Opinion ID: 2176972
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Substantial-Conflict Legislation

Text: The Governor is also challenging G.L. 1956 (1990 Reenactment) § 36-14-5(a), as amended by P.L. 1992, ch. 436, § 1 and 36-14-7, as amended by P.L. 1992, ch. 132, § 1, asserting that the statutes violate the separation-of-powers doctrine and rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Section 36-14-5(a) prohibits an individual from having any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engag[ing] in any business, employment, transaction, or professional activity, or incur[ring] any obligation    which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties or employment in the public interest   . A substantial conflict arises when a person has reason to believe or expect that he or she or any person within his or her family or a business associate or a business he or she is employed by or represents will derive monetary gain or loss by reason of his or her official duty. See § 36-14-7(a). There is no substantial conflict if the public official, or the other related party noted in § 36-14-7(a), is affected by the activity to no greater extent than any other similarly situated member of the business, profession, occupation, or group, or of the significant and definable class of persons within the business, profession, occupation or group. Section 36-14-7(b). After receiving the Governor's request, we learned that the questions propounded regarding §§ 36-14-5(a) and 36-14-7 are involved in litigation now pending in this court and in the District Court. We have heard oral argument in respect to case No. 92-433, Edward D. DiPrete v. Richard W. Morsilli, during the month of October 1993 and the District Court is currently reviewing case No. 61-93-13305, State v. Thomas F. Fay. [G]rave difficulties could follow if we were to give a purely advisory opinion upon the proposed question, only to be confronted later with the necessity of deciding the same question after a hearing, upon review or otherwise, in the litigated case.    [L]egal and constitutional rights [could be] unnecessarily prejudiced by our having reached a considered opinion    upon a material question of law which we knew to have been involved in [a] conviction, without first having afforded [the defendant] a full hearing   . Opinion to the House of Representatives, 88 R.I. 396, 399-400, 149 A.2d 343, 345 (1959); see also Opinion to the House of Representatives, 433 A.2d 944 (R.I. 1981). We have recognized this situation as the pending-litigation exception to the rendition of an advisory opinion. In view of the likely and grave consequences noted, we reluctantly decline to express any opinion at this time on the questions propounded regarding §§ 36-14-5(a) and 36-14-7. The Governor also claims that Ethics Advisory No. 13 and Ethics Advisory Opinion No. 92-30 contain an unconstitutional proscription of legislators' First Amendment rights. The purpose of Ethics Advisory No. 13 was to publicize the commission's views and interpretations of the code of ethics as they apply to members of the General Assembly who are in some manner employed or associated with outside business interests that may come before the General Assembly. Ethics Advisory No. 13 concluded that the code of ethics prohibited legislators from introducing, discussing, or voting on legislation affecting the legislator's own or related party's financial interests. This conclusion carried an exclusion to the complete prohibition similar to the one noted in § 36-14-7(b). The advisory stated that there will probably not be a conflict if the interest of the public figure is affected to no greater or lesser extent than the interests of all of the other members of an affected group to which the public figure or related party belongs. The advisory concluded that if a legislator, because of the code of ethics, is prohibited from introducing, discussing, or voting on legislation on the floor of the legislative chamber, he or she is nevertheless permitted to testify and give his or her opinions before legislative committees that may be holding public hearings on the affected legislation. The commission noted that advisory No. 13 could not address every situation imaginable and encouraged public officials to seek advice about how the law applies to their own situations. In advisory opinion No. 92-30 the commission rendered an opinion pursuant to a request from Senator Sandra K. Hanaway of Cumberland (Hanaway). Hanaway is employed by an insurance agency that earns 90 percent of its income in connection with the sale of personal automobile and homeowner's insurance policies. Hanaway inquired whether the ethics laws allowed her to sponsor or participate in the voting on workers' compensation or automobile tort-reform legislation. The commission concluded that because less than 10 percent of her employer's income came from the sale of workers' compensation policies, she would not be violating the code of ethics if she participated in legislative matters concerning workers' compensation legislation. The commission did find, however, that Hanaway should not sponsor or participate in the voting of automobile tort-reform legislation since those activities may represent a substantial conflict. The commission found that those activities could result in direct monetary gain or loss for Hanaway's employer. This advisory opinion is not the proper forum for questioning the constitutionality of an advisory opinion issued by the commission. First, as stated earlier in this advisory, we render an advisory opinion to the Governor only when the question asked concerns the constitutionality of an existing statute. In re Advisory Opinion (Chief Justice), 507 A.2d at 1318-19. An advisory opinion of this court merely represents the individual opinions of the justices of this court and is not a binding precedent. Lerner v. Gill, 463 A.2d 1352, 1365 (R.I. 1983). Because our advisory opinions are not binding, it follows logically that the commission's advisories cannot be binding and thus do not fall within the parameters necessary for our review. Second, § 36-14-15 provides that any judicial review of any action by the commission shall be subject to the Administrative Procedures Act. That act provides, pursuant to G.L. 1956 (1988 Reenactment) § 42-35-15, that the injured party is entitled to judicial review by filing a complaint in the appropriate court. Neither of the advisories has been appealed by any injured party. The Governor's question is therefore not properly before this court. We shall not consider rendering an advisory opinion when the petition is improperly before this court or procedurally defective. In re Advisory Opinion (Chief Justice), 507 A.2d at 1319-20.