Request By:
Brady A. Miracle
Executive Director
State Board of Elections
Room 71, State Capitol
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Martin Glazer, Assistant Attorney General
You seek an interpretation of KRS 61.788 (part of the financial disclosure statutes) as to whether spouses' and dependents' income tax returns or schedules which are part of a joint return must be filed as well as that of the administrative officer.
KRS 61.788 provides, in pertinent part:
"(1) Each official covered by KRS 61.782 to 61.790 shall by April 15, 1979 file with the Commission [Financial Disclosure Review Commission] a financial statement reflecting all offices and employment held by him, his spouse and dependents, his major holdings and net worth as of January 1, 1979 and a bona fide copy of his income tax return for calendar year 1979. Thereafter, each such official shall submit such information to the commission with any necessary revisions in his financial status by April 15 of each year. . . ." (Emphasis supplied.)
This specific question has not been previously addressed. We have, in OAG 79-165, concluded that information concerning full and part-time employment must include spouses' and dependents' employment.
The apparent purpose of the Disclosure Act is to determine what outside economic interests a major governmental officer may have in order to detect possible conflicts of interest, or interests which may affect that officer's judgments and practices as it affects his governmental duties.
That would be the state's interest in upholding the validity of such disclosure statutes against the individual's right of privacy.
So, in interpreting such a statute, we need to balance both interests, to carry out the statutory intent and to protect undue invasion of the individual's privacy and particularly the individuals who are only peripherally connected to the officer, such as the spouse and dependents.
With these competing interests in mind, it is our belief that if the officer has filed a joint tax return with his spouse, the entire return, including any schedules dealing with his spouse are to be filed. Otherwise, only a partial return would be filed.
If he and his spouse filed separate returns, only his return need be filed, because the statute uses the language " his income tax return." Statutes should be given their usual and simple meaning.
KRS 446.080 provides, in part:
"(4) All words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and approved usage of language. . . ."
Thus, "his" means "his," that is, the return of the officer, himself.
If there is a question that an officer has a conflict of interest and is putting property in his wife's or children's name, the commission has the mechanics for ferreting out such information, because subsection 3 of KRS 61.788 provides:
"The commission shall be empowered to question any official covered by KRS 61.782 to 61.790 with respect to the information filed. . . ."