Case Title: In Re Code of Judicial Conduct (Fin. Disc.)

Citation: 348 So. 2d 891

Docket Number: 

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1977-07-28T00:00:00Z

Document:
348 So. 2d 891 (1977)
In re CODE OF JUDICIAL CONDUCT (FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE).
No. 46773-A.

Supreme Court of Florida.
July 28, 1977.
Gunter Stephenson, Winter Haven, Chairman, and John T. Wigginton, Tallahassee, Member, for the Special Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct.
PER CURIAM.
The Code of Judicial Conduct places more restrictive limitations upon judicial officers as it relates to their financial activities than are now prescribed for other public officials. This Court has previously recognized the need to amend Canons 5 and 6 of the Code of Judicial Conduct relating to financial disclosure and gifts in order to effectively coordinate the method of reporting for judicial officers under Article II, Section 8, of the Constitution of Florida, and the financial disclosure forms prescribed by the Ethics Commission.[1] We established a special committee and requested that it make recommendations to this Court as to how Canons 5 and 6 should be modified to comply with the new constitutional provision, and requested the chairman of the committee, The Honorable Gunter Stephenson, formerly chairman of the Committee on Standards of Judicial Conduct, and The Honorable John T. Wigginton, General Counsel of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, to meet with the Ethics Commission and its staff to attempt to coordinate the means of financial reporting for judicial officers of this state. Their report recommends appropriate amendments which we hereby adopt making only procedural and stylistic changes and adding commentary for full understanding of the amendments.[2]
We hereby amend Canon 5, subsection C(4)(c), to read as follows:
Canon 5C(4)(c) remains the same except for its reference to the method of reporting gifts in Canon 6.
We hereby amend Canon 6 to read as follows:
The amendment to this Canon requires in 6B(2) a separate gift report to be filed in the office of the Secretary of State on September 15, 1977, and on July 1 of each year thereafter. The form to be used for that report is included in the commentary to Canon 6. It should be noted that Canon 5, as it presently exists, restricts and prohibits the receipt of certain gifts. This provision is not applicable to other public officials.
With reference to financial disclosure if the judge chooses the limited disclosure alternative available under the provisions of Article II, Section 8, of the Constitution of Florida, without the inclusion of his Federal Income Tax Return, then he must file his tax return confidentially with the Commission and also list the names of corporations or other business entities in which he has a financial interest even though the amount is less than $1,000. This information remains confidential until a request is made *894 by a party to a cause before the judge. This latter provision continues to ensure that complete financial information for all judicial officers is available with the Judicial Qualifications Commission and that parties who are concerned about a judge's possible financial interest have a means of obtaining that information as it pertains to a particular cause before the judge.
The amendments to Canons 5 and 6 are effective immediately, and all judicial officers of this state are directed to comply therewith on the dates prescribed therein.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C.J., and ADKINS, BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG, HATCHETT and KARL, JJ., concur.
[1]  The Florida Bar Re: Petition for Advisory Opinion Concerning the Applicability of Chapter 74-177, 316 So. 2d 45 (Fla. 1975); In Re: Code of Judicial Conduct (Fla., Order of the Court filed October 9, 1975) (order establishing Special Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct); In Re: Code of Judicial Conduct (Financial Disclosure), Case No. 46,773-A (Fla., filed March 10, 1977) (order extending date for filing financial disclosure form required by Canon 6 to July 1, 1977); In Re: Code of Judicial Conduct (Financial Disclosure), Case No. 46,773-A (Fla., filed June 22, 1977) (order extending disclosure required by Canon 6, but recognizing need to comply with Article II, Section 8, of the Florida Constitution).
[2]  The report of the Committee is contained in the Appendix to this opinion.