he does not make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his or her office or employment to influence a government decision affecting his or her financial or limited financial interest.
• Full-time health officer may not contract with own Board of Health unless Board seeks and receives advice or a contract exemption from Ethics Commission.
• Local Board of Health formed by a county and a municipality not subject to strict provisions of § 61-10-15.
County Boards of Health are subject to strict provisions of § 61-10-15; their health officers (part time and full-time) may not contract with own Board of Health unless Board seeks and receives advice or a contract exemption from Ethics Commission.

2012-13 Member of a County Board of Education (BOE)
• May contract with a public university to supervise university students during their placement in public schools in the county where he serves so long as he does not use any public resources, including BOE staff, to perform his private contractual duties.
• Agreement between public university and BOE not a public contract.

2012-16 County Commission
• Prohibited from purchasing private property from appointed member of County Building Commission.
Purchase of property from appointed member creates impermissible conflict and a prohibited interest in a public contract.
• May seek Contract Exemption if it believes the property is only viable option.

2012-24 Mayor
• May reside with father who is employed by City.
May not exercise supervisory control over his father/city employee.
• May not conduct his father’s evaluations, set his schedule, authorize overtime, or approve father’s direct supervisor’s recommendations which directly affect the terms and conditions of his father’s employment.
Must recuse himself from personnel matters which uniquely affect his father as opposed to matters affecting his father as a class of five or more similarly situated employees.
May participate in collective bargaining agreement negotiations with union of City employees of which father is a member.
Must recuse himself from the negotiation of any provision in collective bargaining agreement which uniquely affects his father, but may vote on the collective bargaining agreement in its entirety.

2012-26  Candidate for County Commission
•Spouse may not remain employed with County Clerk’s office or by any other county office or agency if Candidate becomes county commissioner.
•Spousal exemption created by § 61-10-15 (l):
    • does not extend to persons elected to office whose spouses are already employed by County government or County school system
   • only extends to certain spouses who were employed by county prior to their marriage to a county official.

2012-28 Candidate for Prosecuting Attorney
• If Requester is elected Prosecuting Attorney, spouse may not continue her employment with the Prosecuting Attorney’s office.
• Requester’s spouse may be employed by another county office or agency so long as she is chosen for such a position based on her experience and qualifications, not based on favoritism to the Requester.

2012-29 County Emergency Services Director
• May not be compensated for performing duties of managing federal grant when those duties are the usual and customary duties associated with County Emergency Services Director.
• May not privately contract with County to manage a federal grant given to County for mitigation projects, when Requester’s duties as County Emergency Services Director gives him direct authority and control over private contract with County.

2012-30 County Emergency Services Director
• May privately contract with Municipality within County to manage federal grant for mitigation projects when Municipality does not fall under County’s floodplain jurisdiction.
• Does not have direct authority voice, influence, or control over Municipality’s decision relating to grant money, and the expenditure thereof.
Must notify County Commission of contractual arrangement with Municipality; to obtain approval; and abide by any restrictions that County Commission imposes.

2012-32 State Legislator and County BOE Bus Operator
• May contract with Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) provided he: does not use his public position to obtain unfair advantage in securing contract; does not use his public position to gain unfair advantage for the RESA by which he is employed; and does not get paid during Legislative Session if he does not perform his contractual duties.
• May contract with RESA as Bus Operator exercises no control over contract.
• Must perform RESA duties on his own time; not during BOE work hours.
• May be required to file verified time records with Ethics Commission if RESA duties performed during regularly scheduled BOE work hours.

2012-34 Public Agency
May permit employee who was involuntarily denied boarding from a flight while in travel status to accept compensation from airline.

2012-37 Mayor
$100/year compensation for serving on City Council de minimis
Appointment to position on Council not a public contract
May vote for candidate to fill vacancy on Council who is a customer of her husband

2012-38 Part-time Appointed Member of a Review Commission
• May provide referral list of names of companies and individuals as prospective buyers to owners of distressed properties appearing before Review Commission.
May, if Review Commission unable to assist in facilitating sale of distressed property (despite providing list of prospective buyers), as part-time appointed public official, purchase property from interested person subject to the following limitations:
    • may not use confidential information acquired in course of official duties to further own personal interests or the interests of another person; and
   • must recuse self from all matters relating to subject property.

2012-40 Assistant Superintendent
Has voice, influence or control over spouse's subcontract with company that provides services to county school system, therefore contract prohibited.

2012-42 - Conservation District
May award $500 scholarship per calendar year to District supervisor’s child so long as District supervisor recuses him/herself from all participation in selection of scholarship participants, leaves the room during discussion and decision-making period, and fully discloses his or her interests.
• District supervisor may not informally “lobby” or otherwise attempt to influence voting members of, or other decision-makers in, the government agency to select his/her child.

2012-45 County Attorney
• Has direct authority or control over County’s public contracts contemplated by W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d).
• Has “voice” and “influence” over all County contracts for purposes of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• Position not “county office" so not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• May not receive additional pay for serving as project coordinator for County Building Commission, absent a contract exemption.

2012-46 City Council Member
• May serve on City Council although Council Member’s law firm contracts with City.
• Does not have prohibited financial interest in contract between law firm since Council Member is employee of law firm, not owner or director.
• May not: (1) receive any commissions or remuneration as a result of contract between law firm and City; (2) work behind the scenes to steer business to law firm; or, (3) participate in deliberation or vote on matters relating to contract with his firm, e.g. approving invoices.
• Must excuse himself from participating in discussion and decision-making process by leaving room when item is being discussed or decided; fully disclosing his interests; and recusing himself from voting on the issue. Meeting minutes must reflect basis for recusal and that Council Member left room during all discussion and vote on item under consideration.

2012-47 County Commission
• May appoint a County Commissioner to serve as a voting member of a County Ambulance Authority, a subunit of county government.
• Should consult with its attorney on whether other laws permit proposed self-appointment, especially when enabling legislation does not specifically authorize self-appointments and position is compensated.
• County Commissioner does not have prohibited financial interest and may vote on matters affecting the County Ambulance Authority which come before County Commission.

]2013-01 Mayor
• City may employ mayor’s daughter, subject to limitations.
• Governing body must advertise all positions in which member of body knows in advance that family member is interested therein.
• Affected member must recuse him/herself from all decisions regarding candidates, including: deciding whether position needs to be filled; writing job description or establishing job requirements; reviewing applications or resumes; interviewing applicants; ranking applicants; and participating in decision-making process.
• If relative is hired, affected member must be completely recused from all personnel matters related to that relative, including without limitation: salary, raises, promotion, discipline, termination or lay-offs, unless that relative is member of class of five or more.
• For recusal to be proper, official shall disclose her/his conflict of interest and leave room during discussion, deliberation and vote thereon. Meeting minutes shall reflect official’s recusal.
• May not:
       • informally attempt to influence official action on behalf of relative;
       • “lobby” fellow members of governing body to take favorable action on relative’s behalf; or
       • attempt to influence relative’s supervisor to take favorable action.
• May not supervise any relative or relative’s supervisor.

2013-09 County Prosecutor
• Ethics Act does not prohibit Assistant Prosecutor from serving as elected County Commissioner in another County, even if counties are situated in same judicial circuit.
• Assistant Prosecutor must perform County Commission duties on his own time, not during public work hours.

2013-13 County Commissioner
• Unless it obtains a contract exemption, County Commission prohibited from leasing its marina to business partner of a County Commissioner, even when such marina is unrelated to the partnership.

2013-19 City Council Member
• A town council member may not (prospectively) rent a building owned by the town.
• The prior lease was proper, as the town council member was not a member at the time of original lease.
• Regarding town’s property offered for rent, the town council must use due diligence, must advertise publicly, offer fair opportunity to compete, and use recent property comparables. After this process, the town may seek a contract exemption. However, the affected town council member may not participate in the decision regarding seeking a contract exemption, but rather must recuse himself/herself.

2013-22 State Employee
A state employee may enter into a subcontract via his/her private trucking business with a contractor of a state agency.
Here, the subcontract does not constitute use of public office for private gain because the employee has no control or authority over the selection of the state agency contractor and will not perform work for his/her private trucking business while working for the state agency.

2013-24 Regional Solid Waste Authority
• A Regional Solid Waste Authority may continue to contract with an insurance agency while the Authority’s Chairperson is Vice President and a principal thereof.
• Part time appointed public officials are exempt from the prohibition against having an interest in the profits or benefits of a public contract over which they have authority or control, provided that the official in his/her public position, is excluded from matters related to the contract.

2013-25 Conservation District Member

Conservation District may not reimburse landowner expenses where the provider is a member of the Conservation District Board unless the Conservation District seeks and obtains a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission. (Obsolete by statute.)

2013-27 Teachers
• Teachers who served on a Textbook Adoption Committee, who participated in selecting and approving a textbook may not enter into subcontracts with a private textbook company for the purpose of training other teachers in the selected textbook’s use.
• WV Code §61-10-15 and § 6B-2-5(d)(1) apply to these facts. Teachers who were members of the Textbook Adoption Committee had influence, voice, and control over the selection of the private textbook company’s textbook and its adoption.

2013-36 County Assessor
• A County Assessor may purchase office supplies from a company owned by his employee’s fiancé. (The employee has no involvement with supply purchases. The County Assessor has no financial or personal relationship with the employee or his/her fiancé.)
WV Code § 61-10-15 is applicable to the County Assessor, but not to all county employees.
• There may be no interest in public contracts and no favoritism. The employee has no voice over purchases, and is not a “county official”. The County Assessor is a county official, but there is no Ethics Act violation because the employee has no control over purchases and the County Assessor has no personal or financial relationship with the employee or his/ her fiancé.

2013-41 County Employee
A county employee may not serve on County Commission while employed full time by the County Ambulance Authority.
W.Va. Code §61-10-15 prohibits county officials from having an interest in public contracts. The County Commission appoints all members of the County Ambulance Authority and has authority to make contributions to the ambulance authority from general funds. If elected, the county employee would have voice, influence or control over the County Ambulance Authority who has control over his/her employment, via the Authority’s Executive Director.

2013-58 County Commission/Regional Drug Court Team
A Regional Drug Court Team and its Advisory Board may contract with a County Commissioner to provide dental services to a drug court participant, with limitations.
• The contract for dental work must be let out via a sealed bid process, dental work must not be funded by or comingled with funds from the county commission, and the affected county commissioner must recuse himself/herself from any Drug Court requests for funding directed to the County Commission.
• This dental work was to be paid for from individual donations and grants, and voluntary allocation of County Commission funds did not constitute direct authority or control.

2014-02 State Board Members
Are not prohibited from serving on the State Board or from voting on the applications submitted by municipalities with which they have a relationship. The Ethics Act’s definition of “business” does not include a governing body, therefore these State Board members do not have a financial interest in the municipal applications under W.Va. Code § 6B-1-3(b).

2014-04 Assistant Park Superintendent
•May serve at the same park where his/her brother has a contract to operate its marina, with limitations. A third party must investigate complaints and report these to his/her supervisor. Assistant Park Superintendent should not inspect the concessions or initiate corrective action, but should either assign another employee to do so, or do so along with another non-subordinate employee.
•Prohibition against interest in public contract is limited to “immediate family members” based on the inherent financial relationships between spouses who live together, as well as dependent children, grandchildren, and parents. By contrast, an adult sibling is not presumptively financially dependent on another sibling. Therefore, the contract between Assistant Park Superintendent’s brother and the state agency is not prohibited under W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d).

2014-05 County Board of Education
• May purchase a scoreboard from an athletic booster organization, a private, non-profit charitable organization, despite having a member who is common to both the governing body and the private organization.
• Common member to each organization is not compensated by the athletics boosters organization, has no financial relationship with the boosters organization, and is not a party to the boosters organization loan for the scoreboard.
• Common member is not required to recuse him/herself on any matters related to any contract or transaction between the governing body and the boosters. Non- profit organizations are not encompassed in the Ethics Act definition of a “business” in W.Va. Code § 6b-1-3(b).
• Neither W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 nor 6B-2-5(d)(1) prohibits the contract, as the common member does not have a personal interest in the contract, and the non-profit’s financial interest cannot be imputed to the common member by virtue of his position on the non- profit board, without evidence that he/she receives financial benefit in the transaction.

2014-08 Appointed Member of County Solid Waste Authority
• May, in his/her private capacity, bring a civil suit against the authority on whose board he/she serves, with limitations.
Member must recuse him/herself from deliberations or votes related to his/her lawsuit, as he/she has a direct financial interest in the litigation, and is a party to the litigation. Member is further prohibited from discussing, deliberating, or voting on waste hauling certificates of convenience and necessity by the Public Service Commission, the subject matter of the lawsuit.
Member is further prohibited from participating in the authority’s development of any plan regarding related matters, unless done as a member of a class of five or more similarly situated parties.
• Member must not use his/her public position to further his/her private interests, must not use confidential information obtained through his/her public position to further private interests, and may not informally communicate with fellow appointed members of the authority to influence voting related to the lawsuit.

2014-09 Candidate for County Board of Education
• May, if elected, be employed as a teacher for a multi-county area vocational center that services the county because the Board of Education is not the teacher’s employer.
County board of education member is not prohibited from voting on matters related to the vocational center because he/she does not have a financial interest in the funding for the vocational center as an employee of the vocational center.
• Candidate/employee does not have the requisite control in employment decisions to invoke prohibitions in WV Code § 61-10-15.
• Some conditions apply: If elected, candidate may not use his/her position on the county board of education to obtain a position at the vocational center, to promote raises or other benefits to his/herself or others, unless the class exception is applicable, and may not serve on the vocational center’s Administrative council. Candidate may not use public resources, including county board of education staff to perform private work for the vocational center.

2014-12 Sheriff
May not sell unused or surplus weapons directly to the son of a Deputy Sheriff and deposit the money into the Concealed Weapons Fund, as it would be using his public position to benefit the son of a subordinate in violation of the Act’s prohibition against use of public office for private gain, and would be an unavoidable conflict of interest.

2014-15 State Agency
May sell advertising to defray the cost of wellness tools on its website to assist public employees to improve their health because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties and the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services.
Selling such advertising does not constitute prohibited endorsement of a vendor or product, and so the state agency must include a disclaimer with the advertisement making clear that the appearance of the advertising should not be construed as endorsement.
Must allow equal access for advertising to all businesses or classes of businesses related to health and wellness.

2014-17 County Sheriff
Does not have a prohibited conflict of interest if his father-in-law bids on or is awarded a contract with the Sheriff’s office. The definition of “immediate family member” does not include father-in-law, and there is no financial relationship between the Sheriff and his father-in-law, so there is no prohibited financial interest.

2015-05 City Council Member
City council member may continue her lease agreement with the city building commission as long as she does not serve on the city building commission or participate in the appointment of members to serve on the building commission.

2015-16 County Building Commission Member
A County Building Commission member may purchase and develop property owned and managed by a County Urban Renewal Authority without violating W. Va. Code §§ 6B-2-5(d)(1), 6B-2-5(b) or 61-10-15.

2016-12 County Prosecutor
A County Prosecutor does not have a prohibited financial or pecuniary interest in his mother-in-law’s building’s sales agreement; therefore, the purchase of the building by the County Commission is permissible under W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d) and W.Va. Code § 61-10-15.

2017-02 County Commissioner
• W.Va. Code §61-10-15 prohibits Commissioner’s company from submitting bids to provide contractors with materials for a Parks and Recreation Commission project.
• Commissioner has an indirect pecuniary interest in contract when his/her financial interest is directly tied to whether customers of his/her company are able to secure the contract.
• W .Va. Code § 61-10-15 also prohibits the company from directly contracting to provide materials to the county public service district.

2017-04 A Candidate for County Commission
W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits a candidate for county commission, if elected, from continuing to be employed by a public library to which the county commission provides funding. The commission’s appropriation to the library constitutes approximately 7 percent of the library’s budget which, for purposes of § 61-10-15, constitutes the exercise of voice, influence and control over the library’s contracts.

2017-10 A County Commissioner's Company
A County Commissioner’s company may sell construction materials and supplies to county contractors to use on non-county projects.

2017-11 A County Commissioner
A County Commissioner may not knowingly sell his products to contractors or subcontractors to use for county projects. The Requester’s staff is not required to ask all customers what the final disposition of the materials purchased will be but, instead, the Requester must take reasonable precautions to ensure that his products are not sold to county contractors or subcontractors to use for county construction projects.

2017-12 A County Commissioner
Neither the Ethics Act nor W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits an employee or board member of a county parks board from being employed by a Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (“CVB”) or serving on a CVB board even if the parks board provides some in-kind support to the CVB. A parks board member who is also employed by the CVB may not vote on the appropriations of money or the awarding of a contract to the CVB.

2017-22 A State Agency
A part-time appointed state board member whose spouse has a finder’s fee agreement with property owners applying for inclusion in the board’s conservation easement program may serve on the board or one of its subcommittees, but must recuse himself from all board and subcommittee matters involving conservation easement applications.

For recusal to be proper, he must disclose the nature of his spouse’s financial interest in the contract and comply with the other recusal requirements in W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(j) and related Legislative Rule governing interests in public contracts, W. Va. Code R. § 158-8-5 (2009).

Advisory Opinion 2017-22 overrules, in part, Advisory Opinions 2009-08 and 2011-18

2018-05 Potential Board of Education Member
A BOE member would not have sufficient voice, influence, or control over her employment contract with WVU Extension Service to prohibit serving as a Board of Education member, if elected, given the BOE’s limited appropriations to WVU Extension Services and the Requester’s lack of power to make appointments to her local extension service committee

2018-07 A County Commission
A County Commission may allow the Sheriff to live rent-free in a house located in the county park because the Sheriff’s presence would enhance security at the park and he would repair and maintain the house.

2018-09 A City
A city council member does not have a prohibited interest in a city’s proposed public contract to purchase property adjacent to the member’s residence and 28 other residences because the benefit to the member is not selective, differential or in disproportion to the benefit provided to the other 28 owners. The member may deliberate and vote on the purchase as a member of a class because he is similarly situated to the other 28 owners.

2018-10 Board of Education
A BOE member may continue to be employed by a staffing agency to perform work for a textbook company in other counties when that company markets textbooks and educational materials to the BOE member’s Board of Education. The BOE member meets the exemption provided to public officials who are employees of a vendor or supplier under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15(e).

2019-04 A City
A City may not make purchases from a Fire Chief’s business, either directly or through a reimbursement request from the VFD, in instances where he has been involved in the purchasing decisions because the part-time appointed official exception would not apply.

The City may make purchases from the Fire Chief’s private business if it is willing and able to remove him from participating in decisions involving the purchase of equipment or supplies for the City’s Fire Department and/or the VFD.

2021-11 A City

Businesses owned by City Council members may apply for and receive grants from the City’s Small Business Grant program, even though they may have direct authority and control over the program, because the grant is not the type of contract the Legislature intended the Ethics Act to prohibit. Businesses owned by City employees may also receive grants through the program.

2021-13 A County Board of Education Member

A county board of education member may be employed as a teacher by a private, nonprofit school which contracts with the BOE to provide educational and behavioral health services to students in the County School System due to a five-part exception in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. Discusses the rules on voting on the BOE budget as it relates to the nonprofit school and the prohibition on voting on invoice payments to the nonprofit school.

2021-21 County Board of Education

A BOE member may vote on matters affecting a customer of his private construction business when the member is not associated with the business of the customer and does not have a direct and immediate financial interest in the matter. (partially overrules Advisory Opinions 2005-12 and 2012-07)

2022-01 State Commission Member

A state commission may contract with a person who serves on another state board that provides administrative support to the state commission due to an exception in the Act for part-time appointed officials and because the state board member had no involvement in awarding the contract.

2022-14 State Agency General Counsel

A State Board may contract with a law firm in which its General Counsel’s spouse has an ownership interest that is less than a five percent, but the General Counsel must remove herself from participating in the contract award process if her spouse’s law firm submits a bid.

2022-15 County Board of Education Member-Elect

A county board of education member may serve concurrently as an unpaid volunteer coach for a public school in the same county without violating W. Va. Code §§ 61-10-15 or 6B-2-5(d). The Opinion notes that the Ethics Commission does not have authority to determine if an unpaid volunteer coach is a BOE employee for purposes of the restrictions in W. Va. Code § 18-5-1a(a)(2).

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Double Dipping

1998-17 State Official

A State Official may not accept statutory per diem for serving as an ex officio member of a Commission that is part of his official duties for which he is already paid.

1999-27 Mayor and Recorder

A Mayor and Recorder may accept payment for serving on the sanitary board.

1999-30 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may accept compensation for his unrelated full-time appointment to a state board.

2001-36 State Employee

A State Employee may accept compensation for jury duty.

2006-06 State Legislator
Pay from private employer permitted during Legislative session, if consistent with job duties

2008-05 County Parks & Recreation Commission
A golf pro employed at a public golf course may accept pay for private lessons if he clocks out before conducting the lesson.

2012-36 State Employee

May contract with State of West Virginia to compile official papers of former Governor.
Does not have control over contract.
Does not have access to confidential information related to contract award.
May not use public resources, including Requester’s own time and subordinate staff, to perform the duties of the contract.

2013-04 County Commission

Performing multiple job functions for same County Employer does not constitute illegal “double dipping.”
The source of funding for multiple jobs with same County Employer does not affect determination.
Ethics Act does not require separate time keeping for each job function.

2021-17 A City

City employees, including part-time and seasonal employees, were prohibited from accepting tips from members of the public under W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c)(prohibited gifts), (m), and (h)(6) (prohibited extra compensation) because members of the public were doing business with the city and the employees were being fully compensated by the City.

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Employment: Restrictions

1994-21 City Housing Authority Member

A Housing Authority member’s son may work for the authority under the executive director.

