In preparing this pamphlet, we relied on a variety of legal resources. Obviously, California statutes and appellate court cases were consulted and are cited throughout the pamphlet. While most of the more significant cases are discussed, this pamphlet is not intended to be a compendium of all court cases in this area. In addition, we referred to published opinions and letter opinions issued by this office. Published opinions are cited by volume and page number (e.g., 59 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 339 (1979)). Indexed letters or letter opinions are cited by year and page number (e.g., I.L. 75-255). Published opinions are available through law libraries and some attorneys' offices. As a general rule, indexed letters are available only in the Offices of the Attorney General. Copies may be obtained by a request to the editor.

We also referred to the regulations, published opinions and informal advice letters of the Fair Political Practices Commission (hereinafter "FPPC" or commission). The regulations are found in title 2 of the California Code of Regulations in section 18000 et seq. The opinions may be found in publications of Continuing Education of the Bar and are cited by name, request number, volume and page number, e.g., In re Carey, No. 76-087, 3 FPPC Ops. 99. We occasionally make reference to FPPC informal advice letters which are referred to by name and number, e.g., In re Olson, No. A-85-218. Copies of these materials may be obtained from the commission, or online through WESTLAW in the CAL-ETH database.

The pamphlet is current through October 1997 with respect to statutes, case law, Attorney General opinions, and opinions and regulations of the FPPC.

If you have specific questions, you should consult an attorney, or in the case of questions concerning the Political Reform Act, the FPPC. In the case of questions concerning the Legislature, its employees or other persons who are subject to Government Code section 8920 et seq., you should contact the Legislative Ethics Committee for the house of the Legislature in question. If you have concerns about potential violations of a conflict of interests statute, you should first consult with a representative of the government agency, board or commission which may be affected by the conflict of interests. If you continue to think that a conflict of interests violation may exist, you should contact the District Attorney for your county, or other enforcement authority described in the pertinent chapter of this pamphlet.

If you wish to obtain additional copies of this pamphlet, they may be ordered or downloaded via the Attorney General's Home Page, located on the World Wide Web at http://caag.state.ca.us. You may also write to the Public Inquiry Unit, P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550 or by telephone at (800) 952-5225 (for callers within California), or (916) 322-3360 (for callers outside of California); the TTY/TDD telephone numbers are (800) 952-5548 (for callers within California), or (916) 324-5564 (for callers outside of California).

Other pamphlets available to the public produced by the Office of the Attorney General include:

The Brown Act (open meetings for local bodies)

Quo Warranto