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St. Mary's County Ethics Ordina Pag 1 of 9 NO: 200] - SUBJECT: ST. MARY' COU PUBLIC ETHICS O DINA REVIS ORDINANCE I WHEREAS, the 1979 Session of the Maryland General Assembty passed the Maryland P blic Ethics Law (Chapter 513 of the Acts of 1979) which has become Article 40A of the Annotated Code o Maryland; and WHEREAS, Section 6 of ARicle 40A requires each County to enact provisions simil r to those contained in the Maryland Public Ethics Law (Chapter 513 of the Acts of 1979) which has become Ricle 40A of the Annotated Code of Maryiand; and WHEREAS, the St. Mary's Counry Boazd of Counry Commissioners adopted on June 2, 1982, as Ordinance No. 82-12 the St. Mary's Counry Public Ethics Ordinance and amended it on Jul 1, 1984, December 17, 1985, November 12, 1986, October 13, 1987, June 4, 1991, May 18, 1993, January 10, 1995, November 24, 1998 and May 8, 2001; and WHEREAS, the St. Mary's County Ethics Commission has reviewed and discussed Se tion 6 and has concluded that a revision of the Public Ethics Ordinance is appropriate for the purpose of simp ification of filing financial disclosure statements for appointees to voluntary boards and commissions; and WHEREAS, in a meeting with the St. Mary's County Ethics Commission on February 2, 2001, the Board of County Commissioners discussed proposed Revision of Section 156-6 with the St. Ma 's Counry Ethics Commission and granted authorization to publish notice for public hearing relative to the rev sing of the Public Ethics Ordinance; and WHEREAS, the State Ethics Commission as required by State Government Article, Title 5, Annotated Code of Maryland, Subtitle 8 of the Public Ethics Law, and by Code of Maryland Regul tions, COMAR 19A.04, reviewed and approved the St. Mary's County draft Public Ethics Ordinance's R ision of Section 158-6; and W HEREAS, the St. Mary's County Board of County Commissioners now concludes it i necessary to further amend the Public Ethics Ordinance, notice of Public Hearing was published on April 2, 2001 and May 1, 2001 in The Enterprise, a newspaper of general circulation for the purpose of conducti g a public hearing on the proposed draft Ethics Ordinance; and WHEREAS, the St. Mary's County Board of County Commissioners conducted a Public Hearing on May 8, 2001; NOW, THEREFORE, BE TT ORDAINED by the St. Mary's County Board of County Commissions that the St. Mary's County Public Ethics Ordinance is repealed and re-enacted as set orth herein and made effective May 29, 2001. SECTION 1. - TITLE This Chapter may be cited as the St. Mary's Counry Public Ethics Ordinance. cFt'TION 2- STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND POLICY A. St. Mary's County, recognizing that our system of representative government is d pendent in large measure upon the people having uust and confidence in their public o icials and employees, finds and declares that the people have a right to be assured that the imp iality and independent judgment of public officials and employees will be maintained. B. This confidence and trust is eroded when the conduct of St. Mary's County business i subject to improper influence or even the appearance of improper influence. C. For the purpose of guarding against improper influence, the Board of Counry Comm ssioners of St. Mary's County enacts this Public Ethics Ordinance. SECTION 3. - DEFINITIONS The definitions contained in this section of the Ordinance shall be observed and applied e~cept where the context cleazly indicates otherwise or a different definition is adopted for a particulaz section o subsection of this Ordinance. Words used in the present tense shall include the future tense and words used 16.6