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Senate Bill 585 |
Senate Author: Carona |
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Effective: 9-1-09 |
House Sponsor: Kent |
Senate Bill 585 amends the Transportation Code to prohibit a policy board member or employee of a metropolitan planning organization from accepting or soliciting any gift, favor, or service that might reasonably tend to influence the member or employee in the discharge of official duties or that the member or employee knows or should know is being offered with the intent to influence the member's or employee's official conduct; accepting other employment or engaging in a business or professional activity that the member or employee might reasonably expect would require or induce the member or employee to disclose confidential information acquired by reason of the official position; accepting other employment or compensation that could reasonably be expected to impair the member's or employee's independence of judgment in the performance of the member's or employee's official duties; making personal investments that could reasonably be expected to create a substantial conflict between the member's or employee's private interest and the public interest; or intentionally or knowingly soliciting, accepting, or agreeing to accept any benefit for having exercised the member's or employee's official powers or performed the member's or employee's official duties in favor of another.
The bill requires each policy board to establish an ethics policy consistent with these prohibitions and to distribute a copy of the ethics policy to each employee and policy board member. The bill establishes provisions relating to violation of a prohibition or a related ethics policy.