SECTION I – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The General Assembly established the State Ethics Commission's mandate to restore public trust in governmental institutions and the political and governmental processes. The State Ethics Commission's mission is established by the statutory provisions of the Ethics Reform Act of 1991, Sections 2-17-5, et.seq., and 8-13-100, et.seq., Code of Laws for South Carolina, 1976, as amended. The State Ethics Commission has one program, Administration. This program encompasses four distinct areas of responsibility of the Ethics, Government Accountability and Campaign Reform Act of 1991: lobbying registration and disclosure; ethical rules of conduct; financial disclosure; and campaign practices and disclosure.

1. Major Achievements from Past Year

Major achievements from the past year include a new filing system. The system has improved services to the public and press requesting access to financial disclosure and campaign disclosure records. In addition, staff upgraded the Commission's web-site to include information on resolved complaints, advisory opinions and the availability of all Commission forms online. The ability of filers to download and print Commission forms has been both a time-saver for staff and a cost-saver to the Commission. Through more aggressive enforcement efforts the Commission increased late filing penalties 238% and complaint fines by 58%. Finally, the Commission reduced the back-log of non-compliance matters.

2. Mission and Values

The State Ethics Commission is an agency of state government responsible for the enforcement of the Ethics Reform Act of 1991 to restore public trust in government. The mission of the State Ethics Commission is to carry out this mandate by ensuring compliance with the state's laws on financial disclosure, lobbyist/lobbyist's principal disclosure and campaign disclosure; regulating lobbyists and lobbying organizations; issuing advisory opinions interpreting the statute; educating public officeholders and the public on the requirements of the state's ethics laws; conducting criminal and administrative investigations of violations of the state's ethics laws; and prosecuting violators either administratively or criminally.

3. Key Strategic Goals for Present and Future Years

A continued key strategic goal is an electronic filing system. The system would enable public officials, candidates, public employees and lobbyists/lobbyist's principals to file registration and disclosure reports on line. A second strategic goal is the cross training of personnel to ensure smooth transitions in the event of promotions, retirement or turnover. Of particular concern is the retirement of the Commission's longest serving employee who has been the only data coordinator from the position's inception.

4. Opportunities and Barriers in Fulfilling Mission and Achieving Goals

Enforcement of the very complex Ethics Reform Act is one of the major challenges before the State Ethics Commission. Citizen's and state agency's concern with public corruption and violations of the state's ethics laws have caused increased investigative and non-compliance caseloads. The Commission's mandate requires close analysis of critical issues of which the outcomes have significant impacts on the lives of the affected individuals, to include criminal prosecution. This, coupled with personnel and equipment needs, and limited funds, are major barriers to the fulfillment of the agency's mission and goals. The Commission must ensure that the latest technological advances are taken into account to balance the technology versus personnel scale. An information management system, to include electronic filing of campaign, financial, and lobbyist/lobbyist's principal disclosure, is another of the major challenges. Budgetary constraints make achieving this goal impossible.

SECTION II – BUSINESS OVERVIEW

The State Ethics Commission is composed of nine private citizens who are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the General Assembly. The Commission sets the policy, recommends legislative changes to the statute, issues formal advisory opinions, and conducts hearings into complaint matters. The Commission has a ten-member staff (9 FTE's, 1 PTE and 1 PTE vacant).

The Executive Director is responsible for directing the operational and administrative management of the agency and providing oversight to investigations, and other activities of an extremely sensitive nature. The Executive Director reports directly to the State Ethics Commission. No other position reports to the Commission. The Executive Director advises the Commission regarding agency administrative matters and law enforcement. As necessary or upon request, he provides members of the General Assembly with information pertinent to matters before that body. He informs the Attorney General about matters of significant interest to the state's chief prosecutor. The Executive Director maintains contact with major components of the state criminal justice system such as SLED and circuit solicitors to assist in providing a coordinated investigation of matters of mutual interest.

