Utah Code » Title 67, Chapter 16 — Utah Public Officers' and Employees' Ethics Act
Utah Code

Utah Code § 67-16-5 (2026)

Accepting gift, compensation, or loan -- When prohibited

✓ current as of May 2026
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As used in this section, "economic benefit tantamount to a gift" includes:
a loan at an interest rate that is substantially lower than the commercial rate then currently prevalent for similar loans; and
compensation received for private services rendered at a rate substantially exceeding the fair market value of the services.
Except as provided in Subsection (4), it is an offense for a public officer or public employee to knowingly receive, accept, take, seek, or solicit, directly or indirectly for himself or another a gift of substantial value or a substantial economic benefit tantamount to a gift:
that would tend improperly to influence a reasonable person in the person's position to depart from the faithful and impartial discharge of the person's public duties;
that the public officer or public employee knows or that a reasonable person in that position should know under the circumstances is primarily for the purpose of rewarding the public officer or public employee for official action taken; or
if the public officer or public employee recently has been, is now, or in the near future may be involved in any governmental action directly affecting the donor or lender, unless a disclosure of the gift, compensation, or loan and other relevant information has been made in the manner provided in Section 67-16-6.
Subsection (2) does not apply to:
an occasional nonpecuniary gift, having a value of not in excess of $50;
an award publicly presented in recognition of public services;
any bona fide loan made in the ordinary course of business; or
a political campaign contribution.
This section does not apply to a public officer or public employee who engages in conduct that constitutes a violation of this section to the extent that the public officer or public employee is chargeable, for the same conduct, under Section 63G-6a-2404 or Section 76-8-105.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 1999–1999 · leading case: State v. Pearson, 1999 UT App 220 (Utah Ct. App. 1999).
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State v. Pearson, 1999 UT App 220 (Utah Ct. App. 1999). · cites it 2× “Defendant was charged with one count of abuse of official position, a second degree felony in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 67-16-5 (1996), failure to disclose transaction to government employer, a class A misdemean- or in violation of Utah Code Ann.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.