2023 Form 1 Instructions

Notice

The annual Statement of Financial Interest is due July 1, 2024. If the annual form is not submitted via the electronic filing system created and maintained by the Commission September 3, 2024, an automatic fine of $25 for each day late will be imposed, up to a maximum penalty of $1,500. Failure to file also can result in removal from public office or employment. [s. 112.3145, F.S.]

In addition, failure to make any required disclosure constitutes grounds for and may be punished by one or more of the following: disqualification from being on the ballot, impeachment, removal or suspension from office or employment, demotion, reduction in salary, reprimand, or a civil penalty not exceeding $10,000. [s. 112.317, F.S.]

When To File:

Initially, each local officer/employee, state officer, and specified state employee must file within 30 days of the date of his or her appointment or of the beginning of employment. Appointees who must be confirmed by the Senate must file prior to confirmation, even if that is less than 30 days from the date of their appointment.

Candidates must file at the same time they file their qualifying papers.

Thereafter, file by July 1 following each calendar year in which they hold their positions.

Finally, file a final disclosure form (Form 1F) within 60 days of leaving office or employment. Filing a CE Form 1F (Final Statement of Financial Interests) does not relieve the filer of filing a CE Form 1 if the filer was in his or her position on December 31, 2023.

Who Must File Form 1

1. Elected public officials not serving in a political subdivision of the state and any person appointed to fill a vacancy in such office, unless required to file full disclosure on Form 6.
2. Appointed members of each board, commission, authority, or council having statewide jurisdiction, excluding those required to file full disclosure on Form 6 as well as members of solely advisory bodies, but including judicial nominating commission members; Directors of Enterprise Florida, Scripps Florida Funding Corporation, and Career Source Florida; and members of the Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys; the Executive Director, Governors, and senior managers of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation; Governors and senior managers of Florida Workers' Compensation Joint Underwriting Association; board members of the Northeast Fla. Regional Transportation Commission; board members of Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc; board members of Florida Is For Veterans, Inc.; and members of the Technology Advisory Council within the Agency for State Technology.
3. The Commissioner of Education, members of the State Board of Education, the Board of Governors, the local Boards of Trustees and Presidents of state universities, and the Florida Prepaid College Board.
4. Persons elected to office in any political subdivision (such as municipalities, counties, and special districts) and any person appointed to fill a vacancy in such office, unless required to file Form 6.
5. Appointed members of the following boards, councils, commissions, authorities, or other bodies of county, municipality, school district, independent special district, or other political subdivision: the governing body of the subdivision; community college or junior college district boards of trustees; boards having the power to enforce local code provisions; boards of adjustment; community redevelopment agencies; planning or zoning boards having the power to recommend, create, or modify land planning or zoning within a political subdivision, except for citizen advisory committees, technical coordinating committees, and similar groups who only have the power to make recommendations to planning or zoning boards, and except for representatives of a military installation acting on behalf of all military installations within that jurisdiction; pension or retirement boards empowered to invest pension or retirement funds or determine entitlement to or amount of pensions or other retirement benefits, and the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board.
6. Any appointed member of a local government board who is required to file a statement of financial interests by the appointing authority or the enabling legislation, ordinance, or resolution creating the board.
7. Persons holding any of these positions in local government: county or city manager; chief administrative employee or finance director of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision; county or municipal attorney; chief county or municipal building inspector; county or municipal water resources coordinator; county or municipal pollution control director; county or municipal environmental control director; county or municipal administrator with power to grant or deny a land development permit; chief of police; fire chief; municipal clerk; appointed district school superintendent; community college president; district medical examiner; purchasing agent (regardless of title) having the authority to make any purchase exceeding $35,000 for the local governmental unit.
8. Officers and employees of entities serving as chief administrative officer of a political subdivision.
9. Members of governing boards of charter schools operated by a city or other public entity.
10. Employees in the office of the Governor or of a Cabinet member who are exempt from the Career Service System, excluding secretarial, clerical, and similar positions.
11. The following positions in each state department, commission, board, or council: Secretary, Assistant or Deputy Secretary, Executive Director, Assistant or Deputy Executive Director, and anyone having the power normally conferred upon such persons, regardless of title.
12. The following positions in each state department or division: Director, Assistant or Deputy Director, Bureau Chief, and any person having the power normally conferred upon such persons, regardless of title.
13. Assistant State Attorneys, Assistant Public Defenders, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, and assistant criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, Public Counsel, full-time state employees serving as counsel or assistant counsel to a state agency, administrative law judges, and hearing officers.
14. The Superintendent or Director of a state mental health institute established for training and research in the mental health field, or any major state institution or facility established for corrections, training, treatment, or rehabilitation.
15. State agency Business Managers, Finance and Accounting Directors, Personnel Officers, Grant Coordinators, and purchasing agents (regardless of title) with power to make a purchase exceeding $35,000.
16. The following positions in legislative branch agencies: each employee (other than those employed in maintenance, clerical, secretarial, or similar positions and legislative assistants exempted by the presiding officer of their house); and each employee of the Commission on Ethics.
17. Each member of the governing body of a "large-hub commercial service airport," as defined in Section 112.3144(1)(c), Florida Statutes, except for members required to comply with the financial disclosure requirements of s. 8, Article II of the State Constitution.