The Commission's General Counsel/Assistant Director provides legal counsel to the Commission and agency staff; prosecutes complaint matters and administrative violations of the state's ethics laws before a Commission hearing panel; represents the Commission in both state and federal courts; researches and prepares advisory opinions; and acts as liaison with the Attorney General's office for criminal prosecution of violations, as needed. Under limited supervision, the General Counsel/Assistant Director plans, organizes, and directs statewide activities of the administrative and investigative operations of the agency; directs activities relating to the enforcement of the Ethics Reform Act; ensures compliance with all disclosure requirements; and assumes responsibilities of Executive Director in his absence.

The Chief Investigator assists the Executive Director in planning, organizing, and directing the enforcement of investigative and non-compliance activities; and conducts criminal and sensitive administrative investigations of violations of the state's ethics laws.

The Administrative Coordinator/Executive Assistant to the Director provides administrative support to the Executive Director; directs the agency-wide fiscal program, and supervises the agency budgetary process; directs the agency procurement operation; and supervises the Non-Compliance program.

The Human Resource Manager directs the agency personnel and payroll operations; manages employee participation in the state benefits program, and personal development training; supervises the lobbyists/lobbyist's principal program; maintains the agency web site; and supervises the production of the agency newsletter. The Administrative Coordinator/Executive Assistant to the Director and the Human Resource Manager positions were created as a result of staff reorganization upon the resignation of the agency Business Manager. No additional FTE's were required.

The Data Coordinator supervises the receipt, audit, scanning, and maintenance of all financial and campaign disclosure documents; responds to public and agency requests for documents; and refers non-compliance matters to the Administrative Coordinator.

The Commission has only one location at 5000 Thurmond Mall, Suite 250, Columbia. The Commission's customers include public officials and public employees, candidates and political committees, other state and local agencies, the citizens of South Carolina, and the media. Beyond the computer support and services provided by IRM and the University of South Carolina, the Commission does not have key suppliers. All other services and supplies are obtained through the bid process. The Commission is in the business of processing information received by lobbyists/lobbyist's principals; public officials, public members and public employees; and candidates and political committees and ensuring compliance with the Ethics Reform Act.

Accountability Report Appropriations/Expenditures Chart Example

General Funds

Total Funds

General Funds

Total Funds

General Funds

Personal Service

$311,601.62

$297,993.62

$327,470.73

$327,470.73

$324,880.00

$324,880.00

Other Operating

$195,692.86

$153,988.37

$168,541.38

$92,379.09

$159,998.00

$109,998.00

Special Items

$0

$

$0

$0

($26,382)

($26,382)**
Permanent Improvements

$0

$

$0

$0

$0

$0

Case Services

$0

$

$0

$0

$0

$0
Distributions

to Subdivisions

$0

$

($14,672)*

$0

$0

$0

Fringe Benefits

$84,119.67

$79,401.01

$92,383.01

$92,383.01

$79,201.00

$79,201.00

Non-recurring

$41,026.91

$0

$10,973.09

$10,973.09

$0

$0
Total	$632,441.06	$531,383.01	$584,696.21	$523,205.92	$537,697.00	$487,697.00

*Represents 1% reduction and carryover funds at end of FY2001

**Represents 5% base reduction

Other Expenditures

Sources of Funds	99-00 Actual Expenditures	00-01 Actual Expenditures
Supplemental Bills	$0	$0
Capital Reserve Funds

$0

$0
Bonds	$0	$0

STATE ETHICS COMMISSION

Organization Chart

SECTION III – ELEMENTS OF MALCOLM BALDRIGE AWARD CRITERIA

Category 1 – Leadership

The State Ethics Commission is a very small state agency with a staff of 10 people (9 FTE's and 1 PTE). Every employee, as well as volunteers, appear on the organizational chart. There are not layers of managers, supervisors, deputies, etc. between the Commission's senior leader, the Executive Director, and Commission staff. The Executive Director speaks to each employee everyday. The Executive Director discusses short term expectations at monthly staff meetings. The Executive Director reviews leave requests, determines the audit status of all forms and updates staff on matters of interest. Of particular interest this year was the budget shortfall and potential layoffs. The Executive Director communicated regularly with staff about the budget and also sought staff input on cost-saving strategies.

