Request By:
Mr. J. T. Whitlock
Chairman
Financial Disclosure Review Commission
Post Office Box 680
Lebanon, Kentucky 40033
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas C. Jacobs, Deputy Attorney General
As Chairman of the Financial Disclosure Review Commission, you have requested the opinion of this office regarding proposed additions to the list of state executive employees required to make disclosures of their financial status to the Commission.
Your correspondence indicates that you wish to seek filings from salaried management personnel in the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Teachers Retirement System, State Retirement System, Registry of Election Finance, Real Estate Commission, Crime Victims Compensation Board, Public Service Commission, OSHA Review Commission, and Workmen's Compensation Board.
We have examined Executive Order 75-211 and are of the opinion that the reference in that Order to "other major management personnel" is sufficiently broad to include the management personnel of the aforementioned agencies. Further, we find that you complied with the procedure set forth in Executive Order 75-211 for adding "major management personnel" to the list of individuals who must file with your Commission, inasmuch as the Commission has officially expressed the opinion that these individuals should file and Governor Carroll has officially concurred with that opinion.
From a technical and legal standpoint, there is almost total lack of precedent on this matter in Kentucky's case law, since the financial disclosure requirements were first implemented by Executive Order by Governor Carroll, and there has never been any challenge of the Commission in a court of law. Therefore, it appears to this office that you may proceed with a free hand, barring any successful challenge of your actions in court.