Article 2.4. Ethics Training of California Government Code >> Division 2. >> Title 5. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 2.4.

For the purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings:
  (a) "Legislative body" has the same meaning as specified in Section 54952.
  (b) "Local agency" means a city, county, city and county, charter city, charter county, charter city and county, or special district.
  (c) "Local agency official" means the following:
  (1) Any member of a local agency legislative body or any elected local agency official who receives any type of compensation, salary, or stipend or reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of official duties.
  (2) Any employee designated by a local agency governing body to receive the training specified under this article.
  (d) "Ethics laws" include, but are not limited to, the following:
  (1) Laws relating to personal financial gain by public servants, including, but not limited to, laws prohibiting bribery and conflict-of-interest laws.
  (2) Laws relating to claiming perquisites of office, including, but not limited to, gift and travel restrictions, prohibitions against the use of public resources for personal or political purposes, prohibitions against gifts of public funds, mass mailing restrictions, and prohibitions against acceptance of free or discounted transportation by transportation companies.
  (3) Government transparency laws, including, but not limited to, financial interest disclosure requirements and open government laws.
  (4) Laws relating to fair processes, including, but not limited to, common law bias prohibitions, due process requirements, incompatible offices, competitive bidding requirements for public contracts, and disqualification from participating in decisions affecting family members.

(a) If a local agency provides any type of compensation, salary, or stipend to a member of a legislative body, or provides reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred by a member of a legislative body in the performance of official duties, then all local agency officials shall receive training in ethics pursuant to this article.
  (b) Each local agency official shall receive at least two hours of training in general ethics principles and ethics laws relevant to his or her public service every two years.
  (c) If any entity develops curricula to satisfy the requirements of this section, then the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Attorney General shall be consulted regarding the sufficiency and accuracy of any proposed course content. When reviewing any proposed course content the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Attorney General shall not preclude an entity from also including local ethics policies in the curricula.
  (d) A local agency or an association of local agencies may offer one or more training courses, or sets of self-study materials with tests, to meet the requirements of this section. These courses may be taken at home, in-person, or online.
  (e) All providers of training courses to meet the requirements of this article shall provide participants with proof of participation to meet the requirements of Section 53235.2.
  (f) A local agency shall provide information on training available to meet the requirements of this article to its local officials at least once annually.

(a) Each local agency official in local agency service as of January 1, 2006, except for officials whose term of office ends before January 9, 2007, shall receive the training required by subdivision (a) of Section 53235 before January 1, 2007. Thereafter, each local agency official shall receive the training required by subdivision (a) of Section 53235 at least once every two years.
  (b) Each local agency official who commences service with a local agency on or after January 1, 2006, shall receive the training required by subdivision (a) of Section 53235 no later than one year from the first day of service with the local agency. Thereafter, each local agency official shall receive the training required by subdivision (a) of Section 53235 at least once every two years.
  (c) A local agency official who serves more than one local agency shall satisfy the requirements of this article once every two years without regard to the number of local agencies with which he or she serves.

(a) A local agency that requires its local agency officials to complete the ethical training prescribed by this article shall maintain records indicating both of the following:
  (1) The dates that local officials satisfied the requirements of this article.
  (2) The entity that provided the training.
  (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a local agency shall maintain these records for at least five years after local officials receive the training. These records are public records subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1).