Long term performance expectations and direction are communicated at annual staff reviews conducted each September. This one month review period allows the Executive Director to plan merit raises and revise employee responsibilities as needed. During annual reviews employee performance expectations are discussed and set. Organizational values are discussed with new hires after a new employee reviews the Commission's Administrative Policies and Procedure Manual. All employees are required to stay up to date on changes in the manual.

The Executive Director is always prepared to listen to staff's suggestion on ways to improve a process for both the customer and the employee. Due to the size of Commission, the Executive Director is not removed from the "front line". Except for the newest employee, staff, to include the Executive Director, has audited forms during the dead-line rush. All members of staff have filled "Requests for Documents" requests. In fact it was while the Executive Director was locating a document to answer a caller's question that the discussion began on implementing a new filing system. Staff, not unlike various customers, often make suggestions that they believe would improve the process; however, many processes must be complied with because the Ethics Reform Act requires that process.

Training sessions and seminars were available to all employees; however, in January, 2001, the Commission froze the training budget as a result of anticipated midyear budget cuts and cuts in the FY2002 budget. Only essential training was taken by staff. The Executive Director continued to participate in agency director training throughout the year. In addition, the Executive Director and the Investigator are certified law enforcement officers and they must participate in regular training sessions to maintain their certification. This training is provided by the Criminal Justice Academy at no charge to agencies. General Counsel participates in a minimum of 14 hours of continuing legal education training each year; however, the Commission does not pay for this training. In addition, General Counsel did participate in the Budget & Control Board's Executive Institute throughout FY2001. The two staff members who were promoted in the reorganization participated in human resource training and finance/budget training.

As the state agency that enforces the Ethics Reform Act, both the Executive Director and staff model ethical behavior. Commission members recuse themselves and leave the room when a potential, not actual, conflict exists. Policies and procedures are in place for the use of Commission equipment and supplies and subsequent reimbursement.

Staff is well aware of who the Commission's customers are as each employee interacts with customers everyday, whether on the phone or in person. The Commission's customers include the citizens of South Carolina, public officials and employees, candidates for public office, committees, lobbyists and lobbyist's principals, all state agency heads, the Governor's Office, and the media. Staff is courteous and knowledgeable in responding to the Commission's customers. The Executive Director and the rest of the staff have an open-door policy for walk-in customers.

The Executive Director receives and reviews monthly a compliance report which is a compilation of key performance measures which include the number of forms received; the number of complaints received; the number of complaints resolved; the number of both formal and informal opinions issued; and the amount of money received, to include late-filing penalties, complaint fines, administrative fees and lobbyist's/lobbyists' principals registration fees. This same information from the previous fiscal year is also provided on this compliance report for comparison.

The Commission does not normally address the current and potential impact of the Ethics Reform Act on the public, since the Commission is mandated to enforce the Act as written. Services are provided within the confines of the Act. If the General Assembly amends the Act, then the Commission must enforce it notwithstanding the impact, either negative or positive. The Commission must submit fiscal impact statements with proposed amendments.

Staff are encouraged to participate in community service projects. The Commission had approximately 90% participation in the United Way campaign and the Good Health Appeal, of which the Executive Director was the state chairman. Various members of staff also participated in Buck-A-Cup, Ask-a-Lawyer, the YWCA Legal Clinic, the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign and regular blood donations to the American Red Cross. In addition, many staff members are heavily involved in their churches and their churches community outreach programs.

Category 2 – Strategic Planning

The Executive Director, with staff input and some input from Commission members, is sole participant in the strategic planning process. As noted, staff input is welcomed and the Executive Director formulates the strategic plan after reviewing input and process results from the previous year. The Commission is forced to conform any strategic planning to its small budget, its small staff and its outdated computer system. Customer needs and expectations are reviewed in line with the requirements of the Ethics Reform Act. Due to the Commission's limited budget, financials considerations are ever present in the strategic planning process, as are the human resource capabilities and needs and the operational capabilities and needs.