1994-25 Prosecuting Attorney

A Prosecuting Attorney does not regulate private citizens and may serve as a trustee. [But see W. Va. Code § 7-7-4.]

1994-31 State Employee

A Public employee may work for a family regulated by his agency, but not him.

1994-36 Sheriff

A Sheriff may hire a former county commissioner.

1995-01 Board of Education Member

A BOE member’s spouse may be employed as a school nurse per statutory exception.

1995-07 State Senator

A Senator may host a one-hour weekly talk show for no compensation.

1995-13 Board of Education Employee

A BOE Psychologist may not provide counseling services for a fee after hours to children he is expected to serve in school without charge. May provide unsolicited counseling services to parents.

1995-15 City Employee

A City supervisor whose subordinates regulate the zoning of a construction site may not work for the contractor.

1995-22 County Solid Waste Authority Member

A Solid Waste Authority member’s spouse may not work for the authority. (But see exception, in (g), allowing working for entities regulated by the PSC.)

1995-24 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner’s wife may not work for the county commission or the sheriff's office. His emancipated son may.

1995-31 State Employee

A State employee may work for a corporation that has a member who has a regulatory action unrelated to the corporation against the agency.

1995-33 State Employee

A State regulatory employee may seek employment with a consulting firm not subject to his or a subordinate’s action even if the firm's clients are.

1995-36 County Planning Director

A County planning director may work for a municipality.

1995-45 County Economic Development Attorney

An EDA attorney may represent county commission employees in his private time.

1996-13 Teacher

A Public music teacher may not give private lessons to his students as that is already part of his public job duties.

1996-16 University Professor/State Board member

A University professor may serve on a state board in his private time and receive per diem compensation.

1996-18 Public Attorney

A Public attorney may handle pro bono cases on his private time.

1996-21 State Employee

A State employee may seek part-time work from another state agency without an employment exemption.

1996-22 County Health Department Member

A County health department member’s spouse may not be employed by the health department. (Note: W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 exception now permits this employment.)

1996-23 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may not be employed by the county hospital. His spouse may not be employed by the PSD.

1996-24 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education member may privately employ another BOE member.

1996-30 Town Council Member

A Town council member may be employed by the town as a police officer.

1996-32 State Employee

A State employee may not work for or own more than 10% of a business he or his subordinates regulates.

1996-37 Police Chief

A Police chief is not regulating a festival when the city is providing routine police services during an event. Therefore, the chief may contract privatety with the festival organization.

1996-38 State Police Officer

A Police officer may own a towing company outside of his work location.

1996-52 County Assessor

A County Assessor may not be employed for survey work by a person who owns land in his county.

1996-55 Legislator

A Legislator (part-time) may work for a private development company.

1997-02 State Official

A State Official may accept commissions from a regulated person if he earned them before taking office.

1997-06 City Sanitary Board Member

A City Sanitary Board member may be an employee, subject to proper recusal.

1997-04 State Trooper

A State trooper may own a towing company in his jurisdiction, but the company may not service his agency or persons he is regulating, such as a driver he pulled over for speeding.

1997-08 State Regulatory Agency Employee

A State employee who performs only clerical, ministerial work may sell real estate to a person regulated by her agency but not by her.

1997-12 State Official

A State official may continue to receive retirement stipends from a bank for his prior work.

1997-17 County Board of Health Member

A County Board of Health member (and his private employees) may not represent his own company before the board.

1997-21 Legislator

A Legislator may be employed by any private or public entity, absent the misuse of his prestige or office to get a job.

1997-26 Public Official

A Public official may not maintain 20 percent ownership of a company that contracts with businesses regulated by the public agency. May work for his spouse's non-regulated company provided he has no contact with regulated companies served by the spouse's company.

1999-23 Legislator

A Legislator may not be employed by a county board of education to secure grants from the state.

2000-22 County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Member

A County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) Member may appear, under W. Va. Code §6B-2-5(g), in a representative capacity before the County Planning Commission, a separate entity.

2001-35 State Employee

A State Employee, who is a forester, may not work as a paid consultant for, or be employed part-time by, anyone who is regulated by him or one of his subordinates.

2002-08 County Board of Education member

2003-04 Mayor

A Mayor may be temporarily employed by the city as the city manager. Mayor has a clear financial interest in the matter, so his recusal is required.

2006-03 State Administrative Law Judge (h)
May not represent individuals he regulates while engaging in part-time private law practice

2009-07 County Commissioner (g)

County Commissioner, a private attorney, may prepare wills, but must fully recuse himself from County Commission's probate thereof;
County Commissioner may not appear in a representative capacity in any probate proceeding before the County Commission, even if uncontested;
County Commissioner may testify as witness to will's validity before County Commission but must recuse himself from decision-making on any such will.

2009-10 State Employee (h)
A State employee whose employer has accreditation oversight of institutions of higher education may be compensated for teaching a course at a public university so long as he

Notifies his supervisor;
Has his work relating to the accreditation of the public university as part of his doctoral program reviewed by his supervisor and his employing Agency's Review Board;
Prepares for and teaches the course on his own time;
Does not use any public resources

2011-04 Per Diem Legislative Attorney

Per Diem Legislative Attorney, who is not, on July 1, 2011, a Legislative employee as defined by the IRS, is not subject to revolving door prohibition.
Independent contractors are not covered by the Ethics Act.

2011-14 Candidate for County Assessor

May not continue career as owner and broker of real estate business within county where he will serve, if elected.
May continue career as owner and broker of real estate business in other counties so long as he does not: use his official position in any way that would give him an advantage; conduct his business on county time; or use county resources (including staff) to conduct his private real estate business.

2012-03 County Agency

Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son, even though they live in the same house, so long as the Supervisor is completely removed from the hiring process.
Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son even though they live in the same house.
Supervisor employed by County Agency is not a county officer and therefore is not subject to provisions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
General rule: Public servant should not supervise a relative.
Supervisor employed by County Agency may supervise son on emergency calls and while in the field.

2012-04 Attorney for Municipal Water Board--Overruled, in part, by AO 2016-04.

General Rule: Ethics Act does not prohibit Chairperson of Municipal Water Board from being employed by Board after resigning as Chairperson.
Job description so narrowly tailored that only Board’s Chairperson qualifies fails to satisfy requirements of nepotism guidelines.
When a public body knows in advance that one of its preferred candidates is a relative, close friend, or fellow member of the public body, public body must follow the Commission’s nepotism guidelines.

2012-07 Mayor

may not use public resources for the benefit of his private business;
may not use subordinate staff to perform work associated with his private business while the subordinates are on the government time clock;
may not solicit private business from subordinates;
may not distribute promotional materials concerning his private business from his office and/or in City/Town Hall;
may not have an interest in a public contract, with certain exceptions;
must recuse himself when a current customer appears before Council; and
must recuse himself from: drafting bid specifications or requests for proposals;
recommending selection of the vendor; and/or
approving the method or manner of payment to the vendor; and
when serving as municipal judge, must:
if customer within past six months appears, disclose the fact thereof and recuse himself if either party requests; and
recuse himself from cases involving customers within the past six months.

2012-17 Presiding Officer of a house of West Virginia Legislature

May not be retained to provide legal services to an Association which is actively engaged in lobbying Legislature on behalf of its members who are public employees.
Proposed employment contract presents an inescapable conflict, given the unique position held and power wielded by the presiding officer.
Access to confidential information may have chilling effect on other legislators, if proposed employment contract permitted.
Public may perceive that Association has hired him because of his unique ability to influence legislation.
Other Associations that do not employee a high ranking member of the Legislature may believe that they are at a disadvantage in the legislative process.
Opinion limited to Presiding Officers of houses of West Virginia Legislature.

2012-18 Registered Lobbyist

Not required to register as lobbyist on behalf of client who retained her to provide advice on State procurement process and to serve as a liaison to a State Agency during client’s efforts to successfully bid on State contract.
Statutory definition of “lobbying” excludes procurement lobbying.
Required to register only if she communicates with State Officials or Members of the Legislature in regard to the passage or defeat of Legislation or Rules on client’s behalf.

2012-19 Member of the Legislature

May be retained to provide consulting services to Public University during and after his term of office.
Conflict of interest cured by his removal from potentially overlapping committees.
Must consult with Presiding Officer of his house and abide by appropriate legislative voting rule.
May not use influence of legislative position to attempt to affect the actions of University personnel to enhance his contractual benefits; introduce, sponsor or advocate legislation to benefit the University in any way; influence either the State’s distribution of federal grant money or State funds to the University for any purpose, not just those related to his consulting contract; or influence the appropriation of public funds to benefit the University in any way.

2012-36 State Employee

May contract with State of West Virginia to compile official papers of former Governor.
Does not have control over contract.
Does not have access to confidential information related to contract award.
May not use public resources, including Requester’s own time and subordinate staff, to perform the duties of the contract.

2012-48 State Licensing Board

May not hire candidate for executive director when candidate rents from Board Member who is also subject to the Board’s regulation.
Although candidate received property exemption to lease from Board Member, its terms require him and his subordinates to be removed from all matters affecting Board Member.
Impossible for candidate to comply with requirements of property exemption due to Board’s small staff, administrative structure, and business relationship between candidate and Board Member.

2013-02 County Board of Education

School coach may privately employ School Principal.
Principal may not evaluate coach who is his private employer, nor make recommendations to BOE concerning his subordinate employee/employer.
Assistant Principal may evaluate coach so long as Superintendent or designee, who is not Principal’s subordinate, reviews evaluation.
Prohibition against direct solicitation of business from subordinate relates to commercial transactions such as sale of goods or services, not employment.

2013-04 County Commission

Performing multiple job functions for same County Employer does not constitute illegal “double dipping.”
The source of funding for multiple jobs with same County Employer does not affect determination.
Ethics Act does not require separate time keeping for each job function.

2013-05 County Assessor

May not work for property owners or businesses within same county in which s/he is Assessor, due to regulatory control over all property owners and businesses within county.

2013-08 County Prosecutor

Ethics Act does not prohibit spouse’s employment as school nurse in same county.
County Prosecutor has voice, influence, and control over Board of Education contracts.
Spouse of a County Prosecutor may work as school nurse in same county since position is considered a teacher for purposes of § 61-10-15.

2013-21 County Commission

A County Commission may not employ a private attorney for civil matters (as employee, or on a contract basis) if that attorney maintains a private criminal defense practice in the same county.
Regardless of the lack of involvement in setting the budget for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, an inescapable conflict is created in serving both positions simultaneously, such that both positions of attorney for county commission and private criminal defense attorney in same county, may not be held.

2013-37 Civil Service Board Member

A Civil Service Board member may not sit on the board while he/she is employed by the Sheriff. The board member’s recusal is not appropriate. The board member may only continue sitting on the Civil Service Board if he/she resigns from employment with the Sheriff.
Employment by a public agency constitutes a personal financial interest which prohibits a public employee from voting on matters which affect his/her employer. On the Civil Service board, this board member would be required to investigate the sheriff’s office and his/her coworkers, as well as review tests/training certifications to determine promotions, and judge propriety of disciplinary action; all of which equate to prohibited financial interests. (Overruled by 2013-47.)

2013-34 Sheriff's Tax Deputy

A Sheriff’s Tax Deputy may provide security services to residents and law enforcement throughout the state through a limited liability company with some exceptions.
The Sheriff’s Tax Deputy is prohibited from charging fees for any goods or services that he or the LLC provides to any government agencies within the county which he/she serves. He/she may not use more than a de minimis amount of public resources for private purposes.
WV Code § 6B-2-5(o) states there may be no solicitation of private business from subordinate public officials or public employees whom he/she has authority to direct, supervise or control.
The Sheriff’s Tax Deputy must recuse himself/herself from handling delinquent taxpayer accounts for current or prospective customers of his/her private business.

2013-35 Housing Authority Inspector/Mayor

A Housing Authority may continue to employ a part time inspector who was recently elected Mayor of a nearby town, with limitations.
The Mayor must recuse himself/herself from any matters regarding his Housing Authority employer.
If the Mayor also serves as Municipal Judge, additional care must be taken when citizens under his/her authority as housing inspector appear in municipal court. He/she must disclose the conflict, and if requested by either party, must recuse himself/herself. The Mayor will also be prohibited from presiding as municipal judge when he/she performed a housing inspection for a party within the last six months.

2013-41 County Employee

A county employee may not serve on County Commission while employed full time by the County Ambulance Authority.
W.Va. Code §61-10-15 prohibits county officials from having an interest in public contracts. The County Commission appoints all members of the County Ambulance Authority and has authority to make contributions to the ambulance authority from general funds. If elected, the county employee would have voice, influence or control over the County Ambulance Authority who has control over his/her employment, via the Authority’s Executive Director.

2013-42 County Employee
A County Geographic Information System Coordinator is not prohibited from contracting to perform similar work on behalf of municipality because he makes no regulatory or policy recommendations to either the county or municipality. Some limitations apply: Municipal work must be on his/her own time, using private resources; he/she may not use county staff for private work.

2013-48 State Agency Employees
A state agency may not allow its death investigators to provide contract services to the county as County Medical Examiners. Investigators would have a conflict of interest as they would be in the position of awarding contracts to one another. If this state agency is unable to find qualified candidates, it may seek a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission.

2013-54 State Agency Employee
Staff attorneys for a State Agency may serve as Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys. The salary for the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney was not paid by the county Prosecutor’s Office, but by the State Agency. Therefore there is no prohibited private gain and the use of acquired information does not constitute knowing and improper disclosure.

2014-04 Assistant Park Superintendent
May serve at the same park where his/her brother has a contract to operate its marina, with limitations. A third party must investigate complaints and report these to his/her supervisor. Assistant Park Superintendent should not inspect the concessions or initiate corrective action, but should either assign another employee to do so, or do so along with another non-subordinate employee.
Prohibition against interest in public contract is limited to “immediate family members” based on the inherent financial relationships between spouses who live together, as well as dependent children, grandchildren, and parents. By contrast, an adult sibling is not presumptively financially dependent on another sibling. Therefore, the contract between Assistant Park Superintendent’s brother and the state agency is not prohibited under W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d).

2014-19 State Regulatory Agency
May employ someone who owns stock in a regulated company, and whose spouse is employed in the regulated industry, as its Division Director. Where stock ownership was less than 5%, the director would file Financial Disclosure Statements, would have no authority over contracts, and regulation would be pursuant to statutory formula, employment was permissible. Such employment is not prohibited under revolving door rules, nor would such employment create an inescapable conflict.

2014-22 State Death Investigator
State death investigator may provide services to his State agency when a co-worker selects him by strict adherence to the rotation list without subjective input and favoritism by the co-worker.

2014-26 Sheriff's Tax Deputy
A Sheriff’s Tax Deputy may operate a business in the evenings and on the weekends which would provide county taxpayers the ability to pay their taxes early, a service the Sheriff’s Office does not perform.

2015-01 Legislator
Legislator may continue his employment during the Legislative session as an attorney with a company that employs registered lobbyists when the legal services he provides are unrelated to the company’s lobbying activities.

2015-02 Legislative Attorney
Legislative attorney may register as a lobbyist after the termination of his employment with the Legislature without being subject to the one-year waiting period subsequent to the termination of public employment or service.

2015-03 State Employees
State employee who is charged with oversight of safety and training for a statewide industry may offer private safety classes to individuals because his public duties are not regulatory, but ministerial.

2015-15 Board of Education
W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits a County Board of Education from employing the Superintendent’s spouse as a literacy coach.

2015-18 State Employee
A state employee may accept a $2,000 award, a plaque and travel reimbursements.” Prohibition against receiving private compensation for performing public job is inapplicable.

2016-04 City
A city may continue to employ its mayor as city administrator. The city may not show favoritism or give special treatment in making employment or personnel decisions affecting the mayor in his capacity as city administrator. The mayor must recuse himself from the vote and deliberation on personnel matters which directly affect him.
The Ethics Commission overrules AO 2006-05 and AO 2012-04, in part.

2017-12 A County Commissioner
Neither the Ethics Act nor W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits an employee or board member of a county parks board from being employed by a Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (“CVB”) or serving on a CVB board even if the parks board provides some in-kind support to the CVB. A parks board member who is also employed by the CVB may not vote on the appropriations of money or the awarding of a contract to the CVB.

2018-06 Fire Chief
A deputy fire marshal may lease and operate a private club that is subject to the City’s fire code as long as neither he nor a subordinate of his inspect or investigate matters concerning the club.

2018-10 Board of Education Member
A BOE member may continue to be employed by a staffing agency to perform work for a textbook company in other counties when that company markets textbooks and educational materials to the BOE member’s Board of Education. The BOE member meets the exemption provided to public officials who are employees of a vendor or supplier under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15(e).

2019-16 Employee of State Agency
A full-time state employee who regulates holders of unclaimed property, such as insurance companies, may moonlight for a private consulting firm whose clients include the same insurance companies he regulates, but on unrelated matters, provided that he does not perform his private services for these insurance companies.

2019-23 County Airport Authority member
No provision of the Ethics Act prohibits a county Airport Authority Board member from continuing his employment with a hotel merely because it uses or benefits from the public services provided by the Authority.

2020-01 State Agency
A state agency’s technician may not provide private services to persons which currently have a “matter” on which the technician or a subordinate is working. Persons whose management practices are being verified for payment by the technician and persons for whom the technician completes ranking forms used to approve program applications constitute “matters” on which the technician is working. Providing routine services in the form of technical assistance and recommendations to individuals on how to install best land management practices do not constitute matters on which the technician is working.

2021-18 Community and Technical College President

A county commissioner may be employed by a community and technical college because the county commission does not appoint the college’s board members or appropriate money to it.

2022-09 County Commissioner 

A County Commissioner may be employed as the operations manager for a nonprofit county rescue squad because the County Commission does not appropriate money to the rescue squad and only appoints one of its nine members.

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Employment-Post-Employment Restrictions

1995-08 Planning Commissioner

A Planning commissioner may work with commission staff regarding free plans he prepared for the Parks Department. [See also W. Va. Code § 8A-2-4(e).]

1995-21 Assistant State Director

A former State director’s assistant, a close advisor to the director, was a public official and prohibited from communicating with his former agency in representing his new employer during the revolving door period. [Implicitly overruled in Advisory Opinions 2000-38, 2010-22, and 2022-12]

1995-45 County Development Authority Attorney

An Attorney for an EDA may represent other county employees in wage disputes against the county commission in court. Revolving door provision is not applicable.

2005-22 Former Public Official (g)

General counsel to Cabinet Secretary not barred from appearing before all agencies in department
One-year ‘revolving door’ prohibition applies to positions held on or after July 1, 2005

2007-04 Assistant Attorney General (f ) ( g)
Must wait one year before representing clients before state agency where he served.

2007-10 Former County Deputy Assessor (f)
May operate consulting business relating to contesting property assessments where all property has been re-evaluated since person retired.

2010-22 Retired State Employee (g)

May contract with his former agency within one year of his departure from the agency.
One year “cooling off” period prohibits elected and appointed public officials, full-time staff attorneys and accountants from appearing back before their former agencies.
Unit Leader not an appointed public official
An appointed public official’s position must be created by law

2012-09 State Employee
Not a public official subject to revolving door prohibitions
Ethics Act permits post retirement communication with former agency on general matters. Must seek advice from Commission before representing private interests regarding matters in which he was substantially involved.

2016-02 Former Legislative Research Analyst
A former Legislative Research Analyst may register as a lobbyist after the termination of his employment without being subject to the one-year post-employment waiting period.

2022-12 Former Deputy Secretary of a State Department

A former Deputy Secretary of a state department is not prohibited from seeking employment in the private and public sectors under W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(h), from registering as a lobbyist without waiting one year under § 6B-3-2(e), or from appearing before his former agency in a representative capacity under § 6B-2-5(g). The former deputy secretary is subject to the limitations in § 6B-2-5(f), regarding matters in which he was substantially involved.

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Endorsements

1998-22 State Agency

A State Agency may be referenced in a private company’s brochure that does not contain a product endorsement.

2000-19 State Agency

A State Agency may not allow a software vendor to pay for training expenses of its employees in exchange for being a reference account endorsing the vendor. No overriding public benefit.

2000-21 State Employee

A State Employee may not give a letter of recommendation containing laudatory terms to a trainer for his law enforcement training. She may discuss the merits of the training program with other current or potential users who may contact her.

2002-18 State Agency

A State Agency may not allow one of its dogs to be featured in a dog food commercial. There is no overriding public benefit.

2003-03 County Commission

A County Commission's free use of vehicles in a "rolling billboards" program may violate the private gain provision, absent an overriding public benefit.

2003-09 City Council

A City Council's free use of vehicles in a "rolling billboards" program may violate private gain provision, absent an overriding public benefit.

2014-15 State Agency

May sell advertising to defray the cost of wellness tools on its website to assist public employees to improve their health because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties and the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services.
Selling such advertising does not constitute prohibited endorsement of a vendor or product, and so the state agency must include a disclaimer with the advertisement making clear that the appearance of the advertising should not be construed as endorsement.
Must allow equal access for advertising to all businesses or classes of businesses related to health and wellness.

2015-13 County Commissioner
Public officials may recognize businesses and individuals for contributions to economic development and charitable purposes by attending “ribbon cuttings” and through resolutions or proclamations. Providing testimonials or favorable reviews of a business’s products or services is not permissible. Official may post portrait photograph and of attendance at public events on official social media. AO does not set a limit on the number of photographs of a public official that may appear on an agency’s social media. Ethics Act does not restrict use of personal social media. Public officials may not use public resources to manage or post on their personal or campaign social media.

2015-17 State Agency
Public educators may not appear in a software vendor’s promotional video and articles demonstrating how West Virginia teachers and students use the vendor’s products without violating the prohibition against public officials’ commercial endorsements of a product or business.

