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2018 Georgia Code 45-10-20 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 45-10-20 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 45-10-20

TITLE 45 PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

Section 10. Codes of Ethics and Conflicts of Interest, 45-10-1 through 45-10-92.

ARTICLE 2 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

45-10-20. Definitions.

As used in this part, the term:

  1. "Agency" means any agency, authority, department, board, bureau, commission, committee, office, or instrumentality of the State of Georgia but shall not mean a political subdivision of the State of Georgia.
  2. "Business" means any corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, self-employed individual, trust, or other legal entity.
  3. "Employee" means any person who, pursuant to a written or oral contract, is employed by an agency.
  4. "Family" means spouse and dependents.
  5. "Full-time" means 30 hours of work for the state per week for more than 26 weeks per calendar year.
  6. "Limited powers" means those powers other than state-wide powers.
  7. "Part-time" means any amount of work other than full-time work.
  8. "Person" means any person, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, organization, or other legal entity.
  9. "Public official" means any person elected to a state office and means any person appointed to a state office where in the conduct of such office the person so appointed has administrative and discretionary authority to receive and expend public funds and to perform certain functions concerning the public which are assigned to him or her by law.
  10. "State-wide powers" means those powers exercised by public officials which affect and influence all of state government. Public officials who exercise such powers include but are not limited to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, members of the General Assembly, Justices of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Court of Appeals, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the state auditor, the state accounting officer, the commissioner of administrative services, members of the State Personnel Board, the director of the Office of Planning and Budget, judges of the superior courts, and district attorneys.
  11. "Substantial interest" means the direct or indirect ownership of more than 25 percent of the assets or stock of any business.
  12. "Transact business" or "transact any business" means to sell or lease any personal property, real property, or services on behalf of oneself or on behalf of any third party as an agent, broker, dealer, or representative and means to purchase surplus real or personal property on behalf of oneself or on behalf of any third party as an agent, broker, dealer, or representative.

(Code 1981, §45-10-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 1326, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 45; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1337, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 694, § 36/HB 293; Ga. L. 2009, p. 745, § 2/SB 97; Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 2-71/HB 642.)

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1985, "administrative services" was substituted for "the Department of Administrative Services" in paragraph (10).

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 3-1/HB 642, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Personnel, equipment, and facilities that were assigned to the State Personnel Administration as of June 30, 2012, shall be transferred to the Department of Administrative Services on the effective date of this Act." This Act became effective July 1, 2012.

Ga. L. 2012, p. 446, § 3-2/HB 642, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Appropriations for functions which are transferred by this Act may be transferred as provided in Code Section 45-12-90."

Law reviews.

- For article, "Conflicts of Interests of Public Officers and Employees," see 13 Ga. St. B.J. 64 (1976).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Pharmacy selling medicine to a Medicaid recipient is not selling personal property to Department of Medical Assistance (now Department of Community Health) and hence is not "transacting any business" with the department. Georgia Dep't of Medical Assistance v. Allgood, 253 Ga. 370, 320 S.E.2d 155 (1984).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Transactions by brothers of officials.

- Transactions with state agencies by family members of public officials which are statutorily prohibited are limited to transactions by the official's spouse or dependents, not the official's brothers. 1984 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 84-18.

Member of Board of Offender Rehabilitation is public official.

- Since members of the Board of Offender Rehabilitation have a scope of influence which is more or less limited to the Department of Offender Rehabilitation, and in view of the statutory definition of "state-wide powers," a board member is a public official with limited powers. 1984 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 84-18.

State Personnel Board member.

- A member of the State Personnel Board is prohibited from representing a private client, for a fee, in a court of law or in any other adversarial proceeding where such representation might defeat the official public actions of another public officer. 1991 Op. Att'y Gen. 91-25.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Officers and Employees, § 247 et seq.

C.J.S.

- 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 80 et seq.

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 45-10-20

Total Results: 3  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Georgia Ports Auth. v. Harris, 549 S.E.2d 95 (Ga. 2001).

Cited 26 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jul 2, 2001 | 274 Ga. 146, 1 Fulton County D. Rep. 2064, 1 FCDR 2064

...uences that result from a per se prohibition against lawyer-legislators representing clients against the government. We also take note of the enactment the year after Sistrunk of the public officers and employees conflicts of interest statutes, OCGA § 45-10-20 et seq., Ga....
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Georgia Dep't of Med. Assistance v. Allgood, 320 S.E.2d 155 (Ga. 1984).

Cited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 25, 1984 | 253 Ga. 370

...Appeals were filed by the providers under the provisions of the APA (OCGA § 49-4-153 (c)) in their respective superior courts, all three of which ruled in favor of the providers and against DMA, which appealed to this court. The providers contend that they are not "transacting business" under OCGA § 45-10-20 (12), and thus not subject to the Code of Ethics provisions, but even if they are "transacting business," such transactions were exempt under OCGA § 45-10-25 (3) when the Code of Ethics was adopted in 1983 and are now specifically exempt...
...ons in subsection (b) are inapplicable here. [2] (Other exceptions appear in OCGA § 45-10-25 and will be considered below.) The phrase "part-time public official who has state-wide powers" is defined to include members of the General Assembly. OCGA § 45-10-20 (7), (9), (10). "Family" is defined and means spouses and dependents. OCGA § 45-10-20 (4). "Substantial interest" is defined as "the direct or indirect ownership of more than 25 percent of the assets or stock of any business." OCGA § 45-10-20 (11). "Transact any business" means "to buy, sell, or lease any personal property, real property, or services on behalf of oneself or on behalf of any third party as an agent, broker, dealer, or representative." OCGA § 45-10-20 (12). [3] "Agency" is defined to include departments of the state and thus includes the Department of Medical Assistance. Applying OCGA § 45-10-24 (a) (1), supra, as defined by OCGA § 45-10-20, supra, to the facts of these cases, it provides that it shall be unlawful for any business in which a member of the General Assembly or his spouse owns more than 25% of the stock, on its behalf or as agent or representative of a third party, to sell or lease any personal or real property or services to DMA....
...They make space available and provide services to their patients. [4] DMA receives no property or service. Thus, the nursing homes are not "transacting any business" with DMA within the meaning of OCGA § 45-10-24 (a) (1) as the phrase "transacting any business" is defined by OCGA § 45-10-20 (12)....
...We agree. "[T]he state is clearly not a purchaser" of Medicaid drugs, there is no sale of personal property to the state, and hence the pharmacy here involved is not transacting business with DMA as the phrase "transact any business" is defined in OCGA § 45-10-20 (12), supra....
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Crozer v. Reichert, 561 S.E.2d 120 (Ga. 2002).

Cited 3 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 11, 2002 | 275 Ga. 118, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 734

...II, Par. I, and that even if he were, the evidence did not, as a matter of law, support plaintiffs' contention that there was a conflict of interest. [3] Public official 1. While SBA relies on the definition of "public official" as contained in OCGA § 45-10-20(9), [4] the term consistently has been given broad application by our appellate courts....
...subordinate. Although Reichert and Thomas County did not seek summary judgment, the trial court's grant of summary judgment to SBA impacted on those defendants in the same manner. Thomas County has filed a brief as appellee to this appeal. [4] OCGA § 45-10-20(9) defines "public official" as "any person elected to a state office and means any person appointed to a state office where in the conduct of such office the person so appointed has administrative and discretionary authority to receive a...