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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REGULATORY UTILITY COMMISSIONERS REGULATORY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

Partnership between:

PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF OHIO (PUCO)AND

MINISTRY OF ENERGY OF GHANA (MOE)AND

ENERGY COMMISSION OF GHANA (EC)AND

PUBLIC UTILITIES REGULATORY COMMISSION OF GHANA (PURC)

Sponsored by:UNITED STATE AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)

SEPTEMBER 8-12, 2008 ACCRA, GHANA

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ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS FOR A REGULATOR

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Goal

Our goal is to follow the statutes and policies related to ethical behavior and to guard against any appearance of impropriety by the Commission or its employees. We are government employees and, as such, we are in positions of trust. Citizens of Ohio expect us to behave in an ethical manner and have a right to be upset when we do not. When we mention the "appearance of impropriety," we stress that we are trying to avoid anything even on the margin. One does that by not even getting close to the margin. One gets close to the margin when he or she starts looking for ways to get around a statute or policy. As soon as someone tries to get around a statute or policy, that little voice inside should be saying, "Stop, don't do it. It is not worth losing your job."

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Employment Employees of the PUCO:

– Cannot be employed by a public utility – Cannot seek employment with a public utility – Cannot solicit employment for someone else from a

public utility

If a Commission employee is contacted by a public utility concerning a job opportunity, the employee may interview and consider offers of employment from a public utility -but the employee's supervisor should be notified to insure that there is no conflict of interest while the employee is considering the employment opportunity.

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Financial Interest in a Public Utility Prohibited

• Employees of the PUCO cannot hold stocks or bonds of a public utility. They can have no financial interest whatsoever in a regulated public utility.

• It is permissible to own mutual funds, but you need to avoid utility-oriented mutual funds

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Gifts• PUCO employee cannot accept any gift or gratuity from a Public utility

or an employee of a public utility. There is no de minimus exception for this statute. Why not something small, e,g., baseball cap or coffee mug? The statute specifically prohibits a PUCO employee from accepting anything from a public utility or an employee of a public utility. Where do you draw the line? Remember, our concern is for the mere appearance of impropriety, What should a Commission employee do with a gift when it shows up at the employee's office or home? It needs to be returned or it needs to be properly disposed of so that you enjoy no value from it.

• What are we talking about? Examples include flowers, Christmas presents, popcorn tins, candy, meals, golf games, gift certificates, etc.

• DO NOT KEEP A GIFT. IF YOU ACCEPT SOMETHING ONCE, MORE WILL PROBABLY COME. Remember, it is okay to say that you are a government employee and are prohibited from accepting any gifts.

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Meals with Employees of a Regulated Public Utility

• Commission employees may dine with employees of a public utility, but the Commission employee must pay his or her bill. You should expect that, if an employee of a public utility spends any money on you, there will be a corporate business record of it. The corporation will need the documentation to claim the tax expense.

• What should the Commission employee do when a public utility employee will not let the Commission employee pay? The Commission employee does not have to make a big scene at a restaurant, but the Commission employee needs to send the public utility employee a check ASAP to cover the cost of the meal.

• Guard against someone using the dining opportunity to influence you. Do not discuss your investigative duties or the company's business while you are socializing. It provides an opportunity for someone to influence you improperly. Remember, chances are very high that they are not going to lunch with you because they like you.

• Also, watch your time. Company employees may think nothing about an hour-and-a-half or two-hour lunch. If a Commission employee take longer than an hour for lunch, the employee needs to take leave or otherwise make up the time.

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Theft of Time Staying with the topic of time, Commission employees must avoid the theft of time, e.g., start work on time, work a full day, take the correct number of breaks for the correct amount of time, take the correct amount of time for lunch break, and submit correct time sheets. Theft of time is a serious topic, avoid it, don't even get close to the appearance of impropriety.