2015-21 State Agency
A State Agency may contract with a vendor to provide flat screen monitors which will broadcast public service announcements and paid advertising in its regional office lobbies if: (1) the agency selects the vendor in accordance with applicable purchasing laws; (2) the advertisements do not include political advertisements or feature persons or the names of persons who are candidates for public office; (3) the agency includes a disclaimer to ensure that the advertising does not constitute a prohibited endorsement, and (4) public service announcements from other agencies may not contain the name or likeness of a public official. The sale of advertising under these circumstances does not constitute the prohibited solicitation of a gift.

2016-10 County Clerk

May authorize private organizations to use her name and public job title when recognizing her for personal donations she makes to charitable events.
Public officials/employees may not use public job titles if employed by a charitable organization on whose behalf they are soliciting.
Public officials/employees may not solicit gifts for a charitable purpose if there is a direct pecuniary benefit to an immediate family member.

2017-20 Municipal Police Officers
A municipal police chief may allow police officers to participate in a "Coffee with Cops" event held by a local fast-food restaurant where the purpose of the event is to promote community relations and outreach programs. Attending the event is not an improper endorsement of the restaurant because a reasonable citizen would not find that the officers were promoting the restaurant.

2017-24 Director of a State Agency
Ethics Act does not prohibit the state agency from including a link on its website to its cyber liability insurance producer for the benefit of non-state entities. The agency must, however, allow equal access on its website to all producers for cyber liability insurance and include a disclaimer explicitly stating it is not endorsing the producer, any insurance carrier or its services or products.

2021-05 County Commission

The Ethics Commission held that a County may have paid advertisements on its tourism website. The sale of the advertisement must be made in a fair and even-handed manner. The County should consider including a disclaimer on the tourism website stating that the advertisements should not be construed as an endorsement by the County of any business. The County may give local hotels free advertising on the same website because they are responsible for collecting and remitting the hotel occupancy tax and these taxes will be used to pay for the website.

2022-11 State Agency

A State Agency may post a list of employee suggested restaurants on its wellness website because there is an overriding public benefit in promoting employee wellness and morale and the posting does not, therefore, constitute an improper endorsement.

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Financial Disclosure

2004-15 Soil Conservation District Supervisors

Soil Conservation District Supervisors need not file financial disclosure statements. (Per a statutory change, soil conservation district supervisors (conservation district members) are now elected officials who must file. W. Va. Code § 19–21A–6). (Obsolete by statute change.)

2008-01 Candidate for Public Office

Must disclose veteran’s disability benefits exceeding $1000 annually
May describe as “federal benefits” or “veterans benefits” on form

2014-13 Division Director of a State Agency

Must comply with the requirements of W.Va. Code § 6B-2-6, as his current job title is among those specifically listed as a title which is mandated to file a Financial Disclosure Statement.
The statutory requirement is clear and concise, not open to interpretation, and the Ethics Commission does not have the authority to excuse the application of this statute.

2017-03 State Agency
The State Agency's directors and deputy directors are required to file Financial Disclosure Statements.

2017-06 Manager of a Legislative Office
The Manager and employees of a Legislative Office are not required to file Financial Disclosure Statements pursuant to W.Va. Code § 6B-2-6(a)(3) because that provision describe positions only in the executive branch of state government. AO overrules 90-36

2019-05 A State University Employee
An employee of a state university is not required by the Ethics Act to file a Financial Disclosure Statement.

2022-13 State Board's Executive Director

A State Board's Executive Director and Board Members do not have to disclose on their financial disclosure statements that a foundation paid their attendance and travel expenses for a foundation training conference because the foundation does not have a direct and immediate interest in a governmental activity over which the State Board has control.

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Gifts - Acceptance and Solicitation

1994-01 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may solicit donations from hospitals for hepatitis vaccinations for VFD members.

1994-10 Legislator

A Legislator may not accept a free trip to a riverboat gamling facility.

1994-14 Public Servants

Public servants may solicit donations for an adult and elder abuse conference available to the public, a charitable purpose.

1994-26 Cabinet Secretary

A Cabinet Secretary may implement an employee contribution campaign to solicit donations for the United Way.

1994-28 County Library

A County library may solicit donations from the public or vendors for upgrading its building, a charitable purpose but may not solicit subordinate employees.

1994-39 State Employee

A State employee may not accept a gift card over $25 to a restaurant from a vendor; the donor must be present.

1995-03 A Sheriff

A Sheriff may not accept a gift from a deputy sheriffs’ association because the purpose of the association is to address concerns about sheriffs.

1995-07 State Senator

A Senator may accept a political endorsement. A Senator may accept an offer from a TV station to be a weekly talk show host.

1995-17 Historic Landmark Commission Member

A Commissioner may solicit donations to buy a statue, which is a charitable purpose, for the county courthouse lawn.

1995-18 State Agency

A State agency may not solicit donations, accept as a gift from interested persons, or sell ads for social events at conferences.

1995-20 State Employee

A State employee may donate a prohibited gift to a charitable organization.

1995-26 City Urban Renewal Authority Member

A City CURA member may accept a golf outing as a personal gift due to the history of gifts over the years.

1995-27 State Official

A State official may solicit donations for an aerial photograph of the state only if the public has access to the photos.

1995-29 State Officer

A State public relations officer may solicit door prizes for informational booths at a state fair regarding environmental protections, a charitable purpose. (This Opinion is non-precedential.)

1995-40 Association of State Police

A Troopers association may not accept a gift of free advertising from a citizen of more than $25 even though there are 600 association members.

1995-43 Law Enforcement Association

Telemarketing funds may not be used for the operation of the association or to lobby for increased pay and benefits to its members.

1995-46 State Employee

A State employee may sponsor a petition to enact legislation, subject to the lobbyist provisions of Act, and solicit reward money to protect white deer, a charitable purpose.

1995-49 State Employee

A State park employee may accept a gift from a customer of the park. [Overruled in Advisory Opinion 2021-17.]

1995-51 State Employee

A State employee may accept a door prize valued over $25 at a conference also made available to private association members.

1995-53 County Commissioner/PDS Member

A County Commissioner may solicit funds for a public service district given its enabling legislation.

1996-04 Public Official

A Public Official may not solicit gifts for state conferences. Solicitation means “seeking to obtain something by direct persuasion or by petitioning persistently.” Mass mailing of form letters encouraging participation in events is not a solicitation. This opinion is non-precedential.

1996-07 Legislator

A Legislator may accept an unsolicited gift from a non-profit of a cassette on film history that was made for educational purposes.

1996-08 State Agency

A State agency may not give employees a 25% discount on merchandise sold at retail.

1996-19 City

A City may solicit donations for a city pool as a pool is a charitable purpose.

1996-20 City

A City may not solicit donations for a sound system for city council meetings.

1996-28 State Agency

A State agency may solicit monetary donations from area businesses and individuals to fund a conference relating to civil and human rights.

1996-36 Public Employees in Association

Public employees who are in a professional association are still subject to the Act. May not solicit for educational activities of its members. May sell raffle tickets and bake sales to fundraise for the training. May not solicit door prizes for training conferences. Scholarships for poor children are charitable. May accept donations from chambers of commerce as it is not an interested person.

1996-42 County Airport Authority Member

An Airport Authority member may accept a waiver of his landing fees that he incurred on official Authority business from a private company. Benefit flows to Authority and not to the member.

1996-46 County Board of Education

A BOE may become a customer of the PSD with which the assistant superintendent is associated. This opinion is non-precedential.

1996-47 State Police Trooper

A State trooper may accept a 15% discount offered to all law enforcement officers from a retail store that is not a state vendor.

1997-19 Chief of Police

A Chief of Police may solicit donations for community policing events and bicycle helmets as both have a charitable purpose.

1997-24 State Employee

A State employee may accept a purely private and personal gift from a person regulated by his agency. [non-precedential]

1997-25 Public Servant

A Public Servant may not solicit donations for a related professional association’s conference.

1998-18 County Public Service District

A PSD member may accept a free trip to a vendor’s seminar related to wastewater treatment equipment because it would enhance his job skills.

1998-23 A County Board of Education Superintendent

A County BOE Superintendent may not accept an honorarium from a vendor/publisher when it is given in exchange for work performed.

1999-14 Higher Education Coach

A Higher Education coach may accept a bonus from the school's booster organization.

1999-20 State Employee

A State Employee may not accept a free $40 ticket from a vendor to see a prominent journalist speak at a luncheon. “Meals and beverages” exception does not apply.

1999-24 County Commissioners

County Commissioners and employees may not solicit donations for a vehicle for litter control.

1999-25 State Agency

A State Agency and employees may not solicit donations for a seminar training but may sell ads or fundraise.

1999-28 Director of a Regional Service Agency

A Director of a Regional Service Agency (RESA) may not accept a free trip to a seminar in California from a software company due to no overriding public benefit.

1999-32 State Agency

A State Agency may not solicit donations for a statewide celebration of the state's birthday.

1999-37 State Agency

A State Agency that provides healthcare to poor children may solicit promotional materials.

2000-05 State Elected Official

A State Elected Official may send letters of support for “West Virginia Celebration 2000” to people who have previously expressed interest in the event, although it is a non-charitable event.

2000-06 State Agency

A State Agency may sell advertising space at a conference to vendors at graduating fees correlating with increased levels of display area.

2000-26 City Council

A City Council may accept an offer from a privately-owned utility to pay for a special election that is required to sell the city’s water system.

2000-29 Association of Public Employees Members

An Association of Public Employees Members may not solicit donations from vendors for a conference aimed at enhancing job performance as this is not a charitable purpose.

2000-39 State Agency

A State Agency may hire an employee to solicit donations for renovating a museum and to perform some work for the museum foundation as this is a charitable purpose.

2001-14 State Licensing Agency

A State Licensing Agency may not use employees to seek financial support for a noncharitable project from vendors, regulated persons, licensees, or the general public. May apply for grants.

2001-16 County Commission Members and Employees

County Commission Members and Employees may not travel to Japan to visit the headquarters of the county’s largest private employer. Corporation is an interested person as it is financially interested in the Commission’s duties. May not accept trips without an overriding public benefit. [See also W. Va. Code R. § 158-7-3.]

2001-19 State Agency

A State Agency may solicit discounts for products and services for its employee wellness program.

2020-31 State Employee

A State Employee may not solicit private and public financial support to pay for a personal trip to China.

2002-14 State employee

A State employee who estimates retirement benefits by performing only ministerial actions may accept a gift from a retiree she assisted. The retiree was not an interested person.

2003-05 Public Employees

Public employees may use the prestige of office to fundraise for a charitable purpose on behalf of their professional association. Lobbying for public interest laws, and training to enhance professional competence, are charitable purposes. Social events at the trainings and the salaries for the association's personnel are not charitable.

2003-13 State Employee

A state employee may not solicit donations for a non-profit that promotes family planning, finding that this is not a charitable purpose for purposes of the solicitation restrictions in the Ethics Act.

2004-09 University Employees

University employees may accept a 10% YMCA discount as part of its wellness program to reduce the University's overall healthcare delivery costs. The coordinator may accept a free membership if he volunteers in his free time. Alternatively, he may serve as coordinator on employer's time.

2004-24 State Agency

A State Agency may sell advertising in its newsletters to defray costs of newsletter.

2004-28 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education member or employee may accept an all expense paid visit to a potential vendor's trade show in Germany to learn about its state-of-the-art printing process that is not available in the US. Trip would increase the member's job-related skills or knowledge resulting in an overriding public benefit. (non precedential)

2005-02 County Board of Health
May solicit donations for public health programs
Establishes guidelines for non-coercive solicitation

2005-15 County Commissioner
Proceeds from calendar sales featuring county officers may only be used for charitable purposes

2006-07 State Employee
Hotel stay “door prize” won at conference hosted by State vendor may not be accepted

2007-01 Association of Hunter Education Instructors
May solicit donations to support hunter safety education program and program for hunters with disabilities
Law enforcement personnel may not solicit for charity while on duty and in uniform [NOTE: Overrules AO 2004-07]
Prohibits issuance of window decals or bumper stickers to donors

2008-06 City Manager
May not accept free golf from vendor, consultant or other interested person in conjunction with annual association conference of public employees
Gift limitation applies even if funds from event go to charitable cause
Authorizes "buy down" which reduces gift to $25 limit

2009-09 State Employee
It would violate the Ethics Act for certain State Agency employees to accept a lower lodging rate from a resort which the State Agency regulates.

2010-01 Elected member of the Board of Public Works
May solicit donations to underwrite the costs of a national conference and use the funds for meals and breaks, and certain social events, excluding golf.
May acknowledge sponsors, but may not attribute an event to a single sponsor; may not indicate amount any sponsor donates.
Use of funds Legislature appropriated to pay for attendees' meals does not constitute use of office for private gain.
Opinion limited to Elected Members of the Legislature of Elected Members of the Board of Public Works who are soliciting for national or regional conferences in accordance with W. Va. Code §§ 6B-2-5(c)(6) and 6B-2-5(c)(7).

2010-02 Attorney for City
City may participate in a vendor's program to provide discount to city employees for personal cell phone use.

2010-05 Public Employees / Higher Ed
Agency's decision to allocate more than $25 to recognize one or more employees, in lieu of expending up to $25 per employee per fiscal year, does not violate the Ethics Act so long as the expenditure on any one employee does not exceed $100, and the total amount expended for this purpose during the fiscal year does not exceed the sum total of $25 per employee.

2010-11 State Legislator
May not accept two free airline tickets won in a random drawing at a public reception hosted by a State Agency for which the Legislature provides funds.
Prohibition against use of office for private gain applies to expenditures by public entities.

2010-19 - Elected Public Official
May not use public funds to purchase funeral flowers or other expressions of sympathy, including monetary donations.
May not solicit subordinate employees for a contribution towards the purchase of flowers or payment into an established office fund.
May take up a voluntary donation among co-workers, under certain conditions.

2010-23 County Board of Education
May not use public resources, including personnel, to promote the passage of an excess levy wherein school personnel are the primary beneficiaries.
County Superintendent, as the appointed voice of the County BOE, may advocate for passage of any excess levy.
County Superintendent’s advocacy for passage of an excess levy constitutes the performance of usual and customary duties associated with the position permitted by the Ethics Act

2011-11 State Agency

May accept funds for its Recreation Department, pursuant to its enabling legislation.
May solicit funds for its Recreation Department, under certain conditions: solicitation must benefit residents, not public servants; may not endorse a donor business; must comply with Legislative Rule if soliciting vendors; may not solicit a subordinate or Agency client; and may not use Agency clients to solicit.

2011-13 State Agency

Public funds may not be spent to pay for health club or gym fees for public servants when the hotel does not provide free exercise facilities to lodgers.
Public servants who receive an expense-paid trip to participate in a conference may not accept payment or reimbursement for health club or gym fees, when the hotel does not provide free exercise facilities to lodgers, and the total value of the fees exceeds $25.
Public servants who participate in a conference or event as a panelist or speaker may not accept payment or reimbursement for health club or gym fees when the hotel does not provide free exercise facilities to lodgers.

2012-20 Public University
•May use public funds to purchase prizes or incentives, including gift cards, for wellness related competitions or promotions when prize recipients include University employees. • $25.00 gift limit not applicable because wellness program administrators are not interested parties to recipients.
May use reasonable amount of public funds for wellness-related incentives so long as there is a rational basis for such expenditure.

2012-43 Local Health Department
• May serve as pass-through for grant from private charitable foundation for benefit of two private entities that focus on health when Department derives no financial benefit in serving as pass-through and no employee or member of Department or business with which he or she is associated is party to or has an interest in profits or benefits of grant agreement or any other related contract.
• Serving as pass-through constitutes performance of usual and customary duties associated with office.

2012-49 County Farmland Protection Board
• May solicit because enabling legislation express authorizes. Limitations apply.
• May not solicit donations—orally or in writing—from anyone whose application for participation in any of its programs is pending at time of solicitation.
• May send written solicitation to public at large, even if targeted group may encompass previous or potential program participants, but may not direct such written solicitation solely to previous or potential program participants.
• May not orally solicit donations from: vendor with which it has a contract: one which is bidding on a contract; or one that is in process of soliciting business from Board.
• May send written solicitation to public or business community at large, even if targeted group may encompass vendor with which it has a contract, one which is bidding on a contract, or one that is in process of soliciting business from Board, but may not direct such written solicitation solely thereto.
• Shall not endorse a particular product, company or business in soliciting businesses and companies.
• The Ethics Act sets minimum standard of conduct. When Legislature or agency imposes stricter standard, must comply therewith.

2013-16 Solid Waste Authority
• A solid waste authority may accept funds from companies it regulates, for an event with public purpose and significant public benefit, where solicitation was directed to the general public for this event.
• However, the solid waste authority may not accept funds from a company who is currently negotiating a long term land lease and potential private/public partnership with the authority.

2013-40 Appointed Member of a Statewide Task Force
A Statewide Task force is authorized to solicit funds from business community and foundations on two grounds:
1. The overriding purpose of the solicitation does indeed serve a public purpose and the solicitation provides significant public benefit to education of children of West Virginia.
2. An Executive Order expressly authorizes the Statewide Task Force to engage in fundraising.
Limitations apply:
The Statewide Task Force shall not endorse any particular product, business, or company. If the Statewide Task Force solicits from vendors or entities subject to regulation by the Board of Education (or previous or potential participants in its programs) it must conform to the conditions set forth in Legislative Rule (See 158 CSR § 7.7) and Advisory Opinion 2012-49.
Member of this Statewide Task Force may not seek solicitations from which he/she may personally benefit, may never coerce from any source, and supervisors shall not solicit subordinates for contributions.

2013-46 Municipal Officials and Employees
Neither a municipality, nor its elected officials, or its employees may solicit donations of gift certificates from local restaurants to present as gifts to private citizen volunteers. No overriding public purpose was sufficient to overcome the prohibition against solicitation of the public. Active solicitation of local businesses would violate W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c).

2013-49 Municipal Police Department

• The municipal Police Department may seek or accept funds from a private foundation established by a local businessperson for the sole purpose of supporting the Police Department.
• The police did not solicit, rather, a private foundation permissibly solicited police to apply for an award of funds. There is no prohibition against a police department accepting an unsolicited gift, if it is for public benefit or furtherance of operation of the office. The applicable rules for grants must be followed, and funds can only be expended for authorized purposes.

2014-01 County Economic Development Authority
• May solicit and spend funds to underwrite its “County Day at the Legislature”, including expenditures for lunch, transportation, and costs associated with a reception; including rental fees, and for advertising, printing, and office supplies, because its enabling legislation authorizes such solicitation.
• The Ethics Act generally prohibits a public official or employee from soliciting donations unless the solicitation is for a charitable purpose with no resulting direct pecuniary benefit conferred upon the official or employee, or their immediate family, W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c). Soliciting to subordinate public employees is strictly prohibited.
• After funds are solicited and received, they become public funds. These funds may only be expended for an authorized purpose, may not be spent for private gain, and must be spent using fiscal responsibility.

2014-03 County Hospital
Does not violate the Ethics Act by soliciting donations of cash or products from community businesses, individuals, and other organizations for hospital project to further its mission to protect the health and safety of the public citizens. Donations received become public funds which can only be spent for an authorized purpose.
Funding for a County Hospital project which supports its mission to enable physicians to offer their best medical care to patients who are unable to pay for medical services is indeed a charitable purpose for which public servants may be permitted to solicit funds. Soliciting to subordinate public employees is strictly prohibited.

2014-07 Municipality, members of governing body
• May not solicit constituents for donations of cash to purchase food for bereaved citizens. This solicitation does not rise to the level of significant public benefit sufficient to overcome the prohibition against it.
• W.Va. Code § 6b-2-5(c) states that a public official or employee may not solicit any gift unless the solicitation is for a charitable purpose with no resulting direct pecuniary benefit conferred upon the official, employee, or their immediate family. Municipalities do not fall under the exception for those entities authorized to solicit in their enabling legislation. (See W.Va. Code § 8-12-1)

2014-16 City Hospital
May permit employees to raise funds for coworkers experiencing financial hardship as this activity serves a charitable purpose, with limitations. These charitable funds may not be deposited into the City Hospital’s account. Fundraising activities based on an exchange of value are not gift solicitations and are permissible. City Hospital may permit employees to sell commercial products with limitations. Employees may also sell items for fundraising with limitations. In both instances, there may be no coercion, no solicitation of subordinates, no more than de minimis time and resources used for these activities, and announcements must be posted in areas accessible only to employees, not the general public.

2014-21 State Official
It is permissible for the Requester’s office to award a $100 prize through the use of a drawing of persons who have reported phishing e-mails. The drawing must be random and the Requester’s office must ensure that the drawing is conducted fairly. No employee at the Requester’s office may be eligible to receive the prize. The Requester’s office also must comply with all other relevant state laws, regulations and statutes which may apply.

2015-18 State Employee
A state employee may accept a $2,000 award, a plaque and travel reimbursements.” Prohibition against receiving private compensation for performing public job is inapplicable.

2015-21 State Agency
A State Agency may contract with a vendor to provide flat screen monitors which will broadcast public service announcements and paid advertising in its regional office lobbies if: (1) the agency selects the vendor in accordance with applicable purchasing laws; (2) the advertisements do not include political advertisements or feature persons or the names of persons who are candidates for public office; (3) the agency includes a disclaimer to ensure that the advertising does not constitute a prohibited endorsement, and (4) public service announcements from other agencies may not contain the name or likeness of a public official. The sale of advertising under these circumstances does not constitute the prohibited solicitation of a gift.

2015-22 Cabinet Secretary
• May use staff to handle business and social aspects of a conference his agency is hosting as conference provides an overriding public benefit.
• May not solicit donations to fund the conference because it does not constitute a “charitable purpose” under the Ethics Act.

