Facts
You are a member of the General Court as well as principal with your wife in Inc., a Massachusetts corporation ("the Company"). The Company does work with a variety of municipal agencies and also with a state entity, the University ("the University").
Question
You ask whether this situation presents a conflict of interest under General Laws Chapter 268A.
Answer
The Commission concludes that your company's state contracts present a conflict of interest under § 7 of G.L. c. 268A but its municipal contracts do not violate any provision of the law.
Discussion
In rendering this opinion, the Commission has relied upon the facts as you have stated them and has not made any independent investigation of those facts. As a member of the Genera Court, you are a state employee as defined in s. 1(q) of G.L. c. 268A. Section 7 prohibits a state employee from having a direct or indirect financial interest in a contract made by a state agency. The University is such an agency. See § 1(p). Members of the General Court are exempted from the § 7 prohibition if their "direct and indirect interests and those of their immediate family in the corporation ... with which the contract is made do not in the aggregate amount to ten percent of the total proprietary interests therein", the contract is competitively bid, and disclosure is made to the State Ethics Commission. See exemption (c) of § 7. Since you and your wife own more than 105 of the Company, the foregoing exemption is not applicable to you.
Decision
Accordingly, you will be in violation of § 7 unless within 30 days of receipt of this opinion, you,
1) make a full disclosure to the University of your financial interest in the matter and
2) terminate or dispose of the interest (see § 7(a)). In your case you would comply with the second requirement if you simply terminated your company's arrangement with the school. Section 7 will not, however, prohibit you from contracting with municipal agencies.[*]
Sincerely,
Scott Harshbarger
General Counsel
End Of Decision
