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Commission adopts advisory opinion suspending annual Form 1 obligations during qualifying active-duty military service
Summary
The commission adopted a revised advisory opinion finding an activated state employee on multi-year military orders is not a 'specified state employee' for annual CE Form 1 requirements during active orders and set deadlines for filing prior-year disclosures within 90 days of return; staff will post final statewide guidance.
The Florida Commission on Ethics adopted a revised advisory opinion addressing whether a specified state employee who is activated for military service must continue filing annual CE Form 1 financial-disclosure reports during active orders.
Staff attorney Emilia Naomi presented the draft opinion, explaining that the requester (an assistant state attorney) will be on active-duty military leave for at least four years and that, under the particular facts provided, requiring annual Form 1 filings while mobilized would impose an unnecessary administrative burden. Naomi recommended the commission find the requester will not be treated as a specified state employee for purposes of annual CE Form 1 filings during the period of qualifying active-duty service, but that other filing requirements (such as a Form 1F) and final statements remain subject to timing rules.
Commissioners discussed alternatives, including whether a Form 1F (final-year filing) should be required immediately or deferred, system limitations for late filings, and the risk of statute-of-limitations issues if filings occur many years later. Commissioner Rogers proposed language to suspend annual filings during orders but require previous- and current-year disclosures to be filed within 90 days of the individualreturning from orders; Naomi and general counsel agreed staff could implement the revisions.
The commission adopted the opinion with those revisions: annual Form 1 obligations are suspended during qualifying active-duty military service, the requester may file prior-year disclosures for convenience before deployment but is required to file the 2025 and 2026 Form 1s no later than 90 days after returning from orders, and staff will post statewide guidance. The opinion also permitted Naomi to amend the draft to reflect the requestermay engage in a limited private activity (youth sports officiating) that would not create an ethics conflict as presented.
The commission asked staff to consider practical system and statute-of-limitations issues and offered to provide an administrative extension if the requester needs additional time while staff finalizes guidance.
Next steps: staff will prepare and publish the final advisory opinion and statewide guidance reflecting the adopted revisions.
