SB 143--
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SENATE BILL No. 143
By Senators Hardenburger, Clark, Harrington, Huelskamp, Jordan,
Oleen, Ranson and Sallee 1-29
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AN ACT concerning state governmental ethics; relating to solicitation by
state officers and employees; relating to gifts and honoraria; amending
K.S.A. 46-271 and K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 46-236 and 46-237 and repealing
the existing sections; also repealing K.S.A. 46-277.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 46-236 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 46-236. No state officer or employee, candidate for state office
or state officer elect shall solicit any economic opportunity, gift, loan,
gratuity, special discount, favor, hospitality, or service from any person
known to have a special interest, under circumstances where such officer,
employee, candidate or state officer elect knows or should know that a
major purpose of the donor in granting the same could be to influence
in exchange for the performance or nonperformance of the official duties
or prospective official duties of such officer, employee, candidate or state
officer elect.
Except when a particular course of official action is to be followed as
a condition thereon, this section shall not apply to: (1) Any contribution
reported in compliance with the campaign finance act; (2) a commercially
reasonable loan or other commercial transaction in the ordinary course
of business; or (3) any solicitation for the benefit of any charitable organ-
ization which is required to file a registration statement with the secretary
of state pursuant to K.S.A. 17-1740 17-1763, and amendments thereto,
or which is exempted from filing such statement pursuant to K.S.A. 17-
1741 17-1762, and amendments thereto, or for the benefit of any edu-
cational institution or such institution's endowment association, if such
association has qualified as a nonprofit organization under paragraph (3)
of subsection (c) of section 501 of the internal revenue code of 1986, as
amended.
Sec. 2. K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 46-237 is hereby amended to read as fol-
lows: 46-237. (a) No state officer or employee, candidate for state office
or state officer elect shall accept, or agree to accept any economic op-
portunity, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount, favor, hospitality, or
service
having an aggregate value of $40 or more in any calendar year from any
one person known to have a special interest, under circumstances where
such person knows or should know that a major purpose of the donor is
to influence such person in exchange for the performance or nonperform-
ance of their official duties or prospective official duties of such officer,
employee, candidate or state officer elect.
(b) No person with a special interest shall offer, pay, give or make
any economic opportunity, gift, loan, gratuity, special discount, favor, hos-
pitality or service having an aggregate value of $40 or more in any calendar
year to any state officer or employee, candidate for state office or state
officer elect with a major purpose of influencing such officer or employee,
candidate for state office or state officer elect in exchange for the per-
formance or nonperformance of official duties or prospective official du-
ties of such officer, employee, candidate or state officer elect.
(c) No person licensed, inspected or regulated by a state agency shall
offer, pay, give or make any economic opportunity, gift, loan, gratuity,
special discount, favor, hospitality, or service having an aggregate value
of $40 or more in any calendar year to such agency or any state officer
or, employee, candidate for state office or state officer elect of that agency
in exchange for the performance or nonperformance of official duties or
prospective duties of such agency, state officer, employee, candidate for
state office or state officer elect of such agency.
(d) Hospitality in the form of recreation, food and beverages are pre-
sumed not to be given to influence a state officer or employee, candidate
for state office or state officer elect in the performance of official duties
or prospective official duties, except when a particular course of official
action is to be followed as a condition thereon. For the purposes of this
subsection, the term recreation shall not include the providing or the
payment of the cost of transportation or lodging.
(e) Except when a particular course of official action is to be followed
as a condition thereon, this section shall not apply to: (1) Any contribution
reported in compliance with the campaign finance act; or (2) a commer-
cially reasonable loan or other commercial transaction in the ordinary
course of business.
(f) No state officer or employee shall accept any payment of honoraria
for any speaking engagement except that a member of the state legislature
or a part-time officer or employee of the executive branch of government
shall be allowed to receive reimbursement in the preparation for and the
making of a presentation at a speaking engagement in an amount fixed
by the Kansas commission on governmental standards and conduct prior
to the acceptance of the speaking engagement. Nothing in this section
shall be construed to prohibit the reimbursement of state officers and
employees for reasonable expenses incurred in attending seminars, con-
ferences and other speaking engagements.
(g) The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to or prohibit
the acceptance of gifts from governmental agencies of foreign nations
except that any gift accepted from such foreign governmental agency,
having an aggregate value of $100 or more, shall be accepted on behalf
of the state of Kansas.
(h) No legislator shall solicit any contribution to be made to any or-
ganization for the purpose of paying for travel, subsistence and other
expenses incurred by such legislator or other members of the legislature
in attending and participating in meetings, programs and activities of such
organization or those conducted or sponsored by such organization, but
nothing in this act or the act of which this act is amendatory shall be
construed to prohibit any legislator from accepting reimbursement for
actual expenses for travel, subsistence, hospitality, entertainment and
other expenses incurred in attending and participating in meetings, pro-
grams and activities sponsored by the government of any foreign nation,
or any organization organized under the laws of such foreign nation or
any international organization or any national, nonprofit, nonpartisan or-
ganization established for the purpose of serving, informing, educating
and strengthening state legislatures in all states of the nation, when paid
from funds of such organization and nothing shall be construed to limit
or prohibit the expenditure of funds of and by any such organization for
such purposes.
Sec. 3. K.S.A. 46-271 is hereby amended to read as follows: 46-271.
No lobbyist shall offer, pay, give or make any economic opportunity, gift,
loan, gratuity, special discount, favor, hospitality, or service having an
aggregate value of $40 or more in any calendar year to any state officer
or, state officer elect, employee or candidate for state office with a major
purpose of influencing such officer or employee in exchange for the per-
formance or nonperformance of official duties or prospective official du-
ties of such officer, employee, candidate or state officer elect. Hospitality
in the form of recreation, food and beverages are presumed not to be
given to influence a state officer or, state officer elect, employee or can-
didate for state office in the performance of official duties, except when
a particular course of official action is to be followed as a condition
thereon.
Except when a particular course of official action is to be followed as
a condition thereon, this section shall not apply to (1) any contribution
reported in compliance with the campaign finance act as amended, or (2)
a commercially reasonable loan or other commercial transaction in the
ordinary course of business.
Sec. 4. K.S.A. 46-271 and K.S.A. 46-277 and K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 46-
236 and 46-237 are hereby repealed.
Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.