2016-16 State Agency
A State Agency may produce and sell calendars because the calendars fall within the usual and customary duties of the State Agency to provide information and education to the public. The State Agency may donate a de minimis amount of proceeds from the calendars to a memorial fund that aids in providing plaques and maintenance to the West Virginia Fallen Firefighter Memorial. The agency may solicit donations on behalf of the memorial fund because providing plaques and maintenance to the West Virginia Fallen Firefighter Memorial constitutes a charitable purpose. The agency may not solicit donations to underwrite its duty to provide public education and information. This Opinion is based upon the specific facts of this request and may not be relied upon in other situations.

2017-07 Manager of a Legislative Office
Microsoft’s Home Use Program “HUP” is not a prohibited gift or private gain to employees due to the following circumstances: HUP is offered to all eligible employees; HUP is not offered to impair the impartiality of employees with the authority to determine whether to do business with Microsoft; HUP is made available to a large group of customers, and HUP adds no additional cost to the public agency.

2018-01 A County Commission
The sale of sponsorships for park benches is not a gift solicitation but a fund-raising activity based upon an exchange of value either commercial or personal. Potential sponsors may not be coerced into buying a sponsorship and may not receive unlawful or political favoritism in return for purchasing a sponsorship.

2019-01 State Agency
A State Agency may solicit funds for the charitable purpose of fostering women’s health and wellness. The Agency may use solicited funds for operating expenses because the programs it administers in support of its mission are statutorily authorized and intended to help the poor and disadvantaged. The Agency may not have a public official or employee solicit funds for his or her own salary as this action would result in a direct pecuniary benefit to a public official or public employee.

2019-11 Town
The Ethics Act’s solicitation provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c), does not prohibit a Town from soliciting another public agency (the neighboring County’s Sheriff’s Department) for retired police cruisers.

2019-19 County Commission
May not accept a donation of materials and labor from a local business to tint windows of its judicial annex if the donation was solicited by a county deputy. Tinting windows of the judicial annex does not constitute a charitable purpose under the Ethics Act.

2019-26 A State Agency
A state agency may fund raise and solicit donations to assist potential foster families in meeting requirements for their homes to become approved foster homes and to fund rewards and incentives to students who display positive behaviors because fundraising is not prohibited by the Ethics Act and the solicited donations would be used for charitable purposes.

2020-10 City Manager
A city police officer may not accept an all-expense paid trip to an annual sales meeting of a private company when that company is doing business with the officer’s department.

2020-11 Town Clerk
Town officials and employees may solicit donations from individuals and businesses for the charitable purpose of constructing a veterans memorial.

2021-02 Mayor
May appear in a video using his name and public title to promote and solicit donations for a local nonprofit drug and alcohol recovery center as it provides a charitable purpose.

2021-03 Lobbyist
The $25 gift limit does not apply to charitable contributions made by an organization to a nonprofit to recognize a legislator. The organization’s lobbyist must report the expenditure.

2021-09 Chief of Police

The City’s Police Officers may not keep gift cards, valued over $25, given to them by a citizen as an appreciation gift for their service. The Police Department may keep the gift cards if they are used for a public purpose.

2021-17 A City

City employees, including part-time and seasonal employees, were prohibited from accepting tips over $25 from members of the public under W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c)(prohibited gifts), (m), and (h)(6) (prohibited extra compensation) because members of the public were doing business with the city and the employees were being fully compensated by the City.

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Higher Education

1996-16 University Professor/State Board Member

A University professor may serve on a state board as a “consultant” on his private time and receive per diem compensation.

1996-54 University Professor/State Board Member

A University professor’s research pursuant to a grant falls under this exception.

2010-05 Public Employees / Higher Ed
Agency's decision to allocate more than $25 to recognize one or more employees, in lieu of expending up to $25 per employee per fiscal year, does not violate the Ethics Act so long as the expenditure on any one employee does not exceed $100, and the total amount expended for this purpose during the fiscal year does not exceed the sum total of $25 per employee.

2011-05 University President

May spend public funds to pay membership dues for the President, but not the President’s spouse, to join the local Rotary club.
Public funds may only be spent for President’s membership dues (and one-time new member fee), not on meals or any other cost or fee associated with Rotary membership, such as contributions to a related philanthropic organization.
Ethics Act does not prohibit the University Foundation—a separate, non-government entity—from paying for the spouse’s membership in Rotary and/or for paying for meals associated with Rotary meetings or functions for the President and/or the President’s spouse.
Higher Education exemption available only when the activity has been approved as part of the employment contract.

2012-20 Public University

May use public funds to purchase prizes or incentives, including gift cards, for wellness related competitions or promotions when prize recipients include University employees.
$25.00 gift limit not applicable because wellness program administrators are not interested parties to recipients.
May use reasonable amount of public funds for wellness-related incentives so long as there is a rational basis for such expenditure.

2013-31 Elected Member of Board of Public Works

An elected Member of the Board of Public Works is permitted to allow a private foundation to participate in the State purchase card program, and also to receive rebates from the financial institution.
The financial benefit to the private foundation would result in an overriding public benefit. The purpose of the private foundation is to support a public institute of higher education. West Virginians are students at the public university. Both the State and the students are beneficiaries of a donation made to a private foundation formed to aid the public university.

2021-06 College Professor

Public higher education institutions may use public funds for meals for college-approved student events, regardless of whether the event is held on or off campus, if the expenditure is for a legitimate government purpose.
A public higher education institution may not exclusively invite one candidate for public office to speak about his or her platform to a class.

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Lobbying

1994-09 Lobbyist

A Lobbyist is required to report tips for meals with legislators.

1995-46 State Employee

A State employee may sponsor a petition to enact legislation, subject to the lobbyist provisions of the Act, and solicit reward money to protect white deer, a charitable purpose.

1999-09 State Board Employees

State Board employees need not register as lobbyists to communicate with legislators concerning the Board’s mission due to the exception for executive branch employees.

2002-05 Registered Lobbyist

A Registered Lobbyist may not serve on the Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission, pursuant to the Commission's Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.

2002-12 Lobbyist

A Lobbyist must register a grass roots campaign for a coalition which published a series of newspaper ads containing the statement, "West Virginia's Elected Leaders, IT'S TIME TO LEAD" and other information about legislation.

2005-08 Registered Lobbyist
2005 amendments to Act require multiple employees of lobbying firm to pay additional $100 filing fee for each client they represent

2005-21 Private Company
Employees whose regular duties involve sales may participate in a “Day at the Capitol” without registering as lobbyists

2007-12 Non-Profit Corporation

Inviting all Legislators to a charitable fund raising event during regular Legislative session triggers lobbyist registration requirement
Host organization may provide free tickets to Legislators for reception where food and beverages are served even if ticket price exceeds $25
Businesses who contribute to event not required to report contributions

2008-06 City Manager

May not accept free golf from vendor, consultant or other interested person in conjunction with annual association conference of public employees
Gift limitation applies even if funds from event go to charitable cause
Authorizes "buy down" which reduces gift to $25 limit

2010-07 Registered Lobbyist
Must register as lobbyist for entity even if she lobbies for free since she is already a registered lobbyist for another entity, therefore she must identify both her paying and non-paying clients.

2011-04 Per Diem Legislative Attorney

Per Diem Legislative Attorney, who is not, on July 1, 2011, a Legislative employee as defined by the IRS, is not subject to revolving door prohibition.
Independent contractors are not covered by the Ethics Act.

2011-19 - A State Licensing Board

May spend public funds to hire registered lobbyist, to serve as a Legislative liaison.
Registered lobbyist retained by public agency as Legislative liaison must register as a lobbyist
Revolving door prohibition does not apply to contract employee/former executive director who terminated employment before July 1, 2011 cut-off date.

2012-17 Presiding Officer of a house of West Virginia Legislature

May not be retained to provide legal services to an Association which is actively engaged in lobbying Legislature on behalf of its members who are public employees.
Proposed employment contract presents an inescapable conflict, given the unique position held and power wielded by the presiding officer.
Access to confidential information may have chilling effect on other legislators, if proposed employment contract permitted.
Public may perceive that Association has hired him because of his unique ability to influence legislation.
Other Associations that do not employee a high ranking member of the Legislature may believe that they are at a disadvantage in the legislative process.
Opinion limited to Presiding Officers of houses of West Virginia Legislature.

2012-18 Registered Lobbyist

Not required to register as lobbyist on behalf of client who retained her to provide advice on State procurement process and to serve as a liaison to a State Agency during client’s efforts to successfully bid on State contract.
Statutory definition of “lobbying” excludes procurement lobbying.
Required to register only if she communicates with State Officials or Members of the Legislature in regard to the passage or defeat of Legislation or Rules on client’s behalf

2012-25 State Employee

May represent clients before his former agency upon his departure from government without waiting one year.
One-year limitation does not apply because position not created by law, oath of office not taken and employee is not a full-time staff attorney or accountant.
May register as lobbyist upon his departure from government without waiting one year since he is not under direct supervision of member of Executive Department.

2013-11 State Legislator

State Legislator may not sponsor legislation relating to issue upon which he advised a client of his private law practice prior to his election to Legislature when bill uniquely affects his client, rather than class of five or more.
Presiding Officer determines whether to excuse Legislator from voting.

2013-39 Former State Employee

The Ethics Act contains a one-year “cooling off” period which prohibits certain high-ranking government officials and employees from registering as Lobbyists for one year following their departure from government. The Ethics Commission has no statutory authority to grant exemptions.
This former employee, as general counsel to an agency under the Executive Department, did not report directly to the Governor and was not directly supervised by his staff. Employee reported directly to a Cabinet Secretary and Deputy Secretary for Legal Services.
The Ethics Act’s revolving door prohibition is inapplicable to this former state employee, but he may not use or reveal any confidential information from his past position.

2015-02 Legislative Attorney
Legislative attorney may register as a lobbyist after the termination of his employment with the Legislature without being subject to the one-year waiting period subsequent to the termination of public employment or service.

2016-02 Former Legislative Research Analyst
A former Legislative Research Analyst may register as a lobbyist after the termination of his employment without being subject to the one-year post-employment waiting period.

2021-03 Lobbyist
The $25 gift limit does not apply to charitable contributions made by an organization to a nonprofit to recognize a legislator. The organization's lobbyist must report the expenditure.

2022-12 Former Deputy Secretary of a State Department

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Name-Likeness Use

2015-11 Public Officials
Public officials’ official websites may include an official’s photograph on home page or biographical pages or sections, but multiple photos should not be used. If official played a role in selecting, editing or approving content of educational materials which were printed with private funds, and disseminated materials to public, multiple photographs of officials should not be used. Items classified as trinkets under W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5c, and banners and table skirts containing an official’s name and photo, may not be used even if they were purchased before effective date of statute.

2015-13 County Commissioner
Public officials may recognize businesses and individuals for contributions to economic development and charitable purposes by attending “ribbon cuttings” and through resolutions or proclamations. Providing testimonials or favorable reviews of a business’s products or services is not permissible. Official may post portrait photograph and of attendance at public events on official social media. AO does not set a limit on the number of photographs of a public official that may appear on an agency’s social media. Ethics Act does not restrict use of personal social media. Public officials may not use public resources to manage or post on their personal or campaign social media.

2015-19 Public Official
Prohibition against public officials using names/likenesses for purposes of advertising does not prohibit use of name on official letterhead, envelopes and business cards that are used in the performance of usual duties. Officials may not use public funds or public resources to offer or distribute trinkets or items paid for with private funds.

2015-20 County Assessor
Letterhead, envelopes, business cards, Personal Property Form, door hangers, form letter and website do not have primary intent or effect of promoting a public official and are therefore not prohibited “advertising.”

2015-23 Elected State Official
May host telephonic town hall meetings, but the official’s name may not be used in the recorded message played in conjunction with the meeting. The official may not conduct telephonic town hall meetings in the 60 days immediately before a primary, special or general election. These limitations do not apply to telephonic town hall meetings conducted with campaign funds.

2016-10 County Clerk

May authorize private organizations to use her name and public job title when recognizing her for personal donations she makes to charitable events.
Public officials/employees may not use public job titles if employed by a charitable organization on whose behalf they are soliciting.
Public officials/employees may not solicit gifts for a charitable purpose if there is a direct pecuniary benefit to an immediate family.

2016-11 State Legislator
May purchase business cards with private funds that replicate his State-issued business card on one side and display his campaign information on the other provided that both sides of the business cards state that they are paid for by the Legislator.
The Opinion cautions that the Ethics Act prohibits any use of state resources, including the Legislator’s state telephone and email address, in furtherance of his personal re-election campaign.

2017-16 Director of a State Agency
A state agency’s yearly publication is “educational material” under the Act’s name and likeness provisions. The publication is not a “report required to be issued by law” because it is disseminated to the public rather than submitted to a reporting authority. Therefore, the names and photographs of public officials, including the Governor and the agency’s Director, Commissioners and Section Chiefs, may not appear in the publication.

2019-02 A State Agency Manager
A State Agency may use public funds to print personal contact information on elected officials’ business cards because communicating with constituents is part of the usual and customary duties associated with the office and providing the personal contact information makes officials more accessible, which serves a public purpose. The use of personal contact information does not have the primary purpose of promoting the elected officials, so the use of public funds to print business cards with personal contact information does not violate the name or likeness provision’s prohibition on advertising.

2021-19 Town Recorder

The Ethics Act does not prohibit a town employee from bringing a cup that contains a campaign slogan to work at Town Hall. The employee may not display the cup on her desk in a manner that makes the campaign slogan visible to the public because it could constitute the use of public resources to advertise a political party.

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Nepotism

1997-20 City Housing Authority

A City Housing Authority may hire a relative of a board member if the relative is qualified, subject to W. Va. Code Rule § 158-6.

1998-05 County Solid Waste Authority

A County Solid Waste Authority may hire the director’s qualified spouse, absent favoritism and subject to proper recusal.

1998-21 City Housing Authority

A City Housing Authority may hire the spouse of a Board member, absent favoritism and subject to proper recusal.

2007-07 Mayor
Appointment of Mayor’s son as City Attorney would create “inescapable” conflict of interest

2012-03 County Agency

Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son, even though they live in the same house, so long as the Supervisor is completely removed from the hiring process.
Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son even though they live in the same house.
Supervisor employed by County Agency is not a county officer and therefore is not subject to provisions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
General rule: Public servant should not supervise a relative.
Supervisor employed by County Agency may supervise son on emergency calls and while in the field.

2012-24 Mayor

May reside with father who is employed by City.
May not exercise supervisory control over his father/city employee.
May not conduct his father’s evaluations, set his schedule, authorize overtime, or approve father’s direct supervisor’s recommendations which directly affect the terms and conditions of his father’s employment.
Must recuse himself from personnel matters which uniquely affect his father as opposed to matters affecting his father as a class of five or more similarly situated employees.
May participate in collective bargaining agreement negotiations with union of City employees of which father is a member.
Must recuse himself from the negotiation of any provision in collective bargaining agreement which uniquely affects his father, but may vote on the collective bargaining agreement in its entirety.

2013-01 Mayor

City may employ mayor’s daughter, subject to limitations.
Governing body must advertise all positions in which member of body knows in advance that family member is interested therein.
Affected member must recuse him/herself from all decisions regarding candidates, including: deciding whether position needs to be filled; writing job description or establishing job requirements; reviewing applications or resumes; interviewing applicants; ranking applicants; and participating in decision-making process.
If relative is hired, affected member must be completely recused from all personnel matters related to that relative, including without limitation: salary, raises, promotion, discipline, termination or lay-offs, unless that relative is member of class of five or more.
For recusal to be proper, official shall disclose her/his conflict of interest and leave room during discussion, deliberation and vote thereon. Meeting minutes shall reflect official’s recusal.
May not:

informally attempt to influence official action on behalf of relative;
“lobby” fellow members of governing body to take favorable action on relative’s behalf; or attempt to influence relative’s supervisor to take favorable action.
May not supervise any relative or relative’s supervisor.

2019-03 County School Superintendent
Teachers may not prearrange relatives to substitute teach in their absence or place their relatives on a preferred list of substitutes when there are others with the authority to make these decisions.

2020-13 Principal
A school principal's spouse, sister and brother-in-law may be employed at the same school where he serves as the principal, but he may not be involved in hiring or supervising them.

2021-04 Prosecutor
A Prosecutor may not continue to employ her boyfriend because he received an unfair advantage in the hiring process as the Prosecutor did not advertise the position.

2021-08 County Board of Education

The Ethics Act does not require a member of a Board of Education (“BOE”) to recuse herself from updates on a lawsuit filed against the BOE by a sibling, who is a former employee of the BOE, when there is no financial relationship between the siblings and the lawsuit does not relate to the sibling’s prior employment with the BOE (partially overrules Advisory Opinions 1999-19, 2011-15 and 2011-16).

2021-20 County Commission

A sheriff’s son may be employed as the director of courthouse security if the sheriff’s chief deputy is responsible for hiring for this position and supervising the son.

2022-03 City Council Member

A city council member’s son may serve as the city’s municipal judge. The council member may not participate in or vote on matters affecting his employment or working conditions unless the matter affects him as a member of a class of five or more similarly situated individuals.

2022-08 County Council

The father of a deputy sheriff may serve on the deputy civil service commission. He must recuse himself if a matter uniquely affects the employment or working conditions of his son, but he may vote if his son is affected in the same manner as five or more similarly situated deputies.

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Persons Covered by the Act

1994-11 State Commission Members

State Commissioners are part-time appointed public officials and subject to the Ethics Act.

1994-19 City Housing Authority Member

A Housing Authority member is a part-time appointed official.

1995-32 Local Emergency Planning Commission

Members of a LEPC are public officials subject to the Act.

1996-27 Private Engineering Firm

Neither a private engineering firm nor its employees is subject to the Act.

2000-38 State Employee

A State Employee who serves as the Governor’s Chief of Staff is a public employee and not an appointed public official.

2001-13 Nonprofit Corporation Employees

Nonprofit Corporation employees are not subject to the Ethics Act.

2001-22 Nonprofit Corporation employees

Nonprofit Corporation’s Employees are not subject to the Ethics Act even if it is receiving federal funding.

2003-11 Non-Profit Corporation

A non-profit corporation is not subject to the Act even though most of its funding is from the state.

2005-09 County School Superintendent
School Superintendent’s service on Board of Directors of private organization does not subject organization to Ethics Act jurisdiction

2010-09 County Rescue Service
Members and employees of a nonprofit corporation which is not a public entity are not covered by the Act, even though three of the seven members are appointed by the county commission, the corporation is funded by county ambulance fees, and the county commission reviews and approves its budget.

2011-04 Per Diem Legislative Attorney

Per Diem Legislative Attorney, who is not, on July 1, 2011, a Legislative employee as defined by the IRS, is not subject to revolving door prohibition.
Independent contractors are not covered by the Ethics Act.

2012-21 Local Health Department

Any person or public entity subject to the Ethics Act may seek advisory opinion about their own prospective conduct.
Public servant members of non-profit entity that oversees and distributes federal grants to their employers must recuse themselves from considering, evaluating, discussing, ranking, and/or overseeing funding decisions, including the funding matrix.
Possibly permissible for non-profit organization to handle funding allocation matters if:

the non-profit entity and its board are truly independent of the State of West Virginia and the local health departments;
as a matter of law, the state agency has clear legal authority to give this funding authority to the non-profit entity generally;
the state agency has legal authority to delegate a portion of its executive powers to a non-profit organization; and
the relevant federal grant guidelines expressly permit this delegation of authority to the non-profit entity.

2017-12 A County Commissioner
A Convention and Visitor’s Bureau is not subject to the Ethics Act as it is a nonprofit corporation and not a government agency.

2019-04 A City
A City’s Fire Chief, who is also the Fire Chief for a VFD, is a part-time appointed public official who is subject to the Ethics Act.

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Private Gain

1994-29 State Authority

A State authority may not contract with managers in the relevant department for uplink services.

1994-32 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may write letters of recommendation for jobs and admission to schools on official stationery using staff employees, which is the performance of his usual duties.

1994-34 State University

A University bookstore may sell computers to students at a discount in furtherance of its statutory mission.

1995-05 State Official

A State official may write the introduction of a book on WV that promotes economic development.

1995-06 Mayor

A Mayor’s father may be employed by the town subject to the mayor’s proper recusal.

1995-08A Planning Commission employee

A Planning Commission full-time engineer may review computations he prepared for the Parks Department.

1995-11(Revised) Regional Educational Service Agency

A RESA employee may not recommend her husband for a grant she wrote.

1995-13 Board of Education Employee

A BOE psychologist may not provide counseling services for a fee after hours to children he is serving in school without charge. May provide unsolicited counseling services to parents.

1995-14 Public Employee

A Public employee may not purchase personal products with a state contract and pay with personal funds..

1995-19 Public Employee

A Public employee may not use confidential information for private gain in buying public land.

1995-28 Public Official

A Public official may provide free golf to businesses if the agency believes it would advance economic development.

1995-34 Public Official

A Public official and his subordinates may seek campaign contributions without using public resources. May use public titles to endorse other candidates. Other laws and policies may apply.

1995-37 Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

An Assistant Prosecutor may solicit and fundraise for a candidate and serve as campaign treasurer. (Other laws may apply.)

1995-39 Mayor

A Mayor may store his personal equipment in the city garage if it is being used for city purposes.

1995-41 Sheriff

A Sheriff’s business may not serve as bail bondsman in the county.

1995-48 State Official

A State official may not use information he acquired during a public trip paid for by the state in making personal investments.

1995-52 State Employee

A State employee may not stay overnight at an agency facility to save personal funds.

1996-04 Public Officials

A Public official may use state resources to host conferences as usual and customary activities.

1996-14 County Employee

A County employee may seek election for county office, but may not use public resources.

