RulesCommunications Highlights 2006 0302

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a. Rates of Reimbursement In addition, the Sunshine Bill also allows —but does not require —a city to specify the rates at which it will reimburse its council members and other covered officials for their expenses in the policies mentioned above. If a city does not set up a customized, city -specific rate, all expense reimbursement must use the default rates set forth by the federal Internal Revenue Service in Publication 463 ("Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses"). The Sunshine Bill also states that if lodging costs are incurred in connection with an official conference (e.g., a League of California Cities Conference), the lodging reimbursement may not, by law, exceed the group rate published by the conference sponsor. b. Documentation The Sunshine Bill requires any city that adopts an expense reimbursement policy to, in conjunction with such a policy, require the submission of expense reports and receipts from city council members and other officials who request reimbursements for their expenses. Such reports shall be considered public records subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. The falsification of expense reports or the misuse of public funds is subject to civil and criminal penalties under the Sunshine Bill. C. Public Report Finally, the Sunshine Bill states that, as a condition for the reimbursement of expenses incurred while attending outside meetings, a city council member or other covered official must provide a brief report or presentation on that meeting at the next regular city council meeting. While such presentations or reports are already done in many cities as a matter of good administration and procedure, it is now specifically mandated by the Sunshine Bill. 2. New Ethics Training Requirements Ethics Traininq Obliqation The Sunshine Bill also imposes new education requirements on local elected and appointed city officials. As you well know, local government officials are required to obey the various ethics laws (e.g., the laws pertaining to conflicts of interest, the Brown Act, gift and travel restrictions, mass mailing restrictions, due process requirements, etc.). However, unlike their state government brethren, local government officials were not previously required to actually take any seminars or be trained on such laws. The Sunshine Bill changes this state of affairs and now requires each member of a legislative body of a city that receives any type of compensation, salary or stipend for his or her service or reimbursements for his or her expenses to now undergo at least two hours of ethics training every two years. The City will have to keep records for at least five years after each training in order to document and prove that these continuing education requirements were actually satisfied.