FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Editor’s note: Leading up to and during National Ethics Week (April 24-30) sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, The Fairhope Courier will report on some local and related state ethics issues.

Some changes made to the Alabama Ethics Act, which were rushed through during a special session last year and passed at 3 a.m., Dec. 15, got their first test during several advisory opinions issued by the Alabama Ethics Commission this month, including one involving a Baldwin County power cooperative.

The new law added 12 exceptions to an existing six of those not included as “things of value” and regulated by the commission in various ways.

“Under the new statute, there are 18 exceptions,” said Hugh Evans, the commission’s general counsel. “About four or five of them are broad exceptions that cover a lot of territory, such as those involving an ‘educational function,’ ‘economic development function’ and what’s called ‘widely attended events.’”

It was among those provisions that the commission found language applicable to requests for opinions from organizations in the state, including the Baldwin Electric Membership Cooperative.

The result in the Baldwin case was that the commission found “the EMC may donate tickets to or invite guests of the Baldwin County Legislative Delegation to Chamber of Commerce fund raising events, such as a hospital gala, when the receipt of the tickets requires no particular course of action on the part of members” by the legislators.

Jim Sumner, the commission’s director, downplayed the significance of the changes, stating “you are going to have exceptions and we’ve always had exceptions. We had six in the previous statute. They were very broad – through which you could drive a truck.”

Sumner said the increase in the number of exceptions was overcome by other provisions enacted.

“On the whole, the session gave us seven of the top 10 things we’ve always wanted,” he said. “And so, it was a quantum step forward for the ethics commission and the ethics law. We have to give a huge plus-sign for what it delivered to the ethics commission overall.”