Of the two strategic goals in place, the electronic filing system action plan is in place. No monetary resources were expended, although a significant amount of staff time was devoted to reviewing various systems already in use. The cross training is ongoing and will require significant amounts of staff time but not of other resources. In presenting the Commission's budget to the General Assembly, the Commission communicated and deployed its key strategic goal for an electronic filing system. As for the second key strategic goal of cross training employees, staff meetings and one on one meetings between the Executive Director and staff are the means used to communicate and deploy its key strategic goal.

Category 3 – Customer Focus

Key customers and stakeholders of the State Ethics Commission are training participants; opinion requesters; filers of forms; reviewers of forms; complainants and respondents; public officials, public members and public employees; candidates and committees; and the citizens of South Carolina. The largest percentage of the Commission's customers are determined by the Ethics Reform Act and it is the Act which determines those customer's requirements.

The Commission is constrained in keeping its listening and learning methods current with changing customer needs by two major factors: the Ethics Reform Act itself and the Commission's budget. Clearly, the trend in disclosure, to include financial, campaign and lobbyist/lobbyist's principal, is for the electronic filing of this information. The trend for making this information available to the public is also to provide it electronically; however, until such time as the Commission's budget includes funding for electronic filing, the Commission will not keep current with the changing customer needs. According to information provided by the Center for Governmental Studies of Los Angeles, California, South Carolina is one of only four state which do not provide some from of electronic filing/viewing.

Much of the information provided by customers cannot be used immediately by the Commission. In FY 2001, the Commission presented proposed amendments to the General Assembly to improve processes based in part on customer feedback. In addition, the Commission has reviewed additional amendments, but will not seek a sponsor until the original set of amendments is acted on.

The Commission surveyed two key customer groups in FY2001: opinion requesters and training participants. One hundred percent of the responding opinion requesters agreed or strongly agreed that the requested informal opinion was clear and easy to understand and that the informal opinion answered the question posed. Staff does not assert that all requesters were completely satisfied; although, the 66% of requesters who returned the survey were clearly satisfied with the service provided. Training survey results are not as clear. When the Commission conducts its standard training, a training survey is provided to the participants to complete. In other training situations, staff is part of a program wherein survey results are compiled at the conclusion of the entire program and staff is notified of the results at a later date. Less than 10% of those receiving ethics training received and returned a Commission survey. The Commission's first attempt at surveying a key customer, training participants, was clearly less than successful

Category 4 – Information and Analysis

It is the Commission's belief that what gets measured is what gets done in an organization. The Commission measures the number of forms received; the number of complaints received; the number of complaints resolved; the number of both formal and informal opinions issued; and the amount of money received, to include late-filing penalties, complaint fines, administrative fees and lobbyist's/lobbyists' principals registration fees. The Commission relies on staff members whose duties include the compilation of the above information. The Commission uses the analysis to assist in developing the strategic plan. The Commission attempts to find other public agencies with comparable duties and mandates. The Commission partnered with COGEL to find similarly situated public agencies; however, the Commission has found one other state agency with similar areas of responsibility regarding state government: lobbying registration and disclosure; ethical rules of conduct; financial disclosure; and campaign practices and disclosure. The Commission also found a city agency with the same responsibilities and the analysis for both entities appears in Category 7 Results.

Category 5 – Human Resource Focus

As noted before, the State Ethics Commission is a small state agency. The Executive Director speaks to each employee daily. While the Commission is unable to make significant financial rewards to its employees, the Commission does provide many non-financial rewards such as flexible scheduling; casual dress day on Friday; recognition of significant employment milestones; birthday celebrations, to include the afternoon off; holiday meals together; lunch for staff in observance of Employee Recognition Week; and training.

