A key requirement of South Carolina’s ethics laws is that public officials, members of public bodies and public employees must not use their offices in a way that provides themselves, members of their family, or businesses with which they are
associated with financial gain.
To prevent officials from taking acts that benefit them financially, state law addresses situations where they must recuse themselves from voting on an issue, or even deliberating on an issue. The relevant section of law is found in SC Code Section 8-13-700. State law defines family members for the purposes of a potential conflict of interest situation to be a spouse, parent, brother, sister, child, mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, daughter in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, grandparent or grandchild.
Recusal from a vote involves several steps.
Prepare a written statement.
Because the law bars officials and employees from “knowingly” using their position to benefit financially, they bear the responsibility of identifying potential conflicts of interest and acting on them. The law requires them to make a written statement describing the matter requiring action and the nature of the conflict. The Municipal Association has a sample recusal statement.
Submit this statement.
In cases of public employees, they should submit the statement to their supervisors. Public officials or members of public bodies should provide the written statement to their presiding officer, which for city councils is usually the mayor. The presiding officer must then place the statement into the official record by having it included in the meeting minutes.
Avoid taking any further action.
Avoiding any official action means not voting and not deliberating. The member is not required to leave the meeting, but the SC Ethics Commission advises that members of public bodies who recuse themselves physically leave the room for the portion of the meeting concerning the conflict of interest to avoid any perception of undue influence. There can be unusual cases where a councilmember who has recused themselves on a vote is needed for the council to maintain a quorum, or majority of the entire body that must be present for the council to take actions. In cases where it is impossible to achieve a quorum without counting the conflicted members, councilmembers can help resolve the situation by recusing themselves, and then remaining physically present. They would need to state clearly on the record that their only reason for doing so is to preserve the quorum.
Issues involved with conflicts of interest, voting recusals and quorums are all covered in the Municipal Association’s Handbook for Municipal Officials in South Carolina.