(a) A Member of the Legislature, state elective or appointive officer, or judge or justice shall not, while serving as such, have any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in any business or transaction or professional activity, or incur any obligation of any nature, that is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties in the public interest and of his responsibilities as prescribed in the laws of this state.

(b) A Member of the Legislature shall not do any of the following:

(1) Accept other employment that he or she has reason to believe will either impair his or her independence of judgment as to his or her official duties or require him or her, or induce him or her, to disclose confidential information acquired by him or her in the course of and by reason of his or her official duties.

(2) Willfully and knowingly disclose, for pecuniary gain, to any other person, confidential information acquired by him or her in the course of and by reason of his or her official duties or use any such information for the purpose of pecuniary gain.

(3) Accept or agree to accept, or be in partnership with any person who accepts or agrees to accept, any employment, fee, or other thing of monetary value, or portion thereof, in consideration of his or her appearing, agreeing to appear, or taking any other action on behalf of another person before any state board or agency.

This subdivision shall not be construed to prohibit a member who is an attorney at law from practicing in that capacity before any court or before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and receiving compensation therefor. This subdivision does not prohibit a member from acting as an advocate without compensation or making inquiry for information on behalf of a constituent before a state board or agency, or from engaging in activities on behalf of another which require purely ministerial acts by the board or agency and which in no way require the board or agency to exercise any discretion, or from engaging in activities involving a board or agency which are strictly on his or her own behalf. The prohibition contained in this subdivision does not apply to a partnership or firm of which the Member of the Legislature is a member if the Member of the Legislature does not share directly or indirectly in the fee, less any expenses attributable to that fee, resulting from the transaction. The prohibition contained in this subdivision as it read immediately prior to January 1, 1983, does not apply in connection with any matter pending before any state board or agency on or before January 2, 1967, if the affected Member of the Legislature was an attorney of record or representative in the matter prior to January 2, 1967. The prohibition contained in this subdivision, as amended and operative on January 1, 1983, does not apply to any activity of any Member in connection with a matter pending before any state board or agency on January 1, 1983, which was not prohibited by this section prior to that date, if the affected Member of the Legislature was an attorney of record or representative in the matter prior to January 1, 1983.

(4) Receive or agree to receive, directly or indirectly, any compensation, reward, or gift from any source except the State of California for any service, advice, assistance or other matter related to the legislative process, except fees for speeches or published works on legislative subjects and except, in connection therewith, reimbursement of expenses for actual expenditures for travel and reasonable subsistence for which payment or reimbursement is not made by the State of California.

(5) Participate, by voting or any other action, on the floor of either house, in committee, or elsewhere, in the passage or defeat of legislation in which he or she has a personal interest, except as follows:

(A) If, on the vote for final passage by the house of which he or she is a member, of the legislation in which he or she has a personal interest, he or she first files a statement, which shall be entered verbatim on the journal, stating in substance that he or she has a personal interest in the legislation to be voted on and, notwithstanding that interest, he or she is able to cast a fair and objective vote on that legislation, he or she may cast his or her vote without violating any provision of this article.

(B) If the member believes that, because of his or her personal interest, he or she should abstain from participating in the vote on the legislation, he or she shall so advise the presiding officer before the commencement of the vote and shall be excused from voting on the legislation without any entry on the journal of the fact of his or her personal interest. If a rule of the house requiring that each member who is present vote aye or nay is invoked, the presiding officer shall order the member excused from compliance and shall order entered on the journal a simple statement that the member was excused from voting on the legislation pursuant to law.

(C) This section does not apply to persons who are members of the state civil service as described in Article VII of the California Constitution.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 561, Sec. 73. (AB 1516) Effective January 1, 2018.)