§ 138A-32. Gifts.
§ 138A‑32. Gifts.
(a) A covered person ora legislative employee shall not knowingly, directly or indirectly, ask,accept, demand, exact, solicit, seek, assign, receive, or agree to receiveanything of value for the covered person or legislative employee, or foranother person, in return for being influenced in the discharge of the coveredperson's or legislative employee's official responsibilities, other than thatwhich is received by the covered person or the legislative employee from theState for acting in the covered person's or legislative employee's officialcapacity.
(b) A covered personmay not solicit for a charitable purpose any thing of monetary value from anysubordinate State employee. This subsection shall not apply to generic writtensolicitations to all members of a class of subordinates. Nothing in thissubsection shall prohibit a covered person from serving as the honorary head ofthe State Employees Combined Campaign.
(c) No public servant,legislator, or legislative employee shall knowingly accept a gift from alobbyist or lobbyist principal registered under Chapter 120C of the GeneralStatutes. No legislator or legislative employee shall knowingly accept a giftfrom liaison personnel designated under Chapter 120C of the General Statutes.No public servant, legislator, or legislative employee shall accept a giftknowing all of the following:
(1) The gift wasobtained indirectly from a lobbyist, lobbyist principal, or liaison personnelregistered under Chapter 120C of the General Statutes.
(2) The lobbyist,lobbyist principal, or liaison personnel registered under Chapter 120C of theGeneral Statutes intended for the ultimate recipient of the gift to be a publicservant, legislator, or legislative employee as provided in G.S. 120C‑303.
(d) No public servantshall knowingly accept a gift from a person whom the public servant knows orhas reason to know any of the following:
(1) Is doing or isseeking to do business of any kind with the public servant's employing entity.
(2) Is engaged in activitiesthat are regulated or controlled by the public servant's employing entity.
(3) Has financialinterests that may be substantially and materially affected, in a mannerdistinguishable from the public generally, by the performance or nonperformanceof the public servant's official duties.
(d1) No public servantshall accept a gift knowing all of the following:
(1) The gift wasobtained indirectly from a person described under subdivisions (d)(1), (2), and(3) of this section.
(2) The person describedunder subdivisions (d)(1), (2), and (3) of this section intended for theultimate recipient of the gift to be a public servant.
(e) Subsections (c),(d), and (d1) of this section shall not apply to any of the following:
(1) Food and beveragesfor immediate consumption in connection with any of the following:
a. An open meeting of apublic body, provided that the open meeting is properly noticed under Article33C of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes.
b. A gathering of aperson or governmental unit with at least 10 or more individuals in attendanceopen to the general public, provided that a sign or other communicationcontaining a message that is reasonably designed to convey to the generalpublic that the gathering is open to the general public is displayed at thegathering.
c. A gathering of aperson or governmental unit to which the entire board of which a public servantis a member, at least 10 public servants, all the members of the House ofRepresentatives, all the members of the Senate, all the members of a county ormunicipal legislative delegation, all the members of a recognized legislativecaucus with regular meetings other than meetings with one or more lobbyists,all the members of a committee, a standing subcommittee, a joint committee orjoint commission of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or the GeneralAssembly, or all legislative employees are invited, and one of the followingapplies:
1. At least 10individuals associated with the person or governmental unit actually attend,other than the covered person or legislative employee, or the immediate familyof the covered person or legislative employee.
2. All shareholders,employees, board members, officers, members, or subscribers of the person orgovernmental unit located in North Carolina are notified and invited to attend.
Forpurposes of this sub‑subdivision only, the term "invited" shallmean written notice from at least one host or sponsor of the gatheringcontaining the date, time, and location of the gathering given at least 24 hoursin advance of the gathering to the specific qualifying group listed in this sub‑subdivision.If it is known at the time of the written notice that at least one sponsor is alobbyist or lobbyist principal, the written notice shall also state whether ornot the gathering is permitted under this section.
(2) Informationalmaterials relevant to the duties of the covered person or legislative employee.
(3) Reasonable actualexpenditures of the legislator, public servant, or legislative employee forfood, beverages, registration, travel, lodging, other incidental items ofnominal value, and entertainment, in connection with (i) a legislator's, publicservant's, or legislative employee's attendance at an educational meeting forpurposes primarily related to the public duties and responsibilities of thelegislator, public servant, or legislative employee; (ii) a legislator's,public servant's, or legislative employee's participation as a speaker ormember of a panel at a meeting; (iii) a legislator's or legislative employee'sattendance and participation in meetings of a nonpartisan state, regional,national, or international legislative organization of which the GeneralAssembly is a member or that the legislator or legislative employee is a memberor participant of by virtue of that legislator's or legislative employee'spublic position, or as a member of a board, agency, or committee of suchorganization; or (iv) a public servant's attendance and participation inmeetings as a member of a board, agency, or committee of a nonpartisan state,regional, national, or international organization of which the public servant'sagency is a member or the public servant is a member by virtue of that publicservant's public position, provided the following conditions are met:
a. The reasonableactual expenditures shall be made by a lobbyist principal, and not a lobbyist.
b. Any meeting must beattended by at least 10 or more participants, have a formal agenda, and noticeof the meeting has been given at least 10 days in advance.
c. Any food, beverages,transportation, or entertainment must be provided to all attendees or definedgroups of 10 or more attendees as part of the meeting or in conjunction withthe meeting.
d. Any entertainmentmust be incidental to the principal agenda of the meeting.
e. If the legislator,public servant, or legislative employee is participating as a speaker or memberof a panel, then that legislator, public servant, or legislative employee mustbe a bona fide speaker or participant.
