Section 14: County employees; financial interest in contracts of county agency

300 words·~1 min read·/ma/part-iv/title-i/chapter-268a/14

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Section 14. A county employee who has a financial interest, directly or indirectly, in a contract made by a county agency of the same county, in which the county or a county agency is an interested party of which financial interest he has knowledge or has reason to know, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years, or in a jail or house of correction for not more than 2 1/2 years, or both.

This section shall not apply if such financial interest consists of the ownership of less than one per cent of the stock of a corporation.

This section shall not apply

(a)to a county employee who in good faith and within thirty days after he learns of an actual or prospective violation of this section makes full disclosure of his financial interest to the contracting agency and terminates or disposes of the interest, or

(b)to a county employee who does not participate in or have official responsibility for any of the activities of the contracting agency, if the contract is made through competitive bidding and his direct and indirect interests and those of his immediate family in the corporation or other commercial entity with which the contract is made do not in the aggregate amount to ten per cent of the total proprietary interests therein, or

(c)to a special county employee who does not participate in or have official responsibility for any of the activities of the contracting agency and who files with the state ethics commission a statement making full disclosure of his interest and the interests of his immediate family in the contract, if the county commissioners approve the exemption of his interest from this section.