Training sessions and seminars were available to all employees; however, in January, 2001, the Commission froze the training budget as a result of anticipated midyear budget cuts and cuts in the FY2002 budget. Only essential training was taken by staff. The Executive Director continued to participate in agency director training throughout the year. In addition, the Executive Director and the Investigator are certified law enforcement officers and they must participate in regular training sessions to maintain their certification; however, the Criminal Justice Academy provides this training at no charge to state agencies. General Counsel participates in a minimum of 14 hours of continuing legal education training each year; however, the Commission does not pay for this training. In addition, General Counsel did participate in the Budget & Control Board's Executive Institute through out FY2001. The two staff members who were promoted in the reorganization participated in human resource training and finance/budget training. In prior years staff had participated in TQM (Total Quality Management) training. The Human Resource Manager researched the available Baldridge training for staff; however, the costs was prohibitively expensive.

The Employee Performance Management System provides an opportunity for the Executive Director and the employee to make changes to employee responsibilities in line with ongoing strategic goals and to revise position descriptions to accurately reflect actual duties. The process encourages high performance by realigning the position description and evaluation documents with the actual job responsibility.

The Commission monitors employee well being and satisfaction through two key measures. Measures of employee satisfaction are staff longevity and turnover. A long-time employee of the Commission did resign in FY 2001; however, a third of the staff averages 15 years employment with the Commission. The Commission attempted through informal discussion to discover why staff remains with the Commission; however, beyond the standard platitudes, no satisfactory reasons were given.

At the outset, the Commission's office is in a smoke-free building which provides a smoke-free work environment. Except for certified law enforcement officers, the Commission's office does not permit concealable weapons. Policies and procedures are in place regarding weapons and the use of force. The staff kitchen is a repository for various health newsletters and employees are welcome to post health articles and other articles of interest in the kitchen. Staff members take part in health screenings offered by the State Health Plan and results are informally discussed in staff meetings.

Employees are encouraged to participate in community service projects. These include the United Way, the Good Health Appeal, Buck-A-Cup, Ask-a-Lawyer, the YWCA Legal Clinic, the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign and regular blood donations to the American Red Cross. In addition, many employees are heavily involved in their churches and their churches community outreach programs.

Category 6 – Process Management

The Commission's key design and delivery processes must fit within the confines of the Commission's budget. Within these confines, the newest technology used by the Commission has been its web site. The Commission's Human Resource Manager, in coordination with the Office of Information Resources, continued to upgrade the Commission's web site. As noted in the Commission's FY2000 Accountability Report, the web site includes all formal advisory opinions and summaries of all complaints resolved. Since September, 2000, the Commission's forms can also be printed from the web site. As a result, the Commission has not incurred any printing costs since September, 2000. Due to budget constraints, the Commission's newsletter is now only provided online. Additionally, minutes from the Commission's bi-monthly meetings are also available online. These efforts are directed at making the Commission's web site more user friendly, more responsive to the public's needs and more cost effective to the Commission, i.e. reduction in printing and postage costs.

The Commission's various measurements are not done on a day to day basis, but rather on a week to week and month to month based on the particular deadline. The Commission has a minimum of 8 deadlines throughout the year with more during an election year. The Commission attempts to ensure full staffing during these deadlines in order to ensure timely auditing and timely production of documents for requesters. The Commission is in the business of managing the information provided in the various forms received, as well as the enforcement of the Act.

Except for computer support and services the Commission does not have a key supplier, contractor or partner. The Commission meets yearly with the computer support and service providers to review the previous years service in order to make any changes in the contract needed to fulfill the Commission's strategic goals.

Category 7 – Business Results

Performance levels and trends of customer satisfaction:

(A) Training is essential to the 4 million residents of the State where approximately 232,000 citizens are engaged in government employment and approximately 10,000 are engaged in government service. As part of its public mission, the Commission feels that it is vital to educate public officials, public members, public employees and the general public regarding the standards of conduct and disclosure requirements of the Ethics Reform Act. Whenever possible, as personnel and resources are available, staff conducts training for its various customers throughout the state. Customers receiving training in 2000 included the following: public officials and public employees through the Municipal Association of South Carolina; South Carolina School Board Association members and candidates for school board; Budget and Control Board employees; public officials and public employees of the Worker's Compensation Commission; public employees of the Department of Revenue; approximately 250 members of the South Carolina Bar Association; all public employees of the Florence County Department of Social Service office; members of the South Carolina Department of Corrections medical department and the members of the South Carolina Association of Clerk of Courts and Register of Deeds.

