CEO 76-44 -- February 13, 1976

FINE ARTS COUNCIL OF FLORIDA NOT AN ADVISORY BODY

To: (Name withheld at the person's request.)

Prepared by: Gene Rhodes

SUMMARY:

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees defines the term "advisory body" to include any body "whose total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of each agency it serves or $100,000, whichever is less, and whose powers, jurisdiction, and authority are solely advisory and do not include the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to its internal operations." As a program component and operation within the Division of Cultural Affairs, Department of State, the Fine Arts Council operates on a $51,000 budget, plus an additional $441,000 in grant funds. As this total appropriation does not constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of the division, the Fine Arts Council is not deemed to be an advisory body for purposes of the Code of Ethics.

QUESTION:

Is the Fine Arts Council of Florida an "advisory body" within the meaning of that term as it is defined in the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees?

Your question is answered in the negative.

Your letter of inquiry advises us that the Fine Arts Council (FAC) of Florida is a program component and operation within the Division of Cultural Affairs, Department of State, and that the Department of Administration does not consider the FAC as a separate budget entity. Subsequent to your request, the Division of Cultural Affairs provided us with the Summary of the 1976-1977 Legislative Budget by Appropriation Category for the FAC. That document indicates that the FAC's budget, excluding Grants-in-Aid, is approximately $51,000. Your letter of inquiry advises us that the budget for the Division of Cultural Affairs is approximately $116,000. Therefore, the FAC's budget represents about 44 percent of the division's total budget. Additionally, the FAC received $441,000 in grant funds this year. However, the FAC only recommends expenditures of grant funds to the Secretary of State, who in turn has the final authority to expend such funds. See Laws of Florida, Ch. 75-280, Item 1097.

The Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees defines the term "advisory body" to include

any board, commission, committee, council, or authority, however selected, whose total budget, appropriations, or authorized expenditures constitute less than 1 percent of the budget of each agency it serves or $100,000, whichever is less, and whose powers, jurisdiction, and authority are solely advisory and do not include the final determination or adjudication of any personal or property rights, duties, or obligations, other than those relating to its internal operations. [Fla. Stat. s. 112.312(1)(1975).]

The Code of Ethics additionally defines the term "agency" to mean

any state, regional, county, local or municipal government entity of this state, whether executive, judicial, or legislative; any department, division, bureau, commission, authority or political subdivision of this state therein; or any public school, community college, or state university. [Fla. Stat. s. 112.312(2)(1975).]

The Division of Cultural Affairs clearly is an agency pursuant to the above-quoted definition. As a body serving the Division of Cultural Affairs, the FAC would have to have a total budget of less than 1 percent of the division's budget to qualify as an advisory body. In fact, the FAC's budget is approximately 44 percent of the division's budget and the FAC therefore does not qualify as an advisory body under the Code of Ethics. The FAC's budget is less than 1 percent of the Department of State's budget; however, s. 112.312(1), quoted above, requires that an advisory body have a budget of less than 1 percent of each agency it serves. Consequently, even one serviced agency with a budget of which the FAC's budget represents 1 percent would exclude the FAC from the definition of an advisory body.

Your question is answered accordingly in the negative.