1996-43 A City Council Member

A City Council member may accept grant money from a grant he worked to secure.

1996-45 Prosecutor

A Prosecutor may hire his adult child if he follows the nepotism guideline, at W. Va. Code R. § 158-6-3.

1996-50 City

A City may not use general funds to pay for a Christmas lunch for employees. [But, see Public Employee Recognition Guideline.]

1996-57 Public Official

A Public official may use an aunt as a trustee of a blind trust.

1997-03 Town

A Town may donate funds to a public school for playground equipment. No private gain since school is public.

1997-06 City Sanitary Board Member

A City Sanitary Board member may be compensated for work performed, subject to proper recusal.

1997-13 Board of Education

A BOE may not pay off the booster members’ personal debt absent a legal obligation to do so.

1997-18 State Trooper

May not include “Trooper” in ads for his business.

1997-22 State College

A State College may share the cost of new computers with staff that will become the property of staff after three years.

1997-28 State Employee

A State employee may not use his agency's long distance calling service for personal calls even if the employee reimburses the state given that the state's lower rate is not available to the public.

1997-30 Town Recorder

A Town Recorder is prohibited from issuing payment in violation of the Act even if directed by council to do so. Council members who vote to approve knowingly illegal payment may also violate the Act.

1997-33 County Development Authority

A County Development Authority may accept property in which a member has a financial interest to correct a mistake in title.

1998-09 Sheriff

A Sheriff may engage in a limited amount of campaigning while using his county cruiser due to his special law enforcement duties.

1998-11 Sheriff

A Sheriff may not use his county cruiser to travel with his wife to her pollical activities.

1998-14 State Public Official

A State Public official may not use frequent flier miles accumulated during official travel. [Act was subsequently amended to allow this in W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(b).]

1998-15 State Agency

A State Agency may pay for employee parking.

1998-16 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education may pay off a loan incurred by the boosters to improve BOE property.

1998-27 State Employee

A State employee may not invite clients of her agency to sales parties at her home.

1998-28 State Agency

A State agency may use public funds to provide financial incentives for a wellness program.

1998-30 Legislator

A Legislator may not reference his legislative service in a commercial for his private legal practice.

1999-01 State Agency

A State Agency may contract with a labor union to perform certificate testing for crane operators even though most operators in the state are union members.

1999-05 City

A City may not use its funds to help employees acquire personal computers at a reduced rate.

1999-06 State Employee

A State Employee may deliver employees’ personal mail to the post office if there is no substantial expense to the state.

1999-12 Legislator

A Legislator may serve as a state commission member and accept statutory pay. Constitutional provision concerning Legislators holding other lucrative public office is not under the Commission’s authority.

2000-03 State Regulatory Board Member

A State Regulatory Board Member may not accept travel reimbursement for a non-essential trip to a remote site from an association that has a matter before the board due to lack of overriding public benefit.

2000-04 County Board of Education

A Board of Education may provide a direct link to a BOE member’s private, education-oriented website, assuming other members and candidates are afforded the same opportunity. (But see Advisory Opinion 2015-13)

2000-08 State Agency

A State Agency may use state personnel to plan and run a regional conference, including its social and recreational events, that improves the professional development and skill of the agency employees, which is an overriding public benefit.

2000-11 County Board of Education

A Board of Education may use public funds to purchase equipment to accommodate a member’s hearing impairment only if BOE has a duty to do so to accommodate a disability.

2000-15 County Commission

A County Commission may use county funds to buy a chamber of commerce membership but may not buy meals at events.

2000-19 State Agency

A State Agency may not allow a software vendor to pay for training expenses of its employees in exchange for being a reference account endorsing the vendor. No overriding public benefit.

2000-20 State Licensing Board

A State Licensing Board may pay its board secretary reasonable compensation for extra duties as it is authorized by statute.

2000-28 Economic Development Authority

An Economic Development Authority may share costs for office space and personnel with a local chamber of commerce.

2001-01 State Agency

A State Agency may provide employee meals when they are required to work unscheduled emergency overtime. (See Public Employee Recognition Guideline and Advisory Opinion 2018-02 for updated law.)

2001-02 Board of Education

A Board of Education may acknowledge its support of an educational tv campaign paid for by its vendors; members may not use the influence of their public positions to persuade vendors to financially support the campaign.

2001-04 County Commission

A County Commission may not use public funds to pay for employee social events such as Christmas parties. Inviting select members of the public does not legitimize the expenditure. May use public funds for board meeting lunches - if authorized by legislation.

(See Public Employee Recognition Guideline and Advisory Opinion 2018-02 for updated law.)

2001-05 State Institute of Higher Education

A State Institute of Higher Education may not give its board members free year books.

2001-07 County Employee

A County Employee, working as a project coordinator, is not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15; employee may oversee a project involving an engineering firm that employs her husband’s employer; but, may not show preferential treatment to the employer.

2001-10 Public Attorney

A public attorney may provide pro bono services on private time.

2001-15 County Commission

A County Commission may not require, encourage, or approve the wearing of promotional buttons by county personnel, the display or distribution of promotional materials in county offices, the use of bumper stickers on county vehicles, or the posting of yard signs on county property, which advance the Commission’s position concerning the location of an airport.

2001-17 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may not rent to tenants whose rent is subsidized by a housing authority program. May continue existing leases so long as there is no modification of its terms.

2001-18 County Ambulance Authority

A County Ambulance Authority may not provide meals and beverages for members during board meetings nor employees participating in a paid training.

2001-20 Legislator

A Legislator may be employed by a federally-funded state university institution.

2001-21 State University

A State University may secure discounts from a vendor that runs a bookstore for students and faculty, but not discounts for just the faculty.

2001-25 Board of Education

A Board of Education may use public funds to pay for Chamber of Commerce dues; may not use public funds to buy food there.

2001-27 Town Council

Town Council may pay for lumber supplied by the former Mayor as a loan. [Non precedential]

2001-32 County School Teacher

A County School Teacher may teach summer school for a program paid for by a grant she helped secure - if she was not involved in selecting herself as a summer teacher.

2001-34 County Commission

A County Commission may not approve compensation to the sheriff personally for administering an estate; it must go to the Sheriff's public office.

2001-37 County Commission

A County Commission may pay an elected county surveyor, a position that has no responsibilities or compensation, for county projects.

2002-01 Economic Development Board employee

An Economic Development Board employee may not use a county vehicle for personal use as it is prohibited under state Code even if the employee would pay for the use.

2002-04 County Commissioner

A County Commissioner may participate in the county employees' wellness program.

2003-03 County Commission

A County Commission's free use of vehicles in a "rolling billboards" program may violate the private gain provision, absent an overriding public benefit.

2003-05 Public Employees

2003-09 City Council

A City Council's free use of vehicles in a "rolling billboards" program may violate private gain provision, absent an overriding public benefit.

2003-12 State Board Members

State Board members and employees may not take action on a corporation in which they have a more than a de minimis financial interest, pursuant to the Commission's Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.

2003-14 Legislator

A Legislator may not sponsor table gaming legislation that principally benefits his full-time employer.

2003-16 Public Official or Employee

A public official or employee may not request an Advisory Opinion about another person's conduct or a hypothetical situation.

2004-01 County Commission

A County Commission may appoint a county health department employee to serve on the county solid waste authority.

2004-05 Volunteer Fire Department

A volunteer Fire Department, a nongovernmental agency, may accept free use of an emergency vehicle containing commercial advertising. See 2003-03 and 2003-09 concerning governmental agencies.

2004-06 A State Board Member

A State Board member who holds a de minimis amount of stock in a publicly traded company may vote on legal action against the company. The Commission decides whether a financial interest is de minimis on a case-by-case basis.

2004-07 Law Enforcement Officials

Law enforcement officials in a professional association may engage in fundraising activities for charitable purposes while on duty and in uniform, but not for their own private gain.

2004-09 University Employees

2004-11 County School Superintendent

A County School Superintendent must resign before applying for principal position. Superintendent is required to make recommendations for hiring. He is subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. (Portion of the Opinion that implied that an appearance of using public office for private gain is the appropriate standard for a private gain violation has been overruled. See Advisory Opinion 2021-08).

2004-19 State Board Member

A State Board Member may vote to change fees for real estate developers even though his brother is a developer pursuant to the class exception in the Commission's Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed. The class exception has been incorporated into the Ethics Act.

2004-22 State University

A State University employee may not accept a discounted price from a vendor for a gaming system without a reasoned medical determination that the system reduces healthcare costs or promotes wellness.

2004-26 State Agency

A State Agency may permit a private association of its employees to operate vending machines in a public facility used mostly by the employees if there is no cost to the state.

2005-10 State Division Director
Division Director in agency which regulates motor vehicle dealers may not appear in commercials advertising automobile dealer even though his division does not regulate dealers

2005-16 County Health Department Employee
May reference professional certification which employer paid for in advertising for private consulting business

2006-13 County Commissioner
Use of county resources to provide shuttle services for a private picnic is not permitted

2006-14 State Board Members
May not conduct training programs for third-parties regulated by their Board without a written waiver from the Ethics Commission
Exec Dir may grant temporary waiver which must be ratified by Commission
Distinguished by Advisory Opinion 2019-17.

2006-17 County School Teacher
Teacher who directs Show Choir may not sell music compositions to be performed by choir he directs

2008-05 County Parks & Recreation Commission
May authorize employees to play golf for free under certain conditions

2008-07 Town Council
May authorize employees to use town swimming pool for free as fringe benefit of employment

2008-09 Public University (Overrules A.O. 2001-21 to the extent it prohibited a University from offering faculty discounts at its bookstore)
May give discount to faculty and staff on bookstore purchases

2009-02 Elected County Officials
County Funded Employee Wellness Program may not be extended to elected county officials whose compensation is set by statute.
To increase compensation (through the extension of benefits) beyond statutory maximum constitutes use of office for private gain.

2009-03 County Employees
May be reimbursed for government calls placed on personal cell phone

2009-07  County Commissioner
• County Commissioner, a private attorney, may prepare wills, but must fully recuse himself from County Commission's probate thereof;
• County Commissioner may not appear in a representative capacity in any probate proceeding before the County Commission, even if uncontested;
• County Commissioner may testify as witness to will's validity before County Commission but must recuse himself from decision-making on any such will.

2009-08  Board of Directors of State Agency--overruled, in part, by Advisory Opinion 2017-22
• Board members associated with entities which may have financial interest in Agency's contracts may not serve on subcommittee which reviews and recommends funding proposals.
• Board members associated with entities which may have financial interest in Agency's contracts may continue to serve on Board, but must recuse themselves from discussion, deliberation and decision-making on matters related to those entities with which they are associated.

2009-09 State Employee
It would violate the Ethics Act for certain State Agency employees to accept a lower lodging rate from a resort which the State Agency regulates.

2009-10  State Employee
A State employee whose employer has accreditation oversight of institutions of higher education may be compensated for teaching a course at a public university so long as he
• Notifies his supervisor;
• Has his work relating to the accreditation of the public university as part of his doctoral program reviewed by his supervisor and his employing Agency's Review Board;
• Prepares for and teaches the course on his own time;
• Does not use any public resources

2010-01 Elected member of the Board of Public Works
• May solicit donations to underwrite the costs of a national conference and use the funds for meals and breaks, and certain social events, excluding golf.
• May acknowledge sponsors, but may not attribute an event to a single sponsor; may not indicate amount any sponsor donates.
• Use of funds Legislature appropriated to pay for attendees' meals does not constitute use of office for private gain.
• Opinion limited to Elected Members of the Legislature or Elected Members of the Board of Public Works who are soliciting for national or regional conferences in accordance with W. Va. Code §§ 6B-2-5(c)(6) and 6B-2-5(c)(7).

2010-02 Attorney for City
A City may participate in a vendor's program to provide discount to city employees for personal cell phone use.

2010-03 County Board of Education Candidate
• Spouse of county BOE member may be employed as Chief mechanic, a service position that meets exception in § 61-10-15.
• May not use position to obtain, increase or promote the interests of spouse as a BOE employee.

2010-04 County Board of Education member
Board may contract with a private non-profit when one of the Board of Education members sits on the Board of the non-profit as long as the common Board member does not vote on any matters relating to the non-profit and recuses himself from the decision-making process and vote. (Overruled by A.O. 2011-12, which recognized that an uncompensated board member of a non-profit does not have a financial interest which would prohibit him or her from voting on appropriations to the non-profit. However, W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(j)(D) (effective July 7, 2017) requires a public official who sits on a non-profit board of directors to disclose the public official’s, or his or her immediate family member’s, relationship to the nonprofit (i) on the agenda item relating to the appropriation or award contract, if known at time of agenda, (ii) by the public official at the meeting prior to the vote, and (iii) in the minutes of the meeting.)

2010-05  Public Employees / Higher Ed
Agency's decision to allocate more than $25 to recognize one or more employees, in lieu of expending up to $25 per employee per fiscal year, does not violate the Ethics Act so long as the expenditure on any one employee does not exceed $100, and the total amount expended for this purpose during the fiscal year does not exceed the sum total of $25 per employee.

2010-08  City Elected Officials
Public official may not vote to extend his or her own current term beyond that statutorily or constitutionally prescribed; to do so would be use of office for private gain.

2010-10  Board of Directors of a County Authority
Ethics Act does not prohibit part-time appointed officials from bidding at auction on items sold by Board on which they serve, so long as they recuse themselves from all related matters; but § 61-10-15 prohibits part-time appointed officials from bidding at auction on items sold by Board on which they serve.

2010-11  State Legislator
May not accept two free airline tickets won in a random drawing at a public reception hosted by a State Agency for which the Legislature provides funds.
Prohibition against use of office for private gain applies to expenditures by public entities.

2010-13  County Board of Education Member
• Spouse of County BOE member may be employed as auditor in Central Office, a service position that meets exception in § 61-10-15.
• May not use position to obtain, increase or promote the interests of spouse as a BOE employee.
• May not vote on matters specific to his wife including raise, renewal of employment contract, or discipline.
• May vote on overall budget, but must recuse himself if line item affects wife or all four auditors if BOE specifically addresses any such line item .

2010-14  County Board of Education Member
• County BOE may not contract with Member’s fast food restaurant to provide food for special events
• County schools and/or school sports teams may not contract with County BOE Member’s fast food restaurant to provide food for school sports teams using school funds
• County BOE Member’s fast food restaurant may not sponsor fundraisers on behalf of school teams
• County BOE Member’s fast food restaurant may, under certain conditions, sponsor fundraisers on behalf of booster organizations
• County BOE Member’s fast food restaurant may, under certain conditions, sell food to credit union even though BOE provides office space to credit union

2010-15 County Board of Education Member
• County BOE Member may not be paid to officiate as a sports official in his own county
• County BOE Member may volunteer as a referee and receive $1 to obtain insurance coverage

2010-16  County Board of Education Member
• County BOE Member may contract with State Department of Education for online teaching even though some teachers from her county may participate.
• Subject contract is with State, not County BOE, and thus Member lacks control over contract
• County BOE Member lacks control over County BOE’s reimbursement of county teachers’ expenses incurred in taking Member’s online course .

2010-18 City Council
• May use public funds to purchase Sam's Club cards for the City's use.
• May not use public funds to purchase Sam's Club cards for the personal use of its employees or their family members.
• City officials and employees may not use the City's card to gain admission to the Sam's club and/or to make personal purchases.

2010-19 - Elected Public Official
• May not use public funds to purchase funeral flowers or other expressions of sympathy, including monetary donations.
• May not solicit subordinate employees for a contribution towards the purchase of flowers or payment into an established office fund.
• May take up a voluntary donation among co-workers, under certain conditions.

2011-01 County Council Member
• County Council Member’s business may appraise estates so long she recuses herself from any matters coming before the County Council involving the probate of any estate her business has appraised. County Council Member’s business may not appraise any estates over which the Sheriff has been appointed by the County Council as the administrator. County Council Member’s business should be removed from the Fiduciary Supervisor’s list of available appraisers.
• County Council Member may not appear, as a representative or witness, before the Council either about the appraised value or the amount of her compensation.
• County Council Member may not accept protected persons from the Sheriff for placement in her nursing home, absent a contract exemption for the Sheriff.

2011-05 University President
• May spend public funds to pay membership dues for the President, but not the President’s spouse, to join the local Rotary club.
....Public funds may only be spent for President’s membership dues (and one-time new member fee), not on meals or any other cost or fee associated with Rotary membership, such as contributions to a related philanthropic organization.
....Ethics Act does not prohibit the University Foundation—a separate, non-government entity—from paying for the spouse’s membership in Rotary and/or for paying for meals associated with Rotary meetings or functions for the President and/or the President’s spouse.
.....Higher Education exemption available only when the activity has been approved as part of the employment contract.

2011-08 Part-Time Prosecuting Attorney (Overrules AOs 89-15, 89-27 and 91-61)
• Part-Time Prosecuting Attorneys may continue to use office space in their respective county courthouses for their private law practices without reimbursing the County for the pro-rata rental value thereof.
• Part-Time Prosecuting Attorneys may continue to use public resources, including office equipment and staff in their respective county courthouses for their private law practices, but must reimburse the County for the pro-rata rental value thereof, or make direct payment for such equipment and/or services.
• Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys may not use courthouse office space, equipment, supplies or staff for their private law practices.

2011-09 County Hospital (Modifies AO 95-09)
• County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of equipment and related services from appointed board member.
• County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of real property from appointed board member as long as there are no financial conditions associated with the property transfer; and the body notifies the public of the member’s offer and allows other property owners to offer their property.
• County Hospital may accept unsolicited offer of real property from appointed board member even if there are unresolved issues requiring mitigation (e.g. environmental hazards, or outstanding liens), but only if an independent evaluation determines that the overriding benefit is to the governing body rather than the donor and it receives permission from the Ethics Commission.
• Modifies AO 95-09 by clarifying that the donation (as opposed to the leasing) of property does not constitute a public contract.

2011-10 County Board of Education
• Spouse of county BOE Superintendent may not be employed as Director of Student Services, a prohibited administrative position under W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• Spouse of county BOE Superintendent may be employed as School Psychologist, a position that meets the exception in W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• Spouse of county BOE Superintendent may be continue to be physically located in the central office without violating W. Va. Code § 61-10-15. The nature of the work performed, not location, is outcome determinative.
• Superintendent may not use position to obtain, increase or promote the interests of spouse as a BOE employee.

2011-11 State Agency
• May accept funds for its Recreation Department, pursuant to its enabling legislation.
• May solicit funds for its Recreation Department, under certain conditions: solicitation must benefit residents, not public servants; may not endorse a donor business; must comply with Legislative Rule if soliciting vendors; may not solicit a subordinate or Agency client; and may not use Agency clients to solicit.

2011-12 Town Attorney
Town’s elected officials may vote to appropriate funds to a non-profit organization on which they and/or their family members serve as uncompensated board members and/or officers. (However, W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(j)(D) (effective July 7, 2017) requires a public official who sits on a non-profit board to disclose the public official’s, or his or her immediate family member’s, relationship to the nonprofit (i) on the agenda item relating to the appropriation or award contract, if known at time of agenda, (ii) by the public official at the meeting prior to the vote, and (iii) in the minutes of the meeting.)

2011-13 State Agency
• Public funds may not be spent to pay for health club or gym fees for public servants when the hotel does not provide free exercise facilities to lodgers.
• Public servants who receive an expense-paid trip to participate in a conference may not accept payment or reimbursement for health club or gym fees, when the hotel does not provide free exercise facilities to lodgers, and the total value of the fees exceeds $25.
• Public servants who participate in a conference or event as a panelist or speaker may not accept payment or reimbursement for health club or gym fees when the hotel does not provide free exercise facilities to lodgers.

2011-14  Candidate for County Assessor
• May not continue career as owner and broker of real estate business within county where he will serve, if elected.
• May continue career as owner and broker of real estate business in other counties so long as he does not: use his official position in any way that would give him an advantage; conduct his business on county time; or use county resources (including staff) to conduct his private real estate business.

2011-17 - State Licensing Board
• Executive Directors and Members of the Board may be members of professional associations consisting of licensees which the Boards regulate.
• Members may be officers of professional associations consisting of licensees which the Boards regulate, with limitations.
• Executive Director may not be an officer of or employed by a professional association consisting of licensees which the Board regulates.

2011-18 - Industry representatives on the governing council of a State Agency--overruled, in part, by Advisory Opinion 2017-22
• May not serve on the initial review panel for grant applications.
• May not serve on the committee to draft legislative rules relating to the award of grants.
• May participate as a member of council, and vote on approval of recommended grant application absent a prohibited interest necessitating recusal.
• May participate as a member of council, and vote on draft legislative rules relating to the award of grants absent a prohibited interest necessitating recusal.

2011-19 - A State Licensing Board
• May spend public funds to hire registered lobbyist, to serve as a Legislative liaison.
• Registered lobbyist retained by public agency as Legislative liaison must register as a lobbyist
• Revolving door prohibition does not apply to contract employee/former executive director who terminated employment before July 1, 2011 cut-off date.

2011-20  An Elected County Commissioner
• May purchase tax liens at a Sheriff's sale or through the State Auditor's Office, or both, when County Commission had no direct involvement in the assessment of the property.
• May not purchase a tax lien on property for which the owner requested adjustment of assessed value or other relief from County Commission sitting as the board of equalization and review.

2011-21  A City
May adopt ordinance or change charter to compensate Mayor at flat rate of pay for extra duties not statutorily required of the mayor; provided that, the change becomes effective for the next term of office.

2011-22 State Agency employee
Ethics Act does not prohibit employee of State agency from serving on board of non-profit organization that State agency funds.