(B) Hand-in-hand with training is the advisory nature of the Commission's responsibility. The Commission advises its customers concerning the intricacies of the law through both informal and formal opinions. Staff answers approximately 135 telephone inquires per month. The Commission's policy of issuing informal opinions provides more timely advice to its customers. This advice is based on prior opinions, decisions, and staff experience and interpretation of the statute. The Commission has established the objective of responding to all informal advisory opinions within seven to ten calendar days. This target is met approximately 95% of the time and when it cannot be met the requestor is informed of the delay and when to anticipate his opinion. Formal opinions are handled as expeditiously as possible at regularly scheduled Commission meetings. This advice, either written or verbal, provides information to the various customers of the Commission.

The Commission has committed more time to investigating alleged violations of the Act, which a key component of the Ethics Reform Act and where the Commission's involuntary customers appear. A due process procedure is established in the statute and staff has worked to reduce the completion time from the receipt of a complaint to final disposition. Non-compliance matters, from issuance of complaint to final disposition, take approximately four months. Other complaints' completion time are approximately six months. Without compromising the due process rights of respondents, the Commission developed a streamed-line approach non- compliance complaint matters which was fully implemented in FY2001. Respondents who file the required form prior to the probable cause hearing avoid being placed on the hearing docket. No additional fine is assessed beyond the late-filing penalty assessed during the administrative procedure. Late-filing penalties that remain unpaid are pursued through the Department of Revenue's Set-off Debt Program and a judgment is filed in the county clerk's office. Of the 150 complaints resolved in FY2001, approximately 18 complaints were resolved under this procedure. In addition, 9 complaints were resolved by Consent Orders. Fines of $10,593.32 were collected, as was restitution of $5905.00. Twenty-eight hearings were held and fines totaling $47,315 were assessed. No complaint in FY2001 was referred to the Attorney General. One complaint was referred to a circuit solicitor for criminal prosecution; however, the solicitor referred back to the Commission. The remainder of the complaints were dismissed or further proceedings were waived due to compliance or extenuating circumstances.

In addition, the Commission collected $62,186.00 in late filing penalties for failing to timely file Statement of Economic Interests, Campaign Disclosure Forms, and lobbyist and lobbyist's principal reports. This amount is an increase of over $43,000.00 from the previous year and reflects the Commission emphasis on timely enforcement following disclosure deadlines. In the past the Commission only penalized those individuals who failed to file. Late filers were not penalized and thus timely disclosure did not occur.

LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE:

The report shows the current level of performance in the four key areas. They include:

Training	FY2001	FY2000	FY99	%Change from previous year
Training Sessions Held	26	24	24	8
# Trained	1600	1398	904	14
Opinions
Formal	6	11	7	(45)
Informal	105	117	128	(10)
Complaints
Received	144	107	54	35
Final Disposition	150	108	51	39
Pending	39	45	50	(13)
Forms
Statement of Economic Interests	8683	9,588	8,378	(9)
Campaign Disclosure Form	5169	4,170	4,431	24
Lobby Registration & Reports	4786	4717	5,856	1

By and large the percentage changes from one year to the next are minimal and those significant percentage changes reflect activity over which the Commission has minimal control. Training is contingent on requests by public agencies, public office holders, and other interested groups, such as the Municipal Association of South Carolina and the South Carolina Bar Association.

Both formal and informal advisory opinion requests decreased; however, staff began keeping track of telephone inquires. Staff answered approximately 145 telephone inquiries per month. Staff continues to reduce the response time in the issuance of informal advisory opinions and to publicize the availability of opinions in its on-line newsletter and at training sessions. Staff fully implemented surveying those customers requesting informal opinions throughout the fiscal year. One hundred percent of those responding agreed or strongly agreed that the requested informal opinion was clear and easy to understand and that the informal opinion answered the question posed. Staff does not assert that all requesters were completely satisfied; although, the 66% who returned the survey were clearly satisfied with the service provided. The City of Chicago Board of Ethic's key responsibilities mirror the four distinct responsibilities of the Commission: lobbying registration and disclosure; ethical rules of conduct; financial disclosure; and campaign practices and disclosure. The Board of Ethics in providing advice responds to inquiries (verbal responses) and cases (written responses). The Board of Ethics handled 1200 inquiries in FY2000 and 89 cases. The Board of Ethics' staff is slightly larger with 12 FTE's and its FY2000 budget significantly larger at $653,355.00.

