Since 2015, state law requires all elected municipal officers to take four (4) specific hours of ethics training each calendar year. If an official is elected mid-year, he/she has one year from the election date to take the course. Elected officers include mayors, members of councils and commissions, elected city clerks, treasurers and other elected offices identified in a municipality's charter.
Completion of this class is noted on Form 1 of the municipal financial disclosure document, filed by elected and appointed officials each year in Florida's local governments. The Commission on Ethics checks completion and investigates any challenges related to this requirement.
The four-hour class must include:
- two hours of Chapter 112, F.S. known as Florida's Ethics Law
- one hour of Chapter 119, F.S. known as the Public Records Law
- one hour of Chapter 286, F.S. known as the Public Meetings Law.
The League offers the four-hour class at its annual events:
- FLC Annual Conference (each August) at the conference location
- FLC Legislative Conference (each November) at the conference location
- FLC Legislative Action Days in Tallahassee; dates will vary upon session schedule.
The course is also offered virtually by the FLC University staff on a quarterly basis. This virtual class is interactive with the option to ask questions. The dates are advertised in the FLConnect weekly newsletter and posted on the Calendar of Events.
In counties where additional ethics requirements exist, local and regional leagues often partner with other trainers to offer those classes as well as the four-hour state class.
The Florida Institute of Government offers the class for a fee and the Florida Commission on Ethics has a class as well.
The four-hour video on this page will also meet the requirements of Chapter 112, Florida Statutes.
If you have questions regarding this training, please contact FLC University at 407.367.3443 or email university@flcities.com.