New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 19 - OTHER AGENCIES › STATE ETHICS COMMISSION › Chapter 61 - STATE ETHICS COMMISSION › Subchapter 6 - ATTENDANCE AT EVENTS, ACCEPTANCE OF HONORARIA, ACCEPTANCE OF COMPENSATION FOR PUBLISHED WORKS, AND ACCEPTANCE OF THINGS OF VALUE › Section 19:61-6.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, as used in this subchapter,
					 shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise.
"Allowable entertainment expenses" means the costs for a
					 guest speaker, incidental music and other ancillary entertainment at any meal
					 at an event, provided they are moderate and not elaborate or excessive, but
					 does not include the costs of personal recreation, such as being a spectator at
					 or engaging in a sporting or athletic activity which may occur as part of that
					 event.
"Approval" means, for the purposes of
					 19:61-6.4 and 6.5, written
					 permission from the department head to attend and/or participate in an event
					 and/or to accept direct or indirect benefits in connection with
					 attendance.
"Department head" means the administrative or executive
					 head of the State official's agency or his or her designee.
"Direct benefit" means acceptance by a State official from
					 the event sponsor or any other person of travel, meals, accommodation, waiver
					 of conference or event fee or any other costs associated with attending the
					 event for which no payment is made by the State but is not intended to mean
					 nominal refreshments such as nonalcoholic beverages and snacks (doughnuts,
					 pastries and cookies).
"Event" means a meeting, conference, seminar, speaking
					 engagement, symposium, training course, ground-breaking, ribbon-cutting, meal,
					 open house, cocktail party, fundraiser, holiday party, social function, or
					 similar event that takes place away from the State official's work location, is
					 sponsored or co-sponsored by a supplier or a non-State government source and
					 the invitation for which is extended to the State official because of his or
					 her official position. Meetings that are part of an employee's job
					 responsibilities at which no direct or indirect benefits are offered are not
					 "events" for purposes of this subchapter.
"Indirect benefit" means acceptance by a State official
					 from the event sponsor or any other person of reimbursement for costs of
					 travel, meals, accommodation, event fees, or any other costs associated with
					 attending the event for which no reimbursement is made by the State but is not
					 intended to mean nominal refreshments such as nonalcoholic beverages and snacks
					 (doughnuts, pastries and cookies).
"Interested party" means:
1. Any person, or employee, representative or agent
					 thereof, who is or may reasonably be anticipated to be subject to the
					 regulatory, licensing or supervisory authority of the State official's
					 agency;
2. Any grantee or grantor of the State official's agency,
					 or employee, representative or agent thereof;
3. Any supplier, or employee, representative or agent
					 thereof;
4. Any organization that advocates or represents the
					 positions of its members to the State official's agency; or
5. Any organization a majority of whose members are as
					 described in paragraphs 1 through 3 above.
"Personal funds" means funds of a State official. It does
					 not include funds that are loaned, advanced, promised or reimbursed to a State
					 official for any purpose by an interested party.
"Published work" means any tangible medium of expression,
					 including, but not limited to, literary, pictorial, graphic and sculptural
					 matter; sound recordings; and software.
"Reasonable expenditures for travel or subsistence" means
					 commercial travel rates directly to and from an event and food and lodging
					 expenses which are moderate and neither elaborate nor excessive.
"Scholarly capacity" means any pedagogical, academic,
					 artistic, educational or scholarly activity performed by a State official for
					 the institution of higher education that employs or has appointed such State
					 official.
"Supplier" means any person that is providing or is seeking
					 to provide or may reasonably be expected to provide goods and/or services to
					 the State official's agency, including, but not limited to, consultants,
					 vendors and lessors.
"Thing of value" includes, but is not limited to,
					 compensation; money; a stock, bond, note or other investment in an entity;
					 employment, offer of employment; gift; reward; honorarium; favor; goods,
					 service; loan; forgiveness of indebtedness; gratuity; property or real
					 property; labor; fee; commission; contribution; rebate or discount in the price
					 of any thing of value; an automobile or other means of personal transportation;
					 entertainment; meal; or any other thing of value offered to or solicited or
					 accepted by a State official in connection with his or her official
					 position.