A continued goal of staff was to reduce the backlog of non-compliance matters considering the amount of staff time that must be devoted to ensuring proper and timely reporting. When that does not occur then significant staff time is devoted to the administrative late-filing procedure, as well as the complaint and hearing process. A complaint is not filed simultaneously to a missed deadline as the Commission by statute has an administrative late- filing penalty procedure which takes approximately two months to complete. This procedure begins immediately following a quarterly deadline and the annual financial disclosure deadline of April 15th. As the chart on page 21 illustrates complaint matters relating to disclosure are on the rise. The Commission received 144 complaints, with a subsequent increase in complaints resolved to 150. The increase in both figures are directly related to staff's goal to reduce the backlog of non-compliance matters. This goal was met.

The Commission had a decrease of filings of Statements of Economic Interests which appears to correspond to a non-election year decrease of candidates. A corresponding decrease in Campaign Disclosures Forms would be expected; however, the number of Campaign Disclosure Forms filed increased and staff attributes the increase to improved compliance with the pre-election disclosure requirements by candidates. Staff believes that this improved compliance results from training provided to of elected officials and candidates through the South Carolina School Board Association and the Municipal Association of South Carolina. The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission enforces the Campaign Finance Act and State Governmental Ethics Law primarily on the state and to a very limited extent on the local level. In FY2000 the Kansas Commission received 1042 campaign finance forms and 5973 financial disclosure forms. The Kansas Commission reported an enviable rate of 96% compliance with financial disclosure.

A nominal increase occurred in lobbyists' and lobbyist's principals' registrations and disclosures. This nominal increase can be attributed to a slight increase in lobbying during the final reporting period, as well as a slightly larger number of lobbyist's principals registering.

In FY2001, a total of 1,205 requests to review statements were filed and honored with the Commission, compared to 1,104 in FY2000, an increase of 101. Staff devotes a significant portion of each week to providing information in a timely manner to requesters. After reviewing the Commission's filing system, staff determined that a new system was required to ensure a timely response to requests and to maximize staff resources. A new filing system was implemented in calendar year 2001 with the assistance of Richland County Pre-trial Intervention participants. For those customers seeking current documents filed, staff response time to locate the documents is minutes. Of the fellow COGEL agencies responding to the Commission's request for comparative data, no agencies report on Requests to Review.

The Commission again sought funds to implement the electronic filing of all documents received by the Commission. Electronic filing would allow for more timely filing. It would reduce incomplete filings and thus reduce repetitive auditing of forms by staff. Electronic filing would provide almost immediate access to information to all Commission customers. This goal was not met due to budget cuts. Although electronic filing will remain a goal, staff is not optimistic that it is goal that will be quickly met.

Performance levels and trends to accomplish mission:

(1) Lobbyist Registration and Disclosure

The State Ethics Commission utilizes registration fees obtained from lobbyists and lobbyists' principals to administer this requirement. In FY2001, the State Ethics Commission received $69,650.00 from these registration fees.

Any person employed or retained to lobby for any person, group or business must register with the Commission within fifteen days after being employed or retained. Further, the person, group, or business which employs or retains a lobbyist must register within fifteen days after such employment or retention. Such lobbyists and lobbyist's principals are subject to strict restrictions on their activities while they are registered. Both the lobbyists and lobbyist's principals must file disclosures of income and expenditures by April 10, October 10, and December 31. Registrations and reports are audited and made available for public inspection. Registration and disclosure reports totaled 4786 in FY2001, a slight increase over FY2000. The Commission has very little control over these figures as they are dependent on legislative issues.