2012-01 Mayor
• Ethics Act does not prohibit city employed building inspector from serving on City Council, but he must perform his Council duties on his own time, not during his public work hours. Ethics Act does not prohibit a building inspector/city employee from serving on City Council.
• City council member employed by city may not vote on a personnel matter which affects him directly as opposed to affecting five or more employees in the same or similar manner.
• City employed building inspector serving on City Council must recuse himself when citizens who are affected by his official actions come before City Council to address or dispute his official actions.

2012-02 County Commissioner
• Ethics Act does not prohibit County from purchasing property from real estate business with which a County Commissioner is associated, with limitations: Commissioner may not use his position to influence purchase of the property; specifically, he may not communicate with fellow County Commissioners, or Members or staff of the Building Commission, on matters relating to the property.
• No prohibited financial interest where neither Commissioner nor his immediate family members have ownership interest in property County
• Commission seeks to purchase from real estate business with which he is associated.
• No prohibited financial interest where Commissioner is not: a director or officer; the listing agent for the property; or, entitled to receive any commission from the sale of the property.
• County Commissioner associated with real estate business selling property to County meets statutory exemption so long as he recuses himself. (See Voting)
• County Commissioner associated with real estate business selling property to County must recuse himself from all matters related thereto.

2012-03 County Agency
• Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son, even though they live in the same house, as long as the Supervisor is completely removed from the hiring process.
• Ethics Act does not prohibit County Agency from employing Supervisor’s son even though they live in the same house.
• Supervisor employed by County Agency is not a county officer and therefore is not subject to provisions of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• General rule: Public servant should not supervise a relative.
• Supervisor employed by County Agency may supervise son on emergency calls and while in the field.

2012-04 Attorney for Municipal Water Board (Overruled in part by AO 2016-04)
• General Rule: Ethics Act does not prohibit Chairperson of Municipal Water Board from being employed by Board after resigning as Chairperson.
• Job description so narrowly tailored that only Board’s Chairperson qualifies fails to satisfy requirements of nepotism guidelines.
• When a public body knows in advance that one of its preferred candidates is a relative, close friend, or fellow member of the public body, public body must follow the Commission’s nepotism guidelines.

2012-06 Elected Member of the Board of Public Works
• Public official may not endorse business or product of the sponsor of an international government forum that is paying travel expenses related to forum.
• Must notify forum participants that the West Virginia Ethics Act prohibits him from endorsing a particular product and that presentation relating to fraud control should not be construed as endorsement of the sponsor’s business or product.
• Appearance at international government forum paid for by business which has financial relationship with State provides benefit to West Virginia by allowing State to be recognized for achievements in fraud control and allowing first-hand observation of Australian state governments’ approach to financial management and procurement.
• Must decline invitation to participate in proposed meetings with senior level government officials because these meetings do not provide an overriding benefit to the State of West Virginia.

2012-07 Mayor
• may not use public resources for the benefit of his private business;
• may not use subordinate staff to perform work associated with his private business while the subordinates are on the government time clock;
• may not solicit private business from subordinates;
• may not distribute promotional materials concerning his private business from his office and/or in City/Town Hall;
• may not have an interest in a public contract, with certain exceptions;
• must recuse himself when a current customer appears before Council; and
• must recuse himself from: drafting bid specifications or requests for proposals; recommending selection of the vendor; and/or approving the method or manner of payment to the vendor; and when serving as municipal judge, must:
• if customer within past six months appears, disclose the fact thereof and recuse himself if either party requests; and
• recuse himself from cases involving customers within the past six months.

2012-11 County Commissioner
• Ethics Act permits living with county employee as long as nepotism rules followed.
• W. Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibits living with county employee even if nepotism rules followed and/or even if employee transferred to another county office.

2012-13 Member of a County Board of Education
• May contract with a public university to supervise university students during their placement in public schools in the county where he serves so long as he does not use any public resources, including BOE staff, to perform his private contractual duties.
• Agreement between public university and BOE not a public contract.

2012-15 Sheriff
May use his public title to endorse Chief Deputy or other candidate for public office, including through newspaper advertisements or radio announcements.
May not spend public funds for these purposes.

2012-16 County Commission
• Prohibited from purchasing private property from appointed member of County Building Commission.
• Purchase of property from appointed member creates impermissible conflict and a prohibited interest in a public contract.
• May seek Contract Exemption if it believes the property is only viable option.

2012-17 Presiding Officer of a house of West Virginia Legislature
• May not be retained to provide legal services to an Association which is actively engaged in lobbying Legislature on behalf of its members who are public employees.
• Proposed employment contract presents an inescapable conflict, given the unique position held and power wielded by the presiding officer.
• Access to confidential information may have chilling effect on other legislators, if proposed employment contract permitted.
• Public may perceive that Association has hired him because of his unique ability to influence legislation.
• Other Associations that do not employee a high ranking member of the Legislature may believe that they are at a disadvantage in the legislative process.
• Opinion limited to Presiding Officers of houses of West Virginia Legislature.

2012-19 Member of the Legislature
• May be retained to provide consulting services to Public University during and after his term of office.
• Conflict of interest cured by his removal from potentially overlapping committees.
Must consult with Presiding Officer of his house and abide by appropriate legislative voting rule.
• May not use influence of legislative position to attempt to affect the actions of University personnel to enhance his contractual benefits; introduce, sponsor or advocate legislation to benefit the University in any way; influence either the State’s distribution of federal grant money or State funds to the University for any purpose, not just those related to his consulting contract; or influence the appropriation of public funds to benefit the University in any way.

2012-20 Public University
• May use public funds to purchase prizes or incentives, including gift cards, for wellness related competitions or promotions when prize recipients include University employees.
• $25.00 gift limit not applicable because wellness program administrators are not interested parties to recipients.
• May use reasonable amount of public funds for wellness-related incentives so long as there is a rational basis for such expenditure.

2012-21 Local Health Department
• Any person or public entity subject to the Ethics Act may seek advisory opinion about their own prospective conduct.
• Public servant members of non-profit entity that oversees and distributes federal grants to their employers must recuse themselves from considering, evaluating, discussing, ranking, and/or overseeing funding decisions, including the funding matrix.
• Possibly permissible for non-profit organization to handle funding allocation matters if:
• the non-profit entity and its board are truly independent of the State of West Virginia and the local health departments;
• as a matter of law, the state agency has clear legal authority to give this funding authority to the non-profit entity generally;
• the state agency has legal authority to delegate a portion of its executive powers to a non-profit organization; and
• the relevant federal grant guidelines expressly permit this delegation of authority to the non-profit entity.

2012-22 Ambulance Authority
•May not use public funds or staff to promote passage of levy when levy proceeds will be used for its employees’ salaries.
•Executive Director or Board Members, or both, may publicly speak in favor of levy.
•May use public funds to educate public about levy process, nature of services provided by agency, and purpose for which levy funds will be used.
•May, in advertisements paid for with public funds, encourage public to vote on issue, but may not advocate for passage of levy.
•Neither Executive Director nor Board Members may require nor pressure employees to support levy.
•Employees must perform volunteer campaign activities, if any, on their own time, not during their public work hours.
•May not solicit monetary support for passage of levy.
•May use unsolicited gift to promote passage of levy under these conditions:
• expenditures shall either avoid reference to agency taking position; or
• state that request for support is made by supporters of Authority and levy.

2012-23 Member of the Legislature
• May serve as Recorder for municipality; limitations apply.
• May not use legislative position to influence appropriation of monies to municipality.
• Must perform statutorily mandated recorder duties while serving in the legislature in order to lawfully receive compensation.
• Commission has no jurisdiction to rule whether member’s service as recorder is constitutional or the applicability of the common law doctrine of incompatibility.

2012-24 Mayor
• May reside with father who is employed by City.
May not exercise supervisory control over his father/city employee.
• May not conduct his father’s evaluations, set his schedule, authorize overtime, or approve father’s direct supervisor’s recommendations which directly affect the terms and conditions of his father’s employment.
• Must recuse himself from personnel matters which uniquely affect his father as opposed to matters affecting his father as a class of five or more similarly situated employees.
• May participate in collective bargaining agreement negotiations with union of City employees of which father is a member.
• Must recuse himself from the negotiation of any provision in collective bargaining agreement which uniquely affects his father, but may vote on the collective bargaining agreement in its entirety.

2012-27 State Licensing Board
• May provide working meal to members and any staff required to be present at Board meeting as part of their job duties.
• May spend reasonable amount of public funds for meals at meetings when meeting takes place at a time or is of such length that it makes the same reasonable.
• May not recess or adjourn meeting to go to an off-site location to consume a meal paid for with public funds. A meeting should not be scheduled at private locations unless those locations are in a public area fully accessible to the public at no cost.
• May not order lavish meals; instead, it must exercise fiscal responsibility in expending public funds on meals.
Must base decision to purchase meal upon a legitimate government reason.
• Must determine whether funds are available to cover this expenditure.
• Should check with Auditor’s Office to ensure expenditures does not run afoul of laws or regulations governing authorized expenditures.

*** This opinion does not extend to local governmental officials and agencies, e.g. City Council Members, County Commissioners or other local agencies.

2012-30 County Emergency Services Director
• May privately contract with Municipality within County to manage federal grant for mitigation projects when Municipality does not fall under County’s floodplain jurisdiction.
• Does not have direct authority voice, influence, or control over Municipality’s decision relating to grant money, and the expenditure thereof.
• Must notify County Commission of contractual arrangement with Municipality; to obtain approval; and abide by any restrictions that County Commission imposes.

2012-31 Circuit Clerk
• May not recommend or allow letter of support for a product, service or business of an interested person absent an overriding public benefit. May be listed on vendor’s promotional materials solely as a previous customer. Any language that tends to refer to public servant or entity as a “satisfied customer” or otherwise serves to promote or endorse vendor expressly prohibited.
• May not appear in advertisement for a product, service, or business absent an overriding public benefit.

2012-32 State Legislator and County BOE Bus Operator
• May contract with Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) provided he: does not use his public position to obtain unfair advantage in securing contract; does not use his public position to gain unfair advantage for the RESA by which he is employed; and does not get paid during Legislative • Session if he does not perform his contractual duties.
• May contract with RESA as Bus Operator exercises no control over contract.
• Must perform RESA duties on his own time; not during BOE work hours.
• May be required to file verified time records with Ethics Commission if RESA duties performed during regularly scheduled BOE work hours.

2012-33 Public University Vice-President
• May serve as member of Board of Directors of non-profit organization, so long as he is able to perform his public duties for which he is compensated.
• Service on Board of Directors of non-profit organization constitutes performance of usual and customary duties associated with position or advancement of public policy.

2012-34 Public Agency
May permit employee who was involuntarily denied boarding from a flight while in travel status to accept compensation from airline.

2012-37 Mayor
• $100/year compensation for serving on City Council de minimis
• Appointment to position on Council not a public contract
May vote for candidate to fill vacancy on Council who is a customer of her husband

2012-38 Part-time Appointed Member of a Review Commission
• May provide referral list of names of companies and individuals as prospective buyers to owners of distressed properties appearing before Review Commission.
• May, if Review Commission unable to assist in facilitating sale of distressed property (despite providing list of prospective buyers), as part-time appointed public official, purchase property from interested person subject to the following limitations:
• may not use confidential information acquired in course of official duties to further own personal interests or the interests of another person; and
• must recuse self from all matters relating to subject property.

2012-39 County Commissioner
May vote and participate in matters relating to Prosecuting Attorney's office even though he owns a business with County Prosecuting Attorney. Lacks prohibited financial interest in the operation of the Prosecutor's Office since Prosecutor's salary set by statute.

2012-40 Assistant Superintendent
Has Voice, influence or control over spouse's subcontract with company that provides services to county school system, therefore contract prohibited.

2012-41 County Board of Health
Licensed septic tank cleaner may serve on County Board of Health. Application to County Board of Health for tri-annual license does not constitute appearing before agency on which he serves for purposes of contesting issuance of license or permit.

2012-42 Conservation District
• May award $500 scholarship per calendar year to District supervisor’s child so long as District supervisor recuses him/herself from all participation in selection of scholarship participants, leaves the room during discussion and decision-making period, and fully discloses his or her interests.
• District supervisor may not informally “lobby” or otherwise attempt to influence voting members of, or other decision-makers in, the government agency to select his/her child.

2012-43 Local Health Department
• May serve as pass-through for grant from private charitable foundation for benefit of two private entities that focus on health when Department derives no financial benefit in serving as pass-through and no employee or member of Department or business with which he or she is associated is party to or has an interest in profits or benefits of grant agreement or any other related contract.
• Serving as pass-through constitutes performance of usual and customary duties associated with office.

2012-44 State Agency
• May appropriate a de minimis amount of State resources ($1,500) to a related Association to provide matching funds to allow the Association to secure a grant.
• Executive Director of State Agency who serves on the Association’s Board at Agency’s request may be involved in advising Agency regarding distribution of money to Association because serving on Association’s Board is part of Director’s public job duties and Association’s mission is to assist other non-profit entities, not the Director’s public employer
• Chairperson of State Agency who serves on Association’s Board by virtue of his/her private employment with a large non-profit should recuse himself from voting on contributing money to Association.

2012-45 County Attorney
• Has direct authority or control over County’s public contracts contemplated by W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d).
• Has “voice” and “influence” over all County contracts for purposes of W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• Position not “county office”, so not subject to W. Va. Code § 61-10-15.
• May not receive additional pay for serving as project coordinator for County Building Commission, absent a contract exemption.

2012-46 City Council Member
• May serve on City Council although Council Member’s law firm contracts with City.
• Does not have prohibited financial interest in contract between law firm since Council Member is employee of law firm, not owner or director.
• May not: (1) receive any commissions or remuneration as a result of contract between law firm and City; (2) work behind the scenes to steer business to law firm; or, (3) participate in deliberation or vote on matters relating to contract with his firm, e.g. approving invoices.
• Must excuse himself from participating in discussion and decision-making process by leaving room when item is being discussed or decided; fully disclosing his interests; and recusing himself from voting on the issue. Meeting minutes must reflect basis for recusal and that Council Member left room during all discussion and vote on item under consideration.

2012-47 County Commission (Private Gain)
• May appoint a County Commissioner to serve as a voting member of a County Ambulance Authority, a subunit of county government.
• Should consult with its attorney on whether other laws permit proposed self-appointment, especially when enabling legislation does not specifically authorize self-appointments and position is compensated.
• County Commissioner does not have prohibited financial interest and may vote on matters affecting the County Ambulance Authority which come before County Commission.

2012-50 Sheriff (Private gain)
• May not expend surplus money in Concealed Weapons Fund for meals for staff meetings.
• May not use Concealed Weapons Fund for personal gain of any person(s); must be an authorized expenditure; and any expenditure must be related to law-enforcement purposes or operating needs of Sheriff’s Office, e.g. purchase of office furniture or weapons.

2012-51 Assistant Attorney General (Private gain)
• May also serve as elected City Council Member.
• Must perform City Council duties on own time, not during public work hours.
• May be required to file time records with Ethics Commission if he has regular work hours at State job, and is authorized to make up hours to perform duties of City Council position.
• Although Ethics Act permits Assistant Attorney General to serve as elected City Council Member, Ethics Commission has no jurisdiction to rule whether West Virginia Constitution permits it, or applicability, if any, of common law doctrine of incompatibility.

2012-52 Municipal Public Servant
• Governing bodies may not allow public employees (or public officials) to use public equipment except for public purposes.
• Use of public equipment for personal benefit violates the Ethics Act’s prohibition against use of office for private gain

2012-53 County Board of Education
• Members do not have financial interest requiring recusal when:
• Three or more Members from same county attended same training,
• Superintendent (or designee) has reviewed and approved reimbursement of group travel expenses, and
• Meeting agenda specifically discloses that travel expense forms for the Members are being approved.
• When one or two Members attend training, recusal is required when Board considers their travel expense reimbursement requests.
• For recusal to be proper, official shall disclose her/his conflict of interest and leave room during discussion, deliberation and vote thereon. Meeting minutes shall reflect official’s recusal.
• Ethics Commission declined to establish bright line rule.

2013-01 Mayor
• City may employ mayor’s daughter, subject to limitations.
• Governing body must advertise all positions in which member of body knows in advance that family member is interested therein.
• Affected member must recuse him/herself from all decisions regarding candidates, including: deciding whether position needs to be filled; writing job description or establishing job requirements; reviewing applications or resumes; interviewing applicants; ranking applicants; and participating in decision-making process.
• If relative is hired, affected member must be completely recused from all personnel matters related to that relative, including without limitation: salary, raises, promotion, discipline, termination or lay-offs, unless that relative is member of class of five or more.
• For recusal to be proper, official shall disclose her/his conflict of interest and leave room during discussion, deliberation and vote thereon. Meeting minutes shall reflect official’s recusal.
• May not:
       • informally attempt to influence official action on behalf of relative;
      • “lobby” fellow members of governing body to take favorable action on relative’s behalf; or
       • attempt to influence relative’s supervisor to take favorable action.
• May not supervise any relative or relative’s supervisor.

2013-02 County Board of Education
• School coach may privately employ School Principal.
• Principal may not evaluate coach who is his private employer, nor make recommendations to BOE concerning his subordinate employee/employer.
• Assistant Principal may evaluate coach so long as Superintendent or designee, who is not Principal’s subordinate, reviews evaluation.
• Prohibition against direct solicitation of business from subordinate relates to commercial transactions such as sale of goods or services, not employment.

2013-06 State Agency
• Staff may meet with vendors to learn more about their products or services.
• Agency head my not recommend a particular vendor, with limited exceptions.
• If State has sole source contract with vendor, then Agency may advise counties that terms of State contract require using particular vendor(s) or product(s).
• If asked, Agency head not prohibited from communicating to county his opinion on quality of vendor’s services.
• May only give money to vendor if State law expressly authorizes it.
• Agency head may not endorse vendor absent an overriding public benefit.

2013-07 State Agency
• Members of Legislature may enter into contracts with State of West Virginia, including applying for and obtaining loan/financing from state agency.
• Members of Legislature may not use prestige of position to obtain favorable treatment.
• Members of Legislature, in seeking loan/financing may not use confidential information, if any, obtained as a result of Legislative duties.

2013-08 County Prosecutor
• Ethics Act does not prohibit spouse’s employment as school nurse in same county.
• County Prosecutor has voice, influence, and control over Board of Education contracts.
• Spouse of a County Prosecutor may work as school nurse in same county since position is considered a teacher for purposes of § 61-10-15.

2013-09 County Prosecutor
• Ethics Act does not prohibit Assistant Prosecutor from serving as elected County Commissioner in another County, even if counties are situated in same judicial circuit.
• Assistant Prosecutor must perform County Commission duties on his own time, not during public work hours.

2013-10 State University
• May allow private partner to use University’s name and logo for external marketing purposes solely related to the private partner’s program-related products and services, in exchange for free access to private partner’s information management system because such access provides an overriding public benefit to University.
• May not endorse or promote private partner unless there is an overriding public benefit. Decisions on whether an overriding public benefit exists decided on case-by-case basis.

2013-11 State Legislator
• State Legislator may not sponsor legislation relating to issue upon which he advised a client of his private law practice prior to his election to Legislature when bill uniquely affects his client, rather than class of five or more.
• Presiding Officer determines whether to excuse Legislator from voting.

2013-12 Elected Member of the Board of Public Works
• May not endorse private partner in a video on company’s website, even when video legitimately promotes office’s electronic payment program.

2013-13 County Commissioner
Unless it obtains a contract exemption, County Commission prohibited from leasing its marina to business partner of a County Commissioner, even when such marina is unrelated to the partnership.

2013-14 Municipal Public Servant
• A municipal judge who also maintains a private law practice may announce his/her appointment to his/her government position on his/her business website.
• A municipal judge may also continue to represent the Municipal Sanitary Board and receive compensation for that position, with limitations

2013-15 County Law Enforcement Officer
• Unless it obtains a contract exemption, a County Commission may not pay the Chief Deputy any additional compensation for performing duties of 911 Director given the overlap between law enforcement duties and responsibilities of 911 Director. This would constitute impermissible compensation for performance of customary duties in violation of §6B-2-5(b).
• §61-10-15 also prohibits the Chief Deputy from accepting additional compensation as 911 Director, because a law enforcement deputy sheriff or chief enforcement deputy, is a public official with voice, influence, or control over the new 911 Director contract.

2013-19 City Council Member
• A town council member may not (prospectively) rent a building owned by the town.
• The prior lease was proper, as the town council member was not a member at the time of original lease.
• Regarding town’s property offered for rent, the town council must use due diligence, must advertise publicly, offer fair opportunity to compete, and use recent property comparables. After this process, the town may seek a contract exemption. However, the affected town council member may not participate in the decision regarding seeking a contract exemption, but rather must recuse himself/herself.

2013-20 Members of State Legislature
• Members of the state legislature may continue to appear in a TV program for a non- profit foundation where the members received no compensation and had no involvement with solicitation of financial underwriters for future broadcasts.
• Any benefit to the financial underwriters or members of the state is outweighed by the public benefit of the broadcast.

2013-22 State Employee
A state employee may enter into a subcontract via his/her private trucking business with a contractor of a state agency.
Here, the subcontract does not constitute use of public office for private gain because the employee has no control or authority over the selection of the state agency contractor and will not perform work for his/her private trucking business while working for the state agency.

2013-23 Public Service District and its Employees
• A Public Service District may not give unused or out of service items to its employees and the employees therefore, may not sell the same items or keep the proceeds of such sales.
• The Ethics Commission lacks jurisdiction to determine whether an auction website may be used to dispose of such unused or out of service items, or other appropriate disposal of surplus Public Service District property

2013-24 Regional Solid Waste Authority
• A Regional Solid Waste Authority may continue to contract with an insurance agency while the Authority’s Chairperson is Vice President and a principal thereof.
• Part time appointed public officials are exempt from the prohibition against having an interest in the profits or benefits of a public contract over which they have authority or control, provided that the official in his/her public position, is excluded from matters related to the contract.

