State statutes and local ordinances restrict public officials from participating in matters in which they have a financial interest, and from contracting with their own bodies.
Direct and indirect interests. An interest held through a spouse, a business, an employer or a family member is generally treated the same as a personal one. Definitions vary and should be read rather than assumed.
Disclosure and recusal. The standard requirement is public disclosure on the record and abstention from deliberation and vote. Leaving the room, and having the minutes reflect it, is the practice that removes argument.
Contracts with officials. Many statutes prohibit them outright below a threshold and permit them above it only with disclosure and a supermajority vote, or through a competitive process. Contracts made in violation are commonly void.
Incompatible offices. Statutes prohibit one person holding two offices where the duties conflict or one supervises the other. Accepting the second office can operate as an automatic resignation from the first.
Gifts and honoraria are regulated by threshold and by source, and registration requirements may attach.
Post-employment restrictions limit former officials appearing before their prior body for a period.
The practical control is a standing agenda item requiring disclosure, a maintained register of officials’ interests, and counsel review of any contract involving a related party before it reaches a vote.