(2) Ethical Rules of Conduct

The Ethics Reform Act provides certain standards for public officials and public employees, centered around prohibitions against the use of the public position to affect the officeholder's economic interests, those of family members, or individuals or businesses with whom the person is associated. These standards prohibit the misuse of public resources and confidential information, nepotism, revolving door contracts, receiving compensation to influence official actions, and establish representation restrictions.

Penalties for violations of the Act range from administrative penalties, including public reprimands and civil fines of up to $2000 per violation, to criminal penalties ranging from $5000 and one year in prison to $10,000 and ten years in prison.

(3) Financial Disclosure

Certain public officeholders, to include all public officials, either elected or appointed; candidates; public members of state boards; chief administrative officials or employees of political subdivisions; chief finance officials or employees of political subdivisions must file a Statement of Economic Interests at specified times to include an annual update by April 15th. The Commission develops the reporting form, distributes the form to required filers, receives and audits the filed reports, and makes those reports available for public inspection. In FY2001, approximately 8,683 Statements were processed. At the close of FY2001, the Commission began reviewing the Special Purpose District's entity lists to determine whether all the filers of Statements of Economic Interests were required by statute to file. Preliminary feedback showed that a significant number of individuals were filing who were not required to. This review is on- going for other entities and the results will be fully reported in the Commission's FY2002 Accountability Report.

(4) Campaign Practices and Disclosure

Candidates and committees are required to file disclosures of their campaign finance activities. They are subject to contribution limitations, restricted use of campaign funds, and proper accountability. The Commission develops the reporting form, distributes the form to required filers, receives and audits the filed reports, and makes those reports available for public inspection. In FY2001 approximately 5,169 campaign disclosure forms were received, audited and made available to the public. The Commission receives Campaign Disclosure Forms from the House Ethics Committee and the Senate Ethics Committee which are made available to the public. The Senate Ethics Committee was unable to provide an accurate count for FY2001. The House Ethics Committee forwarded approximately 784 forms to the Commission.

LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE-FY95 TO FY2001

FY95	FY96	FY97	FY98	FY99	FY00	FY01
COMPLAINTS
Filed	15	18	37	49	54	107	144
Final Disposition	29	15	18	35	51	108	150
On Hand	15	17	33	47	50	45	39
ADVISORY OPINIONS
Formal	15	6	6	13	7	11	6
Informal	172	240	296	292	128	117	105
FORMS
SEI'S	10,497	9,176	9,056	9,193	8,378	9,588	8683
CD	5,263	3,659	4,308	4,111	4,431	4,170	5169
Lobby	3,598	3,797	4,137	4,191	5,856	4,717	4786
TRAINING SESSIONS
Conducted	13	32	34	33	24	24	26
Participants	683	1,522	1,452	1,515	904	1,398	1,600

Performance levels and trends of employee satisfaction:

The Employee Performance Management System provides an opportunity for the Executive Director and the employee to make changes to employee responsibilities in line with ongoing strategic goals and to revise position descriptions to accurately reflect actual duties. The process encourages high performance by realigning the position description and evaluation documents with the actual job responsibility.

Performance levels and trends of supplier performance:

Not applicable.

Performance levels and trends of regulatory/legal compliance and citizenship:

Not applicable.

Current levels and trends of financial performance:

Since September, 2000, the Commission's forms can also be printed from the web site. As a result, the Commission has not incurred any printing costs since September, 2000. Due to budget constraints, the Commission's newsletter is now only provided online. This results in a savings of materials, equipment use and postage. Additionally, minutes from the Commission's bi-monthly meetings are also available online. These efforts are directed at making the Commission's web site more user friendly, more responsive to the public's needs and more cost effective to the Commission, i.e. reduction in printing and postage costs.

INDEX OF CHARTS AND TABLES*

Accountability Report Appropriations/Expenditures Chart	7

Organizational Chart	9

Advisory Opinion Chart	19

Complaint Chart	21

Levels of Performance(%Change)	21

Levels of Performance-FY95 to Fy2001	27

*If a chart or table does not appear, please refer to the Commission's hard copy.