Ethically Speaking

Inheritance Is Not an Ethics Act Violation

Mark Boardman, Attorney, Boardman, Carr, Petelos, Watkins & Ogle P.C.

All of us have seen lots of scary things for Halloween. Have you ever considered whether you can be “corruptly influenced” from the graveyard?

Perhaps one of the more difficult sections of the Alabama Ethics Act is what gifts you can and cannot accept as a public official or a public employee. In previous Ethically Speaking articles, we have discussed gifts for Christmas, wedding gifts, and football tickets. 1 The Ethics Act prohibits a public official or public employee from accepting a gift from someone the public employee inspects, regulates, or supervises in his or her official capacity. 2 The Ethics Act intends to prevent gifts from corruptly influencing official action.

Regarding educators, the Alabama Ethics Commission wrote in 2011:

The suggestion that it is harmless for a school child to give a Christmas gift to their teacher ignores the potential for abuse.

Suppose for example that a Junior High School child is struggling and hopes by giving a nice gift to the teacher, the teacher will reward them with a better grade. Or that the High School Senior who is attempting to get into a quality college, does the same thing.

Finally, what of a college senior who is attempting to get into Harvard Law School?

These examples illustrate the potential for abuse. What started off as a simple gift now may be attempting to corruptly influence official action. 3

The Alabama Legislature specifically carved out an exception for anything you, as a public official or a public employee, receive through inheritance. Specifically, the Legislature decided that a “thing of value” does not include an inheritance. The Legislature wrote, “Nothing in this chapter [the Alabama Ethics Act] shall be deemed to limit, prohibit, or otherwise require disclosure of gifts through inheritance received by a public employee or public official.” 4

Without this provision in the law, one might question whether a public official or employee could inherit from their own family, let alone someone he or she supervised, inspected, or regulated. This statute also displays common sense, because a dead person cannot benefit from an attempt to “corruptly influence” official action.

Thus, from football tickets to gifts to bank accounts full of cash, you, as a public official or a public employee, can inherit.

References

1 See Vol. 47, No. 4 The Ethics Act and Christmas Gifts (Fall 2019), Vol. 48, No. 1 The Ethics Act and Wedding Gifts (Winter 2020), Vol. 49, No. 3 Accepting Tickets from Vendors (Summer 2021), and Vol. 49, Issue 4 Accepting Tickets Part

2 (Fall 2021) 2 Alabama Code Section 36-25-5(a)

3 Alabama Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion No. 2011-12, page 16.

4 Alabama Code Section 36-25-1(34)(c)