(4) A plaque or similarnonmonetary memento recognizing individual services in a field or specialty orto a charitable cause.
(5) Gifts accepted onbehalf of the State for use by the State or for the benefit of the State.
(6) Anything generallymade available or distributed to the general public or all other Stateemployees by lobbyists or lobbyist principals, or persons described insubdivisions (d)(1), (2), or (3) of this section.
(7) Gifts from thecovered person's or legislative employee's extended family, or a member of thesame household of the covered person or legislative employee.
(8) Gifts given to apublic servant not otherwise subject to an exception under this subsection,where the gift is food and beverages, transportation, lodging, entertainment orrelated expenses associated with the public business of industry recruitment,promotion of international trade, or the promotion of travel and tourism, andthe public servant is responsible for conducting the business on behalf of theState, provided all the following conditions apply:
a. The public servantdid not solicit the gift, and the public servant did not accept the gift inexchange for the performance of the public servant's official duties.
b. The public servantreports electronically to the Commission within 30 days of receipt of the giftor of the date set for disclosure of public records under G.S. 132‑6(d),if applicable. The report shall include a description and value of the gift anda description how the gift contributed to the public business of industryrecruitment, promotion of international trade, or the promotion of travel andtourism. This report shall be posted to the Commission's public Web site.
c. A tangible gift,other than food or beverages, not otherwise subject to an exception under thissubsection shall be turned over as State property to the Department of Commercewithin 30 days of receipt, except as permitted under subsection (f) of thissection.
(9) Gifts of personalproperty valued at less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) given to a publicservant in the commission of the public servant's official duties if the giftis given to the public servant as a personal gift in another country as part ofan overseas trade mission, and the giving and receiving of such personal giftsis considered a customary protocol in the other country.
(10) Gifts given orreceived as part of a business, civic, religious, fraternal, personal, orcommercial relationship provided all of the following conditions are met:
a. The relationship isnot related to the public servant's, legislator's, or legislative employee'spublic service or position.
b. The gift is madeunder circumstances that a reasonable person would conclude that the gift wasnot given for the purpose of lobbying.
(11) Food and beveragesfor immediate consumption and related transportation provided all of thefollowing conditions are met:
a. The food, beverage,or transportation is given by a lobbyist principal and not a lobbyist.
b. The food, beverage,or transportation is provided during a conference, meeting, or similar eventand is available to all attendees of the same class as the recipient.
c. The recipient of thefood, beverage, or transportation is a director, officer, governing boardmember, employee, or independent contractor of one of the following:
1. The lobbyistprincipal giving the food, beverage, or transportation.
2. A third party thatreceived the funds to purchase the food, beverages, or transportation.
(12) Food and beveragesfor immediate consumption at an organized gathering of a person, the State, ora governmental unit to which a public servant is invited to attend for purposesprimarily related to the public servant's public service or position, and towhich at least 10 individuals, other than the public servant, or the public servant'simmediate family, actually attend, or to which all shareholders, employees,board members, officers, members, or subscribers of the person or governmentalunit who are located in a specific North Carolina office or county are notifiedand invited to attend.
(f) A prohibited giftthat would constitute an expense appropriate for reimbursement by the publicservant's employing entity if it had been incurred by the public servantpersonally shall be considered a gift accepted by or donated to the State,provided the public servant has been approved by the public servant's employingentity to accept or receive such things of value on behalf of the State. Thefact that the employing entity's reimbursement rate for the type of expense isless than the value of a particular gift shall not render the gift prohibited.
(g) A prohibited giftshall be, and a permissible gift may be, promptly declined, returned, paid forat fair market value, or donated to charity or the State.
(h) A covered person orlegislative employee shall not accept an honorarium from a source other thanthe employing entity for conducting any activity where any of the followingapply:
(1) The employing entityreimburses the covered person or legislative employee for travel, subsistence,and registration expenses.
(2) The employingentity's work time or resources are used.
(3) The activity wouldbe considered official duty or would bear a reasonably close relationship tothe covered person's or legislative employee's official duties.
An outside source may reimbursethe employing entity for actual expenses incurred by a covered person orlegislative employee in conducting an activity within the duties of the coveredperson or legislative employee, or may pay a fee to the employing entity, in lieuof an honorarium, for the services of the covered person or legislativeemployee. An honorarium permissible under this subsection shall not beconsidered a gift for purposes of subsection (c) of this section.
(i) Acceptance orsolicitation of a gift in compliance with this section without corrupt intentshall not constitute a violation of the statutes related to bribery under G.S.14‑217, 14‑218, or 120‑86. (2006‑201, s. 1; 2007‑347, s. 11; 2007‑348,ss. 15(b), 35‑41(a); 2008‑213, ss. 77(a), 78(a), 79‑82, 90;2009‑549, s. 17.)