2013-25 Board Member of Conservation District
• A Conservation District may not reimburse landowner expenses where the provider is a member of the Conservation District Board unless the Conservation District seeks and obtains a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission. (Overruled by statute.)

2013-26 Public Employee of County Development Authority
A Public employee of a County Development Authority who has no direct authority to enter into contracts or control over selection of loan applicants for approval, and his/her spouse may apply for a small business loan through a program the County Development Authority administers. (The loan application must be processed the same as all other applications and the employee may use no influence regarding the application.)

2013-27 Teachers
• Teachers who served on a Textbook Adoption Committee, who participated in selecting and approving a textbook may not enter into subcontracts with a private textbook company for the purpose of training other teachers in the selected textbook’s use.
• WV Code §61-10-15 and § 6B-2-5(d)(1) apply to these facts. Teachers who were members of the Textbook Adoption Committee had influence, voice, and control over the selection of the private textbook company’s textbook and its adoption.

2013-28  Public Employees
• A group of public employees may use a state owned parking garage for a garden in order to distribute produce and flowers to community groups because this activity results in an overriding public benefit.
• The Ethics Commission has discretion to conclude that the public benefit of an activity outweighs the potential for private gain.

2013-30 State Agency Commissioner
• The Ethics Act prohibits the Commissioner of a State Agency that promotes and regulates live dog and horse racing throughout the state from retaining a 20% ownership interest in a horse that will compete in WV. (This commissioner would be subject to regulations which he/she is charged with enforcing, creating a conflict of interest.)
• WV Code § 6B-2-5(k) states there can be no participation in rate making or licensing where the ownership interest is greater than 10%.
• WV Code § 6B-2-5(j) prohibits public servants from voting on matters in which they have a financial interest; therefore the State Agency Commissioner is prohibited from voting on matters related to horse racing.
• The Commissioner of this State Agency is privy to confidential information, and must avoid the appearance of impropriety, or unfair advantage over other horse owners.

2013-31 Elected Member of Board of Public Works
• An elected Member of the Board of Public Works is permitted to allow a private foundation to participate in the State purchase card program, and also to receive rebates from the financial institution.
• The financial benefit to the private foundation would result in an overriding public benefit. The purpose of the private foundation is to support a public institute of higher education. West Virginians are students at the public university. Both the State and the students are beneficiaries of a donation made to a private foundation formed to aid the public university

2013-34 Sheriff's Tax Deputy
• A Sheriff’s Tax Deputy may provide security services to residents and law enforcement throughout the state through a limited liability company with some exceptions.
• The Sheriff’s Tax Deputy is prohibited from charging fees for any goods or services that he or the LLC provides to any government agencies within the county which he/she serves. He/she may not use more than a de minimis amount of public resources for private purposes.
• WV Code § 6B-2-5(o) states there may be no solicitation of private business from subordinate public officials or public employees whom he/she has authority to direct, supervise or control.
• The Sheriff’s Tax Deputy must recuse himself/herself from handling delinquent taxpayer accounts for current or prospective customers of his/her private business.

2013-36 County Assessor
• A County Assessor may purchase office supplies from a company owned by his employee’s fiancé. (The employee has no involvement with supply purchases. The County Assessor has no financial or personal relationship with the employee or his/her fiancé.)
• WV Code § 61-10-15 is applicable to the County Assessor, but not to all county employees.
• There may be no interest in public contracts and no favoritism. The employee has no voice over purchases, and is not a “county official”. The County Assessor is a county official, but there is no Ethics Act violation because the employee has no control over purchases and the County Assessor has no personal or financial relationship with the employee or his/ her fiancé.

2013-38 County Council
A County Council may not use public funds for a meal during a dedication ceremony for the Public Safety Building where the public is not invited. Instead, a County Council may spend a reasonable amount of public funds for light refreshments at a public dedication ceremony and hold a private tour of the facility to accommodate safety concerns, if no additional funds are spent for the tour.

2013-45 City Police Officers
A municipality may not allow its police officers to participate in a program with a local fast food restaurant where police hand out restaurant reward cards to private citizens for performing good deeds. The Ethics Act prohibits endorsement of products and businesses. No overriding public benefit was established.

2013-46 Municipal Officials and Employees
Neither a municipality, nor its elected officials, or its employees may solicit donations of gift certificates from local restaurants to present as gifts to private citizen volunteers. No overriding public purpose was sufficient to overcome the prohibition against solicitation of the public. Active solicitation of local businesses would violate W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c).

2013-47 Town Council Members, County Employee
• Town Council members who are currently employed, or whose spouses are currently employed by the County Board of Education may vote on issues concerning property deeded to the Board of Education.
• W.Va. Code §6B-1-3(b) defines business as “any entity through which business for profit is conducted”. This definition does not include a governing body.
• W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d) states that no elected or appointed public official or public employee or member of his/her immediate family or business with which he/she is associated may be a party to or have an interest in the profits or benefits of a contract which the official or employee may have direct authority to enter into or over which he/she may have control.
• W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(j)(1)(A) states that public officials may not vote on a matter in which they or an immediate family member or a business with which they or an immediate family member is associated have a financial interest.
• The Ethics Commission overrules AO 2012-05, and finds that the Ethics Act does not prohibit a public official from voting on a matter with which his/her public employer has a financial interest. Further, retired employees have no financial interest. Here, a council member who is currently employed by the County Board of Education as a teacher is subject to W.Va. Code§ 61-1-15, but has no voice or control over the contract under these facts.

2013-48 State Agency Employees
A state agency may not allow its death investigators to provide contract services to the county as County Medical Examiners. Investigators would have a conflict of interest as they would be in the position of awarding contracts to one another. If this state agency is unable to find qualified candidates, it may seek a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission.

2013-50 State Agency Employees
State agency employees assigned to various Conservation Districts may participate in a state funded Agricultural Enhancement program that is administered by the Districts because they have no authority or control over these matters. However, state agency employees are cautioned not to take any action related to their own participation in the program except ministerial functions.

2013-51 Commercial Supervisor in County Assessor's Office
• A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may lease residential property in the county in which he/she is employed, because this property is not subject to his/her regulatory action.
• A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may not purchase, sell or lease commercial property in the county where he/she works, because either he/she or his/her subordinates take annual regulatory action on this property. (Personal transactions for personal homes are exceptions.)
• A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may not purchase any commercial property at property tax lien auctions. (The purchase of residential property over which he/she has no regulatory control is permissible at tax auction.)
The only exception is if a property exemption is sought and obtained from the Ethics Commission.
• Any employee of the County Assessor’s office who had the authority to select property for sale at auction and/or control the price or value thereof is prohibited from purchasing the property at auction. Employees of the County Assessor’s office may not engage in real estate transactions, including purchasing property at auction while on the public clock.

2013-52 Board President, County Ambulance Authority
A County Ambulance Authority may purchase property from the brother of its Board President. The Board President’s brother is outside the definition of immediate family and there is no financial relationship between them. The County Ambulance Authority Board President is also not subject to restriction because he/she is a part time appointed official.
The Board President has no financial interest, and therefore may vote on the property purchase. However, favoritism is prohibited in selecting property.

2013-53 County Board of Education
• A county Board of Education member may vote on changing the Board of Education’s financial institution to a local bank in which he/she is a shareholder. He/she holds less than 1% stock so that neither the Ethics Act or W.Va. Code § 61-10-15 prohibit the Board of Education from contracting with the bank in which the board member owns stock. Some limitations apply.
• The board member is prohibited from steering business to this bank, may not use undue influence, and still must recuse himself/herself on votes regarding the bank.
• It is generally impermissible for a county official to have a pecuniary interest in a contract over which he/she has control. (W.Va. Code § 61-10-15(a))
• There is a specific exception for interest in banks in W.Va. Code § 61-10-15(f), though, as long as the person recuses himself/herself from the “deliberations or ultimate determination” of the depository of funds.

2013-54 State Agency Employee
Staff attorneys for a State Agency may serve as Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys. The salary for the Assistant Prosecuting Attorney was not paid by the county Prosecutor’s Office, but by the State Agency. Therefore there is no prohibited private gain and the use of acquired information does not constitute knowing and improper disclosure.

2013-55 County Assessor
A County Assessor’s adult daughter may purchase property in the same county in which he/she works, as the daughter does not reside with the Assessor, and neither the Assessor nor his/her spouse has an ownership interest in the property. The Assessor and his/her spouse may also engage in property purchase transactions in the county, if they are for personal residences. (The Deputy Assessor is authorized to assess the Assessor’s property.)

2013-56 Sheriff / Concealed Weapons Fund
A sheriff may not use the Concealed Weapon Fund to pay for flight lessons and airplane rental for such lessons to acquire his/her pilot’s license. Most of the stated reasons for these expenditures resulted in more personal benefit to the sheriff than to the public. (The sheriff would obtain a lifelong pilot’s license, and began serving the last of two consecutive terms in office in January 2013.) Any surplus in the Concealed Weapons Fund on hand at the end of each fiscal year may be expended for other law enforcement purposes or operational needs of the sheriff’s office as the sheriff may consider appropriate. However, expenditures from the Concealed Weapons Fund must satisfy requirements of the Ethics Act and W.Va. Code § 61-7-4(c). Expenditures must be authorized and must benefit the public.

2013-57 County Commission and Emergency Service Employees
A County Commission may not exempt certain emergency services employees from reporting mileage for personal vehicle use as a taxable fringe benefit. Although employees are on call twenty-four hours a day, the IRS exception for clearly marked emergency vehicles is applicable only where employees strictly use vehicles for emergency response, and commuting to and from their jobs. Under the Ethics Act, the personal use of an emergency vehicle is not the usual and customary duties associated with the office. The unauthorized private use of a public vehicle constitutes use of public office for private gain. The potential liability cost and potential for public safety risk when emergency vehicles are out of service due to personal use is too high to allow it as a permissible fringe benefit.

2013-58 County Commission/Regional Drug Court Team
• A Regional Drug Court Team and its Advisory Board may contract with a County Commissioner to provide dental services to a drug court participant, with limitations.
• The contract for dental work must be let out via a sealed bid process, dental work must not be funded by or comingled with funds from the county commission, and the affected county commissioner must recuse himself/herself from any Drug Court requests for funding directed to the County Commission.
• This dental work was to be paid for from individual donations and grants, and voluntary allocation of County Commission funds did not constitute direct authority or control.

2013-59 State Licensing Board
The Ethics Commission lacked jurisdiction to answer the question presented regarding the licensing board’s enabling legislation, and the potential conflict of interest posed by a member of the State Licensing board accepting a paid position with a private entity and that member’s ability to remain on the state licensing board. The state licensing board should consult the Governor’s office, which has appointing authority for state licensing board members regarding any potential conflicts of interest.

2013-60 State Licensing Board Member overuled by AO 2020-05

A member of a state licensing board may not accept a paid position with a private entity and remain on the board. The private entity is a firm that conducts business with professionals that the state licensing board licenses and regulates. The firm contracts with professionals licensed by the state licensing board in order to provide services to participants in government programs. This state licensing board member would be simultaneously responsible for enforcing compliance with regulations over the same people which he/she represents to a private entity. Under these facts, the public and private roles are too inextricably intertwined and present an impossible impediment to impartiality. This state licensing board member is unable to perform both positions without creating unavoidable conflict of interest and an impermissible use of public office for private gain.

2013-61 Mayor
Is not prohibited from using his /her public position to communicate with other public entities about matters of public concern. It is among the Mayor’s customary duties to communicate on issues directly affecting the city he serves and to use public resources to do so, and these acts do not constitute private gain. In forms of government where the Mayor holds or shares administrative authority, the Mayor may communicate in a public capacity with other public agencies, constituents, organizations, and individuals on behalf of the municipality.

2014-01 County Economic Development Authority
• May solicit and spend funds to underwrite its “County Day at the Legislature”, including expenditures for lunch, transportation, and costs associated with a reception; including rental fees, and for advertising, printing, and office supplies, because its enabling legislation authorizes such solicitation.
• The Ethics Act generally prohibits a public official or employee from soliciting donations unless the solicitation is for a charitable purpose with no resulting direct pecuniary benefit conferred upon the official or employee, or their immediate family, W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(c). Soliciting to subordinate public employees is strictly prohibited.
• After funds are solicited and received, they become public funds. These funds may only be expended for an authorized purpose, may not be spent for private gain, and must be spent using fiscal responsibility.

2014-02 State Board Members
Are not prohibited from serving on the State Board or from voting on the applications submitted by municipalities with which they have a relationship. The Ethics Act’s definition of “business” does not include a governing body, therefore these State Board members do not have a financial interest in the municipal applications under W.Va. Code § 6B-1-3(b).

2014-04 Assistant Park Superintendent
• May serve at the same park where his/her brother has a contract to operate its marina, with limitations. A third party must investigate complaints and report these to his/her supervisor. Assistant Park Superintendent should not inspect the concessions or initiate corrective action, but should either assign another employee to do so, or do so along with another non-subordinate employee.
• Prohibition against interest in public contract is limited to “immediate family members” based on the inherent financial relationships between spouses who live together, as well as dependent children, grandchildren, and parents. By contrast, an adult sibling is not presumptively financially dependent on another sibling. Therefore, the contract between Assistant Park Superintendent’s brother and the state agency is not prohibited under W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d).

2014-08 Appointed Member of County Solid Waste Authority
• May, in his/her private capacity, bring a civil suit against the authority on whose board he/she serves, with limitations.
• Member must recuse him/herself from deliberations or votes related to his/her lawsuit, as he/she has a direct financial interest in the litigation, and is a party to the litigation. Member is further prohibited from discussing, deliberating, or voting on waste hauling certificates of convenience and necessity by the Public Service Commission, the subject matter of the lawsuit.
Member is further prohibited from participating in the authority’s development of any plan regarding related matters, unless done as a member of a class of five or more similarly situated parties.
• Member must not use his/her public position to further his/her private interests, must not use confidential information obtained through his/her public position to further private interests, and may not informally communicate with fellow appointed members of the authority to influence voting related to the lawsuit.

2014-11 Sheriff
• May expend funds from the Sheriff’s Concealed Weapons Fund for the purpose of fitness supplies and equipment to assist the Sheriff’s deputies in meeting annual fitness requirements of the position because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties.
• May expend funds from the Sheriff’s Concealed Weapons Fund for the purpose of paying for dry-cleaning of officers’ uniforms because the expenditure meets the Ethic Act’s definition of “the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services”.
• Expenditures from the Sheriff’s Concealed Weapons Fund are public funds, and may not be used for private gain, must be authorized expenditures, and must be related to law enforcement purposes, or the operating needs of the Sheriff’s Office.

2014-12 Sheriff
May not sell unused or surplus weapons directly to the son of a Deputy Sheriff and deposit the money into the Concealed Weapons Fund, as it would be using his public position to benefit the son of a subordinate in violation of the Act’s prohibition against use of public office for private gain, and would be an unavoidable conflict of interest.

2014-14 City Council Member/Municipal Employee
• May vote on general issues affecting municipal employees such as better working conditions, including raises, so long as there are more than five municipal employees, as well as issues affecting the overall municipal budget. He may further vote on issues directly affecting other departments which do not employ him.
• May not vote to advocate on behalf of municipal employees in his own department or deliberate on matters specific to that department unless there are five or more employees in that department.
• He must further recuse himself completely from any matters which affect him uniquely.

2014-15 State Agency
• May sell advertising to defray the cost of wellness tools on its website to assist public employees to improve their health because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties and the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services.
• Selling such advertising does not constitute prohibited endorsement of a vendor or product, and so the state agency must include a disclaimer with the advertisement making clear that the appearance of the advertising should not be construed as endorsement.
• Must allow equal access for advertising to all businesses or classes of businesses related to health and wellness.

2014-16 City Hospital
May permit employees to raise funds for coworkers experiencing financial hardship as this activity serves a charitable purpose, with limitations. These charitable funds may not be deposited into the City Hospital’s account. Fundraising activities based on an exchange of value are not gift solicitations and are permissible. City Hospital may permit employees to sell commercial products with limitations. Employees may also sell items for fundraising with limitations. In both instances, there may be no coercion, no solicitation of subordinates, no more than de minimis time and resources used for these activities, and announcements must be posted in areas accessible only to employees, not the general public.

2014-17 County Sheriff
Does not have a prohibited conflict of interest if his father-in-law bids on or is awarded a contract with the Sheriff’s office. The definition of “immediate family member” does not include father-in-law, and there is no financial relationship between the Sheriff and his father-in-law, so there is no prohibited financial interest.

2014-19 State Regulatory Agency
May employ someone who owns stock in a regulated company, and whose spouse is employed in the regulated industry, as its Division Director. Where stock ownership was less than 5%, the director would file Financial Disclosure Statements, would have no authority over contracts, and regulation would be pursuant to statutory formula, employment was permissible. Such employment is not prohibited under revolving door rules, nor would such employment create an inescapable conflict.

2014-20 Legislator
A legislator may not use the franking privilege to send material that is susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate. If a Legislator sends mail using the franking privilege, during any election season when that Legislator's seat is being contested, to recipients selected due to their voting frequency, that action cannot realistically be construed as anything other than an attempt to influence voters in order to win an election. The act of adding a photograph, regardless of the circumstances surrounding its addition, does not violate the Ethics Act.

2015-04 Legislator
A Legislator may continue to appear in advertising for his own personal business but may not use his title or any public resources to promote his business.

2015-07 College
A College may not use public funds to buy meals for its employees at events held by a local chamber of commerce.

2015-08 Public Service Commission Chairman
• Chairman of Public Service Commission Board may not take or withhold any action with the intent to improperly benefit a conflicted Board member or another person as opposed to benefitting the PSD.
• The Ethics Act does not, per se, require the Requester to delay a Board meeting or disclose information to the Board which causes him to believe that a conflict exists which would prohibit another member from legally voting under the Ethics Act.

2015-11 Public Officials
Public officials’ official websites may include an official’s photograph on home page or biographical pages or sections, but multiple photos should not be used. If official played a role in selecting, editing or approving content of educational materials which were printed with private funds, and disseminated materials to public, multiple photographs of officials should not be used. Items classified as trinkets under W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5c, and banners and table skirts containing an official’s name and photo, may not be used even if they were purchased before effective date of statute.

2015-12 County Sheriff
Utilization of excess home incarceration funds may be used to purchase police cruisers, Tasers and fixed radar units for Sheriff’s Office under the Ethics Act. Use of funds for equipment to be used by Home Confinement Officers is acceptable.

2015-13 County Commissioner
Public officials may recognize businesses and individuals for contributions to economic development and charitable purposes by attending “ribbon cuttings” and through resolutions or proclamations. Providing testimonials or favorable reviews of a business’s products or services is not permissible. Official may post portrait photograph and of attendance at public events on official social media. AO does not set a limit on the number of photographs of a public official that may appear on an agency’s social media. Ethics Act does not restrict use of personal social media. Public officials may not use public resources to manage or post on their personal or campaign social media.

2015-14 County Ambulance Authority
It would be a violation of the Ethics Act for the Executive Director of a County Ambulance Authority to request and receive a personal loan from the County Ambulance Authority for the purpose of transferring from the Public Employees Retirement System to the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System.

2015-16 County Building Commission Member
A County Building Commission member may purchase and develop property owned and managed by a County Urban Renewal Authority without violating W. Va. Code §§ 6B-2-5(d)(1), 6B-2-5(b) or 61-10-15.

2015-21 State Agency
A State Agency may contract with a vendor to provide flat screen monitors which will broadcast public service announcements and paid advertising in its regional office lobbies if: (1) the agency selects the vendor in accordance with applicable purchasing laws; (2) the advertisements do not include political advertisements or feature persons or the names of persons who are candidates for public office; (3) the agency includes a disclaimer to ensure that the advertising does not constitute a prohibited endorsement, and (4) public service announcements from other agencies may not contain the name or likeness of a public official. The sale of advertising under these circumstances does not constitute the prohibited solicitation of a gift.

2015-22 Cabinet Secretary
• May use staff to handle business and social aspects of a conference his agency is hosting as conference provides an overriding public benefit.
• May not solicit donations to fund the conference because it does not constitute a “charitable purpose” under the Ethics Act.

2015-23 Elected State Official
May host telephonic town hall meetings, but the official’s name may not be used in the recorded message played in conjunction with the meeting. The official may not conduct telephonic town hall meetings in the 60 days immediately before a primary, special or general election. These limitations do not apply to telephonic town hall meetings conducted with campaign funds.

2016-09 State Agency Manager
State agencies may use public funds, within reason, to purchase kitchen appliances such as water coolers, including water for the coolers, coffee makers, microwave ovens, toaster ovens and refrigerators for use by state employees at work because the individual private gain to employees is counterbalanced by an overriding public benefit to state agencies.

2016-11 State Legislator
May purchase business cards with private funds that replicate his State-issued business card on one side and display his campaign information on the other provided that both sides of the business cards state that they are paid for by the Legislator. The Opinion cautions that the Ethics Act prohibits any use of state resources, including the Legislator’s state telephone and email address, in furtherance of his personal re-election campaign.

2016-14 Municipal Fire Department
Municipal Fire Department may purchase coffee with public funds for its guests in its main lobby as long as purchasing coffee is an authorized expenditure under the relevant state laws, rules and opinions. Fire Department’s expenditure of funds for coffee for its employees is de minimis. Ethics Commission did not determine whether purchasing coffee for public employees in general is permissible.

