SACRAMENTO – New state legislation introduced this week seeks to extend the ethics training required of local government officials and many of their employees to local school districts.

State law (AB 1234, signed into law in 2005) requires that the members of local governing bodies, along with certain categories of local government employees, receive at least two hours of ethics training every two years. The trainings must cover relevant ethics principles and ethics laws, such as financial interest disclosure requirements and open government laws.

Under existing law, if a local government agency “provides any type of compensation, salary, or stipend” to a member of its respective governing body (city council, board of supervisors, etc.), or “provides reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred by a member” of that governing body in the performance of official duties, then all officials of that governing body are required to receive ethics training.

Local agencies and their trade associations are allowed to provide such trainings at home, in-person, or online. In addition, the offices of the state attorney general and the Fair Political Practices Commission provide free online ethics trainings.

The training requirement currently applies to cities and counties (including charter cities and counties) and special districts. The existing law does not, however, apply to school districts (members of the Legislature, and their staff, are similarly required to undergo ethics training).

Authored by all five members of the Senate Local Government Committee, which is chaired by North Coast State Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), Senate Bill 106 extends the requirement for ethics training to school boards and their designated employees, affecting school districts, community college districts, and county boards of education.

“Because existing law does not require school district officials to take ethics training courses, those officials may not be fully aware of their responsibilities under the state’s ethics laws,” Wiggins said today. “Our new legislation is in response to concerns that school district officials should be required to adhere to the same ethics training requirements that apply to other local officials.”

Were SB 106 to become law, school officials would have the same training options as local agencies, including free online courses. School officials would be required to complete their ethics training by January 1, 2011.

The officials that would be required by SB 106 to take ethics training include:

• Members of a school district board of trustees;

• Members of a community college district board of trustees;

• Members of a county board of education;

• County superintendents of schools.

(Note: Of the state’s 58 county superintendents, 53 are elected, and five are appointed. The five counties with appointed superintendents are Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara).

The above-mentioned officials may also designate any of their employees to take ethics trainings.

Wiggins represents California’s 2nd District, comprised or portions or all of six counties: Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma.

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