ATTACHMENTS: A filer may include and submit attachments or other supporting documentation when filing disclosure.

PUBLIC RECORD: The disclosure form is a public record and is required by law to be posted to the Commission's website.Your Social Security number, bank account, debit, charge, and credit card numbers, mortgage or brokerage account numbers, personal identification numbers, or taxpayer identification numbers are not required and should not be included. If such information is included in the filing, it may be made available for public inspection and copying unless redaction is required by the filer, without any liability to the Commission. If you are an active or former officer or employee listed in Section 119.071, F.S., whose home address or other information is exempt from disclosure, the Commission will maintain that confidentiality if you submit a written and notarized request.

QUESTIONS about this form or the ethics laws may be addressed to the Commission on Ethics, Post Office Drawer 15709, Tallahassee, Florida 32317-5709; physical address: 325 John Knox Road, Building E, Suite 200, Tallahassee, FL 32303; telephone (850) 488-7864.

Instructions for Completing Form 1

Primary Sources of Income

[Required by s. 112.3145(3)(b)1, F.S.]

This section is intended to require the disclosure of your principal sources of income during the disclosure period. You do not have to disclose any public salary or public position(s). The income of your spouse need not be disclosed; however, if there is joint income to you and your spouse from property you own jointly (such as interest or dividends from a bank account or stocks), you should disclose the source of that income if it exceeded the threshold.

Please list in this part of the form the name, address, and principal business activity of each source of your income which exceeded $2,500 of gross income received by you in your own name or by any other person for your use or benefit.

"Gross income" means the same as it does for income tax purposes, even if the income is not actually taxable, such as interest on tax-free bonds. Examples include: compensation for services, income from business, gains from property dealings, interest, rents, dividends, pensions, IRA distributions, social security, distributive share of partnership gross income, and alimony if considered gross income under federal law, but not child support.

Examples:

• If you were employed by a company that manufactures computers and received more than $2,500, list the name of the company, its address, and its principal business activity (computer manufacturing).
• If you were a partner in a law firm and your distributive share of partnership gross income exceeded $2,500, list the name of the firm, its address, and its principal business activity (practice of law).
• If you were the sole proprietor of a retail gift business and your gross income from the business exceeded $2,500, list the name of the business, its address, and its principal business activity (retail gift sales).
• If you received income from investments in stocks and bonds, list each individual company from which you derived more than $2,500. Do not aggregate all of your investment income.
• If more than $2,500 of your gross income was gain from the sale of property (not just the selling price), list as a source of income the purchaser's name, address and principal business activity. If the purchaser’s identity is unknown, such as where securities listed on an exchange are sold through a brokerage firm, the source of income should be listed as "sale of (name of company) stock," for example.
• If more than $2,500 of your gross income was in the form of interest from one particular financial institution (aggregating interest from all CD's, accounts, etc., at that institution), list the name of the institution, its address, and its principal business activity.

Secondary Sources of Income

[Required by s. 112.3145(3)(b)2, F.S.]

This part is intended to require the disclosure of major customers, clients, and other sources of income to businesses in which you own an interest. It is not for reporting income from second jobs. That kind of income should be reported in "Primary Sources of Income," if it meets the reporting threshold. You will not have anything to report unless, during the disclosure period:

1. You owned (either directly or indirectly in the form of an equitable or beneficial interest) more than 5% of the total assets or capital stock of a business entity (a corporation, partnership, LLC, limited partnership, proprietorship, joint venture, trust, firm, etc., doing business in Florida); and,
2. You received more than $5,000 of your gross income during the disclosure period from that business entity.

If your interests and gross income exceeded these thresholds, then for that business entity you must list every source of income to the business entity which exceeded 10% of the business entity’s gross income (computed on the basis of the business entity's most recently completed fiscal year), the source’s address, and the source's principal business activity.