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Receipts Related to the topic of meals is the subject of meal receipts. Do not fudge on your meal receipts, Submit accurate records. Cheating on meal receipts is the same as reaching into someone else's jar of money and taking some out of it. No doubt that little voice inside you would tell you that it is wrong if you reached into someone else's money jar. The Commission obtains its funds from public utilities which pass the cost onto their customers. That same voice should be telling you that it is wrong to steal money from the citizens of Ohio

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Sharing or Disclosure of Information to

Someone Outside the Commission Unless the information is deemed a public record, Commission employees may not share or disclose some information obtained from a public utility with someone outside the Commission. Be careful when you discuss a public utility's business with friends or family. There is a difference between discussing stories already in the newspaper about a public utility and discussing what hazardous materials are located in a certain warehouse or a company's financial condition.

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Ethical Behavior • Do not use your computer for personal use, e.g.,

doing taxes, children's homework, private business, Do not play games on your computer.

• Do not use a state car for personal business or use. Do not carry personal items in a state vehicle. Golf clubs in the trunk or a real estate sign in the back seat or dry cleaning covering a side window or your school-age children sitting in the back seat sends the wrong message.

• If the state is paying you, be working on state business, not your personal business or that of someone else.

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Ethical Behavior (cont)• Avoid excessive personal use of Commission

phones because it could lead to allegations of theft of time.

• Do not use e-mail for personal business or gain. • Do not use your position to gain a benefit or to

exert influence, e.g., do not ever try to obtain a favor from a public utility or a trucking company. If you have a public utility problem, do not inform the public utility where you work when you call to report the problem. Do not use your position to get to the head of the repair line.

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Outside Employment/Private Business Activities/Teaching;

• If you have a second job or a separate business, do not do any work involving the second job or your private business while on state time or using state resources, e.g., phones, computers, cars, etc. A Commission employee cannot be employed by a public utility or an employee of a public utility (Section 4901.24, Revised Code). If you do have a private business, do not do business with any party that is interested in matters before, regulated by, or doing or seeking to do business with his own public employer unless his public employer determines that it is possible for the employee to withdraw from all matters affecting the party.

• With regard to teaching, a public employee may teach a class related to his employment if he receives no compensation for his services. If the class is related to the employee's employment, a public employee may receive compensation for teaching a class for persons who do not work within, and are not subject to, the employee's jurisdiction

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Unauthorized Endorsements or Recommendations

• Be sure that neither you nor a state vehicle appears in any literature that promotes any public utility.

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Procedure to Report Illegal Activity or to Get an Answer to a Question Involving

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• If an employee becomes aware of suspected or alleged illegal activity by any person on any property owned or leased by the state or unethical behavior by any employee, the employee should call Chief Staff Attorney or your Division Administrative Assistant. Do not conduct your own investigation.

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Establishing New Ethics Requirements

State of Ohio

Office of the Governor

Executive Order 2007-01S

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Limits on GiftsThe job of the officials and employees of the State of Ohio is to serve the people of Ohio. When those who want contracts or grants or other benefits from the State give gifts or meals or tickets or trips to state officials or employees, the people of Ohio have every right to be suspicious that official government decisions aren't being made based on the merits. Accordingly: (continued on next page…)

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Limits on Gifts (cont..)• The only gifts my wife and I, and the Lieutenant Governor and

his wife will accept during my time as Governor of Ohio are those given by : – close family members, or – personal friends who are not lobbyists, who have no contracts with the

State and who do not receive grants from the State, or – individuals or groups who, on occasion, present one of us an

inexpensive, token gift such as a t-shirt, cup, mug or lapel pin as an expression of kindness or friendship, or an inexpensive meal or refreshment worth $20 or less: or

– a government official from another state or country as a gesture of friendship to one of us and the people of Ohio, in which case we would accept the gift for the State of Ohio.

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Limits on Gifts (cont..)• We will not accept any of the gifts listed on the previous page

unless Ohio's ethics laws permit us to, and any gifts we do accept: will be fully reported in the way the law requires.

