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(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)
Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton said the commission has a backlog of requests for advisory opinions in the wake of the Mike Hubbard trial and will hold a special meeting on Sept. 1.
Albritton said the meeting was not specifically about requests related to the Hubbard trial. But he said the commission received a large number of opinion requests in July.
Hubbard was convicted of 12 felony ethics violations in June.
"The trial created some obvious anxiety out there for those that are affected by the act," Albritton said. "So I think that people are seeking guidance now before they act."
Formal advisory opinions, which are subject to approval of the five-member commission and are published, provide protection from prosecution if followed.
Hubbard sought informal advice from the commission staff before entering consulting contracts that later led to some of the charges against him. Informal advice does not provide the same protection.
Prosecutors also said Hubbard failed to follow the commission's informal advice.
The commission normally meets every 60 days, and its next regular meeting will be in October.
Albritton said he did not want those requesting opinions to have to wait until October. He said he has encouraged people to seek formal opinions rather than informal advice.
"It exposes the decision to the light of day," Albritton said. "I think that increases the accountability for those involved and lets the public know what we're doing."
Nonprofit organizations are among those seeking new guidance on the ethics law.
The Alabama Association of Nonprofits is seeking clarification on how the law affects fundraising by organizations whose board members include public officials and their family members, and on the how the term "principal" is defined under the law.
Association CEO Shannon Ammons wrote the association's members to alert them of concerns.
The concerns were raised, in part, by an opinion the Ethics Commission issued last year about state Rep. Patricia Todd, who was then director of the Human Rights Campaign of Alabama, a gay rights advocacy group.
That opinion appeared to restrict the ability of any public official or public employee to raise funds on behalf of a nonprofit organization and restrict the ability of "principals" to make donations following a request from a public official or public employee, Ammons said.
Other concerns stem from expert testimony in Hubbard's ethics trial.
Former Ethics Commission Executive Director Jim Sumner, during his testimony for the state, explained the meaning of the term "principal" in the ethics law.
The law says a principal is any person or business that hires a lobbyist.
Sumner said top decision-makers at businesses that hire lobbyists are principals. Board members could be considered principals, he said, depending on the organization.
Ammons cautioned association members that board members for organizations that hire lobbyists could be principals and therefore subject to the ethics law.
"Recent interpretations of the Act seem to have expanded the definition of 'principal' to potentially include all (or many) of your employees and any person serving on your organization's board," Ammons wrote to association members.
The definition matters because transactions between public officials and principals are subject to some of the same restrictions as transactions between public officials and lobbyists.
For example, it's a violation of the ethics law for a public official to seek a thing of value, like a donation, from a principal. Campaign contributions and gifts of minimal value are allowed.
And it's a violation of the law for a principal to give a thing of value to a public official.