Examples:

• You are the sole proprietor of a dry cleaning business, from which you received more than $5,000. If only one customer, a uniform rental company, provided more than 10% of your dry cleaning business, you must list the name of the uniform rental company, its address, and its principal business activity (uniform rentals).
• You are a 20% partner in a partnership that owns a shopping mall and your partnership income exceeded the above thresholds. List each tenant of the mall that provided more than 10% of the partnership's gross income and the tenant's address and principal business activity.

Real Property

[Required by s. 112.3145(3)(b)3, F.S.]

In this part, list the location or description of all real property in Florida in which you owned directly or indirectly at any time during the disclosure period in excess of 5% of the property's value. You are not required to list your residences. You should list any vacation homes if you derive income from them.

Indirect ownership includes situations where you are a beneficiary of a trust that owns the property, as well as situations where you own more than 5% of a partnership or corporation that owns the property. The value of the property may be determined by the most recently assessed value for tax purposes, in the absence of a more accurate fair market value.

The location or description of the property should be sufficient to enable anyone who looks at the form to identify the property. A street address should be used, if one exists.

Intangible Personal Property

[Required by s. 112.3145(3)(b)3, F.S.]

Describe any intangible personal property that, at any time during the disclosure period, was worth more than $10,000 and state the business entity to which the property related. Intangible personal property includes things such as cash on hand, stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit, vehicle leases, interests in businesses, beneficial interests in trusts, money owed you (including, but not limited to, loans made as a candidate to your own campaign), Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) accounts, the Florida Prepaid College Plan, and bank accounts in which you have an ownership interest. Intangible personal property also includes investment products held in IRAs, brokerage accounts, and the Florida College Investment Plan. Note that the product contained in a brokerage account, IRA, or the Florida College Investment Plan is your asset—not the account or plan itself. Things like automobiles and houses you own, jewelry, and paintings are not intangible property. Intangibles relating to the same business entity may be aggregated; for example, CDs and savings accounts with the same bank. Property owned as tenants by the entirety or as joint tenants with right of survivorship, including bank accounts owned in such a manner, should be valued at 100%. The value of a leased vehicle is the vehicle’s present value minus the lease residual (a number found on the lease document).

Liabilities

[Required by s. 112.3145(3)(b)4, F.S.]

List the name and address of each creditor to whom you owed more than $10,000 at any time during the disclosure period. The amount of the liability of a vehicle lease is the sum of any past-due payments and all unpaid prospective lease payments. You are not required to list the amount of any debt. You do not have to disclose credit card and retail installment accounts, taxes owed (unless reduced to a judgment), indebtedness on a life insurance policy owed to the company of issuance, or contingent liabilities. A “contingent liability” is one that will become an actual liability only when one or more future events occur or fail to occur, such as where you are liable only as a guarantor, surety, or endorser on a promissory note. If you are a “co-maker” and are jointly liable or jointly and severally liable, then it is not a contingent liability.

Interests in Specified Businesses

[Required by s. 112.3145(7), F.S.]

The types of businesses covered in this disclosure include: state and federally chartered banks; state and federal savings and loan associations; cemetery companies; insurance companies; mortgage companies; credit unions; small loan companies; alcoholic beverage licensees; pari-mutuel wagering companies, utility companies, entities controlled by the Public Service Commission; and entities granted a franchise to operate by either a city or a county government.

Disclose in this part the fact that you owned during the disclosure period an interest in, or held any of certain positions with the types of businesses listed above. You must make this disclosure if you own or owned (either directly or indirectly in the form of an equitable or beneficial interest) at any time during the disclosure period more than 5% of the total assets or capital stock of one of the types of business entities listed above. You also must complete this part of the form for each of these types of businesses for which you are, or were at any time during the disclosure period, an officer, director, partner, proprietor, or agent (other than a resident agent solely for service of process).

If you have or held such a position or ownership interest in one of these types of businesses, list the name of the business, its address and principal business activity, and the position held with the business (if any). If you own(ed) more than a 5% interest in the business, indicate that fact and describe the nature of your interest.

Training Certification

[Required by s. 112.3142, F.S.]

If you are a Constitutional or elected municipal officer appointed school superintendent, a commissioner of a community redevelopment agency created under Part III, Chapter 163, whose service began on or before March 31 of the year for which you are filing, you are required to complete four hours of ethics training which addresses Article II, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution, the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees, and the public records and open meetings laws of the state. You are required to certify on this form that you have taken such training.