Programs
The Florida Ethics Institute’s Ethics Educational Outreach Program has three major components:
Ethics & Open Government Seminars:
The Florida Ethics Institute offers many opportunities to learn about Florida’s Ethics, Sunshine, and Public Records Laws. FEI provides in-person and webinar-based seminars on request, with tailor-made presentations on Ethics, Sunshine, and/or Public Records Laws to meet the needs of the participants. Each year FEI’s ethics educators host or participate in dozens of ethics, professionalism, and open government trainings providing education to hundreds of public servants as well as the associations that assist them, attorneys, and citizen ethics advocates to facilitate a greater understanding of the continuously changing landscape of ethics and open government requirements. If you would like to request a training, please email info@floridaethics.org.
Ethics Educational Materials:
FEI annually publishes the Florida Ethics Handbook —the only current, comprehensive guide to ethics laws in Florida—to serve as an invaluable resource for those wanting to better understand the tools of governmental access and accountability. Throughout the year FEI publishes Ethics News Updates and reports to the public spotlighting changes in ethics regulations, recent case law with ethics impact, and advisory opinions affecting Florida’s public servants, as well as investigation and enforcement actions by the Florida Commission on Ethics.
Online Learning Initiatives:
Through its Online Learning Center FEI provides quality, up-to-date, online education available 24/7 regarding Florida’s Ethics, Sunshine, and Public Records Laws available on demand.
Florida’s Constitution provides for the existence of legal ethical standards applicable to public officers, public employees, and candidates for public office. See Art. II, s. 8, Fla. Const. and Part III of Chapter 112, Florida Statutes As the only organization in Florida dedicated to preserving and protecting the state’s ethics laws, FEI tracks all ethics-related legislation during the legislative process. Many of the ethics bills tracked by FEI are designed to limit ethics regulations by creating new exemptions to conflicts of interest prohibitions and gifts restrictions currently in effect.
In furtherance of promoting the public’s awareness regarding legislative initiatives impacting Florida’s ethics laws, whether beneficial or detrimental, FEI tracks legislation having ethics law implications and publishes Florida Legislative Ethics Reports containing analysis of legislation related to ethics in government. All FEI reports are posted on our website and shared with FEI newsletter subscribers .