2016-16 State Agency
A State Agency may produce and sell calendars because the calendars fall within the usual and customary duties of the State Agency to provide information and education to the public. The State Agency may donate a de minimis amount of proceeds from the calendars to a memorial fund that aids in providing plaques and maintenance to the West Virginia Fallen Firefighter Memorial. The agency may solicit donations on behalf of the memorial fund because providing plaques and maintenance to the West Virginia Fallen Firefighter Memorial constitutes a charitable purpose. The agency may not solicit donations to underwrite its duty to provide public education and information. This Opinion is based upon the specific facts of this request and may not be relied upon in other situations.

2016-18 Prosecutor-elect
The Prosecutor-elect, upon becoming Prosecutor, may not consider hiring the outgoing former Prosecutor to serve as a special prosecutor in a position funded by a grant the former Prosecutor assisted the county and a local nonprofit organization in obtaining.

2017-05 Manager of a Legislative Office
Public employee would not violate the Ethics Act by joining a purchasing cooperative even though it would result in a sales commission to the vendor’s representation because the expectation of future benefits provides an overriding public benefit sufficient to justify the private benefit to the sales representative.

2017-07 Manager of a Legislative Office
Microsoft’s Home Use Program “HUP” is not a prohibited gift or private gain to employees due to the following circumstances: HUP is offered to all eligible employees; HUP is not offered to impair the impartiality of employees with the authority to determine whether to do business with Microsoft; HUP is made available to a large group of customers, and HUP adds no additional cost to the public agency.

2017-08 State Agency
A State Agency charged with providing health care benefits to public employees may contract with a private company to provide a wellness program that offers financial rewards to public employees.

2017-13 Elected Mayor
An elected mayor’s private business may participate as a vendor at a municipal association conference. He may be a speaker at the conference in his private capacity. He must instruct the association that it may not endorse his business or encourage participants to conduct business with his business. His public position may be referenced in biographical information and when he is introduced as a speaker.

2017-22 A State Agency
A part-time appointed state board member whose spouse has a finder’s fee agreement with property owners applying for inclusion in the board’s conservation easement program may serve on the board or one of its subcommittees, but must recuse himself from all board and subcommittee matters involving conservation easement applications.

For recusal to be proper, he must disclose the nature of his spouse’s financial interest in the contract and comply with the other recusal requirements in W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(j) and related Legislative Rule governing interests in public contracts, W. Va. Code R. § 158-8-5 (2009).

Advisory Opinion 2017-22 overrules, in part, Advisory Opinions 2009-08 and 2011-18

2017-24 Director of a State Agency
Ethics Act does not prohibit the state agency from including a link on its website to its cyber liability insurance producer for the benefit of non-state entities. The agency must, however, allow equal access on its website to all producers for cyber liability insurance and include a disclaimer explicitly stating it is not endorsing the producer, any insurance carrier or its services or products.

2018-02 A County Commission
The Ethics Commission was unable to determine whether there is implied or express authority for a county commission to use public funds to buy lunches for county elected officials and their staffs for an annual working lunch meeting. If the Office of the Attorney General or Auditor’s Office opines there is express or implied authority for the expenditure, then the expenditure of public funds for this purpose would not violate the Ethics Act.

2018-03 State Agency Manager
Following the restrictions imposed by an agency’s applicable State Travel Rules satisfies the requirements of the Ethics Act when determining when it is reasonable for a public employee to book and seek reimbursement for overnight lodging while on official business.

2018-04 A State Agency Manager
Before purchasing meals for its officials or employees, public agencies should review applicable laws to determine whether there is express or implied authority for the expenditure. When a meal is authorized, reimbursement at a rate established by the West Virginia Travel Rules does not violate the Ethics Act. Nothing in the Opinion grants express or implied authority to spend public funds for meals under the Ethics Act.

2018-07 A County Commission
A County Commission may allow the Sheriff to live rent-free in a house located in the county park because the Sheriff’s presence would enhance security at the park and he would repair and maintain the house.

2019-02 A State Agency Manager
A State Agency may use public funds to print personal contact information on elected officials’ business cards because communicating with constituents is part of the usual and customary duties associated with the office and providing the personal contact information makes officials more accessible, which serves a public purpose. The use of personal contact information does not have the primary purpose of promoting the elected officials, so the use of public funds to print business cards with personal contact information does not violate the name or likeness provision’s prohibition on advertising.

2019-11 Town
The Ethics Commission was unable to determine whether donating police cruisers to a private college was permissible under other state statutes, common law or elsewhere. If donating the cruisers to the college is allowable, doing so would not violate the Ethics Act.

2019-13 An Officer of a State Agency
A state agency officer may use his personal rewards cards when purchasing gasoline with a state-issued credit card and keep the bonus points for his personal use.

2019-14 A City Police Officer
A city police officer may not include pictures of himself in uniform in his campaign material because the police uniform conveys the endorsement of his police agency, which is the type of private gain the Ethics Act is intended to prohibit.

2019-17 A State Board Member
A part-time appointed State Board member may, in his private capacity and for private pay, teach continuing education courses to licensees because the State Board has delegated the responsibilities for approving courses to its Education Committee and staff, the Requester does not serve on the Education Committee and he is not otherwise involved in approving continuing education courses. Limitations to this ruling are set forth in the Opinion.
Distinguishes Advisory Opinion 2006-14 by finding that a board member may teach continuing education courses when the board has delegated the responsibility of approving courses to staff and a committee on which he does not serve.

2019-18 State Employee
May seek election to a county public office. He may not campaign during public work hours or use public resources to subsidize campaign.

2019-21 State employee
May simultaneously serve as a part-time elected mayor. He must perform his mayoral duties on his own time and not during his public work hours unless he takes annual or unpaid leave.

2019-24 Town Council
May not approve and pay an invoice submitted by the previous mayor’s wife if the previous mayor made, participated in making, or in any way attempted to use his office to influence the town’s decision with respect to his wife’s work.

2019-25 A City Treasurer
A city may provide meals to employees who are required to work beyond their normal work schedule due to an unscheduled emergency such as a water line break. Providing meals under these circumstances does not constitute prohibited use of office for private gain because there is a counterbalancing public benefit to having city employees remain on-site to respond to an emergency.

2019-26 A State Agency
A state agency may fund raise and solicit donations to assist potential foster families in meeting requirements for their homes to become approved foster homes and to fund rewards and incentives to students who display positive behaviors because fundraising is not prohibited by the Ethics Act and the solicited donations would be used for charitable purposes.

2019-29 A Sheriff's Office Employee
A Sheriff’s Office Employee may seek election to a partisan public office. He may not campaign during public work hours or use public resources to subsidize his campaign.

2020-01 State Agency
A state agency’s technician may not include “licensed pesticide applicator” on his public work e-mail when the certification is wholly unrelated to the technician’s job duties and when the technician is seeking to provide pesticide services as part of a private business venture.

2020-03 A State Appeals Board member
The Ethics Act does not prohibit a State Appeals Board member from serving as a member of a Political Executive Committee. While nothing in the Ethics Act prohibits a public official from serving as a member of a Political Party Executive Committee, the Commission has no jurisdiction to rule whether other laws or policies prohibit it.

2020-04 Governor
The Governor may use state aircraft for trips to and from Lewisburg to destinations outside of Charleston on official state under the following conditions:
(i) the primary purpose of the flight from Lewisburg is justified by an official public policy
reason, e.g., security or scheduling needs, and not merely for the convenience of the
Governor;
(ii) the flight from Lewisburg is not being used as a pretext to engage in non-state
business, and
(iii) the Governor must document the specific justification for using state aircraft for each
flight from Lewisburg.

The Governor may participate in personal and campaign activities following his state work and before his return flight in state aircraft under the following conditions:
(i) the primary purpose of the trip is for official state business;
(ii) the trip is not being used as a pretext to engage in non-state business, and
(iii) any additional meals, lodging, or other travel expenses that the Governor incurs in
serving a secondary purpose, e.g., a campaign or personal function, must be paid by
the source associated with that secondary purpose.

2020-05 A part-time State Board member
A part-time State Board member may be employed by a professional association whose members are regulated by the State Board on which he serves. Overrules Advisory Opinion 2013-60.

2020-08 A Chief Deputy Sheriff
A chief deputy sheriff may not include pictures of her badge in her campaign material.

2020-09 A Retired City Police Officer
The Ethics Act does not prohibit a retired city police officer who is also a candidate for sheriff from wearing his uniform in his campaign material.

2020-14  Sheriff
A sheriff’s office may use public funds to install a fence at a K-9 handler’s private residence for security and liability purposes.

2021-01 County School Superintendent
A Board of Education may pay the Superintendent’s attorney fees for the defense of a pending ethics complaint if the Board of Education finds that paying the attorney fees and other defense costs is in the best interest of the Board of Education and that the three-part test in Powers v. Goodwin, 291 S.E.2d 466 (W. Va.1982) has been satisfied.

A Board of education may procure liability insurance which may provide a defense to its Superintendent or other school officials and personnel for a pending ethics complaint if it has legal authority to do so and it serves a public purpose.

2021-02 Mayor
May appear in a video using his name and public title to promote and solicit donations for a local nonprofit drug and alcohol recovery center as it provides a charitable purpose.

2021-04 Prosecutor

A Prosecutor may not continue to employ her boyfriend because he received an unfair advantage in the hiring process as the Prosecutor did not advertise the position.

2021-05 County Commission

2021-06 College Professor

Public higher education institutions may use public funds for meals for college-approved student events, regardless of whether the event is held on or off campus, if the expenditure is for a legitimate government purpose.

A public higher education institution may not exclusively invite one candidate for public office to speak about his or her platform to a class.

2021-07 County Assessor

May park his county-assigned vehicle at his home to use for travel related to his public duties.

2021-08 County Board of Education

2021-15 County Health Department

Agency may not allow its employees to use their agency-provided cellular phone as their personal cellular phone unless the employees pay a reasonable fee to the agency. Employees may not use their agency-provided cellular phone for commercial or political campaign purposes. The de minimis use of an agency-provided cellular phone for personal purposes is permissible.

2021-19 Town Recorder

2021-16 Board of Education Member, Public Employee

The Ethics Act prohibits a board of education member or employee from using board of education facilities on terms more favorable than those available to the public.

2021-21 County Board of Education

2021-23 County Commission

The Ethics Commission held that if the County Commission determines that building the proposed waterline extension project benefits the County by promoting tourism or economic development, then using American Rescue Plan funds for the project would not violate the Ethics Act even if the developer may uniquely benefit from the project.

2022-02 County Commission Employee

A county commission employee may be a candidate for and hold office on city council. She must comply with the restrictions in the Opinion.

2022-06 County Board of Health President

2022-17 County Board of Education Member

The Ethics Act permits BOE members and school superintendents to speak for or against two proposed constitutional amendments. Public resources may be used to educate the public on the amendments but not to advocate for or against the “Education Accountability Amendment” since no private gain is involved. Public resources may not be used to advocate for or against the “Property Tax Modernization Amendment” since private gain is involved.

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Property Purchase Restrictions

2010-24 Board of Education

May purchase property owned, in part, by a Sheriff’s Chief Tax Deputy.
Chief Tax Deputy does not exercise control over BOE contracts.
Chief Tax Deputy not subject to § 61-10-15 since position is neither statutorily created nor does she take an oath of office.
May not purchase property owned, in part, by a part-time Assistant Prosecutor, absent contract exemption due to the prohibitions of West Virginia Code § 61-10-15.
Assistant Prosecutor exercises control over BOE contracts by providing legal representation.Assistant prosecutor meets the “part-time appointed public official” exception to the Ethics Act’s public contract limitation.
Assistant Prosecutor is a public official for purposes of § 61-10-15 since position is statutorily created and he takes an oath of office.
Assistant Prosecutor exercises voice, influence, or control over BOE contracts.

2012-38 Part-time Appointed Member of a Review Commission

May provide referral list of names of companies and individuals as prospective buyers to owners of distressed properties appearing before Review Commission.
May, if Review Commission unable to assist in facilitating sale of distressed property (despite providing list of prospective buyers), as part-time appointed public official, purchase property from interested person subject to the following limitations:

may not use confidential information acquired in course of official duties to further own personal interests or the interests of another person; and
must recuse self from all matters relating to subject property.

2013-51 Commercial Supervisor in County Assessor's Office

A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may lease residential property in the county in which he/she is employed, because this property is not subject to his/her regulatory action.
A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may not purchase, sell or lease commercial property in the county where he/she works, because either he/she or his/her subordinates take annual regulatory action on this property. (Personal transactions for personal homes are exceptions.)
A commercial supervisor in the County Assessor’s office may not purchase any commercial property at property tax lien auctions. (The purchase of residential property over which he/she has no regulatory control is permissible at tax auction.)
The only exception is if a property exemption is sought and obtained from the Ethics Commission.
Any employee of the County Assessor’s office who had the authority to select property for sale at auction and/or control the price or value thereof is prohibited from purchasing the property at auction. Employees of the County Assessor’s office may not engage in real estate transactions, including purchasing property at auction while on the public clock.

2013-55 County Assessor

A County Assessor’s adult daughter may purchase property in the same county in which he/she works, as the daughter does not reside with the Assessor, and neither the Assessor nor his/her spouse has an ownership interest in the property.
The Assessor and his/her spouse may also engage in property purchase transactions in the county, if they are for personal residences. (The Deputy Assessor is authorized to assess the Assessor’s property.)

2015-10 A City Code Enforcement Officer
Is prohibited from acquiring property within the city which he/she regulates without first obtaining a contract exemption from the Ethics Commission.

2015-16 County Building Commission Member
A County Building Commission member may purchase and develop property owned and managed by a County Urban Renewal Authority without violating W. Va. Code §§ 6B-2-5(d)(1), 6B-2-5(b) or 61-10-15.

2017-18 Cabinet Secretary
W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(h) does not prohibit a Cabinet Secretary’s lease of real property to a firm which has or may have regulatory matters before his department as the lease predates his appointment to public office and is being continued under its original terms. He may not use his public office to unlawfully benefit the firm and must seek a Property Exemption from the Ethics Commission if he seeks to make a material change, such as a rent increase, to the terms of the lease.

2018-06 Fire Chief
A deputy fire marshal may lease and operate a private club that is subject to the City’s fire code as long as neither he nor a subordinate of his inspect or investigate matters concerning the club.

2019-28 Pre-candidate for Sheriff
The Ethics Act permits a Sheriff to continue to operate a real estate business that leases and sells property to individuals and businesses in the same county. A Sheriff may not seek to sell or lease property to persons who have been the subject of a regulatory matter within the last 12 months or which currently have a matter before the Sheriff’s Office, such as persons under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office, delinquent in paying county taxes or subject to a warrant.

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Revolving Door

2002-08 County Board of Education member

2011-04 Per Diem Legislative Attorney

Per Diem Legislative Attorney, who is not, on July 1, 2011, a Legislative employee as defined by the IRS, is not subject to revolving door prohibition. Independent contractors are not covered by the Ethics Act.

2011-19 A State Licensing Board

May spend public funds to hire registered lobbyist, to serve as a Legislative liaison. Registered lobbyist retained by a public agency as Legislative liaison must register as a lobbyist. Revolving door prohibition does not apply to contract employee/former executive director who terminated employment before July 1, 2011 cut-off date.

2012-25 State Employee

May represent clients before his former agency upon his departure from government without waiting one year. Not an “appointed public official” so one year limitation does not apply because:

position not created by law
no oath of office
neither full-time staff attorney nor accountant

May not represent clients in matters in which he was substantially involved.
May not use or reveal confidential information.
May register as lobbyist upon his departure from government without waiting one year since he is not under direct supervision of Member of Executive Department.

2013-39 Former State Employee

The Ethics Act contains a one-year “cooling off” period which prohibits certain high-ranking government officials and employees from registering as Lobbyists for one year following their departure from government. The Ethics Commission has no statutory authority to grant exemptions.

This former employee, as general counsel to an agency under the Executive Department, did not report directly to the Governor and was not directly supervised by his staff. Employee reported directly to a Cabinet Secretary and Deputy Secretary for Legal Services.
The Ethics Act’s revolving door prohibition is inapplicable to this former state employee, but he may not use or reveal any confidential information from his past position.

2014-18 Retired State Agency Employee
May accept a new position with a private consulting firm which contracts with his/her former employer, with limitations. The retired employee may not improperly disclose confidential information or use it for his/her own or another’s personal interests. Revolving door restrictions do not apply, because the retired employee’s state agency position was not created by law, was not appointed by the governor, and was not either the position of attorney or accountant. If the retired employee must appear before his/her former agency, he/she must first seek the agency’s approval to do so.

2014-19 State Regulatory Agency
May employ someone who owns stock in a regulated company, and whose spouse is employed in the regulated industry, as its Division Director. Where stock ownership was less than 5%, the director would file Financial Disclosure Statements, would have no authority over contracts, and regulation would be pursuant to statutory formula, employment was permissible. Such employment is not prohibited under revolving door rules, nor would such employment create an inescapable conflict.

2016-02 Former Legislative Research Analyst
A former Legislative Research Analyst may register as a lobbyist after the termination of his employment without being subject to the one-year post-employment waiting period.

2019-09 A City Council Member
The Ethics Act’s “revolving door” provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(g), does not prohibit a City Council member from representing a client before the City’s Board of Zoning Appeals in a building permit dispute.

2019-27 City Council Member
The Ethics Act’s “revolving door” provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(g), and prohibited representation provision, at W. Va. Code § 6B-2-5(f), do not prohibit a City Council member from representing a client in traffic code violations before the City’s Municipal Court.

2022-12 Former Deputy Secretary of a State Department

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Solicitation of Business

1996-06 Board of Education Human Resources Director

A BOE human resources director may not solicit teachers to buy tax-deferred annuities at a teachers meeting.

1998-20 County Board of Education

A County Board of Education member may not sell home security systems to BOE employees, subject to statutory exceptions.

2004-07 Law Enforcement Officials

Law enforcement officials in a professional association may engage in fundraising activities for charitable purposes while on duty and in uniform, but not for their own private gain.

2012-48 State Licensing Board

May not hire candidate for executive director when candidate rents from Board Member who is also subject to the Board’s regulation.
Although candidate received property exemption to lease from Board Member, its terms require him and his subordinates to be removed from all matters affecting Board Member.
Impossible for candidate to comply with requirements of property exemption due to Board’s small staff, administrative structure, and business relationship between candidate and Board Member

2014-15 State Agency

May sell advertising to defray the cost of wellness tools on its website to assist public employees to improve their health because it falls within the Ethics Act’s definition of usual and customary duties and the advancement of public policy goals or constituent services.
Selling such advertising does not constitute prohibited endorsement of a vendor or product, and so the state agency must include a disclaimer with the advertisement making clear that the appearance of the advertising should not be construed as endorsement.
Must allow equal access for advertising to all businesses or classes of businesses related to health and wellness.

2018-01 A County Commission
The sale of sponsorships for park benches is not a gift solicitation but a fund-raising activity based upon an exchange of value either commercial or personal. Potential sponsors may not be coerced into buying a sponsorship and may not receive unlawful or political favoritism in return for purchasing a sponsorship.

2019-14 A City Police Officer

A city police officer may not include pictures of himself in uniform in his campaign material because the police uniform conveys the endorsement of his police agency, which is the type of private gain the Ethics Act is intended to prohibit.

2020-08 A Chief Deputy Sheriff
A chief deputy sheriff may not include pictures of her badge in her campaign material.

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Voting and Recusal

1996-30 Town Council Member

A Town Council member may be employed by the town as a police officer, but must follow voting provision of Act.

1997-23 County Commission/Economic Development Authority

A County Commission/Economic Authority may issue bonds that may benefit a company for which a county commissioner/ EDA member works as his financial interest is too remote to prohibit it. The member should not vote on the issuance of the bonds. [This decision was based on Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.]

1997-29 State Board Member

A State Board member may vote on a proposed project which may benefit his public employer because no private gain results.

1998-02 City Council Member

A City Council member may not vote on a matter that indirectly affects his client because the matter was “personal” to him. [This decision was based on Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.]

1998-08 County Board of Education Member

A County Board of Education member who is a retired teacher may vote to increase stipend amounts to retirees due to class exception.

1999-11 City Council Member

A City Council member who is a trustee of the city’s VFD may vote on matters affecting a class of individuals.

[This decision was based on Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.]

1999-19 Board of Education Member

A Board of Education member may not vote on the outcome of litigation she was initially involved in because it was “personal'' to her. [This decision was based on Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.]

2000-02 Municipal Hospital Board Member

2000-10 State Commission Members

State Commission Members may not vote on licensing and rate-making proceedings if their licenses would be directly affected as a result. Member’s license would be directly affected due to the limited availability (40) of licenses.

2000-13 County Board of Education

2000-17 County Board of Education Member

A Board of Education Member may not vote on a personnel matter that could significantly impair his tenant's ability to pay his rent.

2000-23 County Board of Education Member

A County Board of Education Member may purchase electricity from the spouse's employer that was the sole source of electricity, but may not vote to pay bills from the utility company that employs her spouse.

2000-27 City Council Member

A City Council Member may not vote on a matter concerning a foundation that has been represented in other matters by the member’s law firm. [This decision was based on Legislative Voting Rule, Title 158, Series 9, which has since been repealed.]

2000-34 County Board of Education Members

County Board of Education Members may vote on settling a grievance affecting a county commissioner who is one of 15 current and former teachers who filed the grievance.

2000-35 County Board of Education Member

A County Board of Education Member who had a workers’ compensation claim may vote on matters involving the company hired by the county to administer its workers compensation claims.

2000-37 County Board of Education Member

A County Board of Education Member need not recuse himself if it is necessary to maintain a quorum.

2000-41

West Virginia Ethics Commission

Ethics Advisory Opinions

​Conflict of Interest

​Confidential Information

​Contract Exemptions

West Virginia
Ethics Commission

Conflict of Interest

Confidential Information

Contract Exemptions