• Members of my Staff, my Cabinet, the State employees in those Cabinet agencies and those employees at or appointed to State of Ohio boards and commissions are directed to follow the same rules about accepting gifts that I will be following. Close family members include parents, children, siblings, spouses and domestic partners. Failure to comply with this Executive Order will result in appropriate discipline.

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Ethics Training and ComplianceSometimes people don't follow the rules because they don't understand them and sometimes people don't follow the because they are trying to get away with something. We need to make it easier for state officials and employees who are trying to follow the rules to do so and we need to work harder to catch those breaking the rules. Accordingly: (continued on next page…)

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Ethics Training and Compliance (cont..)• Each member of my Cabinet is directed to designate a senior staff person to

serve as the Chief Ethics Officer for the agency. The Chief Ethics Officer is responsible for helping those trying to follow the rules do so by making sure that employees can easily get answers to questions about what is permissible find what is not. The Chief Ethics Office is also responsible for making sure that appropriate Ethics Training is provided to help prevent wrongdoing from occurring.

• My Chief legal Counsel, in consultation with the Ohio Ethics Commission and the Chief Ethics Officers at the various agencies, will, over the next 60 days, develop an Ethics Education program to provide appropriate Ethics Training to officials and employees of the State and to the employees of and appointees to various State of Ohio boards and commissions. In addition, he will assure that an adequate mechanism exists for anonymous reporting of wrongdoing or apparent wrongdoing and that the Ethics Education program include training on how to access that anonymous reporting system.

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Ethics Training and Compliance (cont..)• All State officials and employees are directed to report any wrongdoing or

apparent wrongdoing by a State official or employee to the Ethics Commission or the Inspector General or through the anonymous reporting system. They are also directed to fully cooperate with any investigation of potential wrongdoing and to seek advice from a Chief Ethics Officer or the Ethics Commission when unsure about the propriety of a contemplated action. Finally. all State officials and employees are strongly urged to make suggestions to their Chief Ethics Officers about how to increase official and employee compliance with Ohio's ethics and conflict of interest laws, this policy and my expectation that State officials and employees serve the people of Ohio.

• No person serving on a board or commission may try to influence any decision by that board or commission on behalf of a client while a member of the board or commission or within two years of leaving that board or commission.

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Vendor and Grantee Ethics Those who have contracts with the State or who get grants from the State should also play a role in making sure that State officers and employees follow the law and this order. Accordingly: (continued on next page…)

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Vendor and Grantee Ethics (cont..)• My Chief Legal Counsel, in consultation with the Ohio Ethics Comission and

the Chief Ethics Officers at the various agencies, will, over the next 60 days, develop a program which requires those doing business with the State of Ohio or receiving grant funds from the State of Ohio to certify, before they can receive any money from the State, that they know and understand Ohio's ethics and conflict of interest laws, are aware of this order and that they will not do anything inconsistent with those laws or this order.

• Whenever any Cabinet agency or State of Ohio board or commission awards any contract without a competitive bid for the products or services provided by that contract, the reason the contract was awarded without bids must be stated in writing by the agency, board or commission in a document that is available to the public.

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Increasing Access to Government Decisions

The people of Ohio have a right to witness what occurs at meetings of public bodies. The more accessible those meetings, or recordings of those meetings, are, the more Ohioans will be able to keep an eye on how their business is being handled by State officials and employees. Accordingly, all Cabinet directors are directed to find ways to increase access to public meetings held at their agencies, including finding ways to present them on the Internet live and recorded.

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Improving this OrderAny requests for clarification of this Executive Order should be conveyed to the Chief Ethics Officers who should discuss them, as needed, with my Chief Legal Counsel. Clarifications may be periodically posted on the State of Ohio website. This Executive Order will be periodically updated as good, new suggestions about increasing ethical compliance come to my attention.

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