Effective January 1, 2006 Assembly Bill-1234 requires Trustees and any employee designated by the Trustees that receive any type of compensation or reimbursement of expenses to receive at least two hours in general ethics principles and ethics law relevant to their public service. Every  official will be required  receive the training before January 1, 2007 and after that every two years.

In addition AB-1234  requires all local agencies (Cities, Counties and Special Districts) that provide reimbursement for expenses to members of its legislative body (Trustees) to adopt a written policy concerning what occurrences qualify a member to receive reimbursement for expenses for travel, meals and lodging and to file expense reports , which would be public records.

General Compliance Summary
1. Your district needs a written policy to compensate board members for attendance at events beyond just board meetings, committee meetings and conferences.
2. Your district needs a written policy to reimburse board members for expenses.
3. Your district needs to use IRS reimbursement rates or adopt a policy that specifies reasonable reimbursement rates.
4. Your district needs to provide expense report forms to board members who require reimbursement and must keep completed forms on file as public documents. 
              
If your district provides any compensation or reimbursement to any board member:
5.  All board members and any board-designated employees need to take at least two hours of ethics training at least every two years and receive a certificate of completion.
6.  For board members in service on 1/1/06, the first training needs to be completed by 1/1/07, and new board members need to complete within one year of taking office.
7.  Your district must keep records indicating when board members completed the training and who provided the training for five years.

Where is Ethics Training available?

• CAPC has sample forms available which  comply with the requirements of AB-1234 for:
  · District Policy for Trustees Compensation and Reimbursement
  · District form for Reimbursement for Expenses
• CAPC presented two hours of required ethics training at the 2024 Annual Conference.
  March 15, 2024 at the San Diego Mission Valley DoubleTree Hotel.
• California Special Districts Association (CSDA) has currently scheduled Ethics Compliance Training courses throughout the state as follows:

Dates and Locations

• California Special Districts Association (CSDA) now has ethics training available on DVD which includes the dvd, participants handbook and the required test.
  • $55.00 for CSDA members
  • $85.00 for non members
  For complete program description and information about registration and accommodations, visit the Members Section of the CSDA website at www.csda.net or call 877-924-CSDA (2732)