A state officer or employee may not directly or indirectly give a gift or make a donation toward a gift for an official superior in an agency’s chain of command or solicit a contribution from another employee for a gift to either his or her own or the other employee’s official superior, nor may any state officer or employee receive directly or indirectly a gift from an employee receiving less compensation from the state than himself or herself, subject to the following exceptions:

1. A state officer or employee may make or receive such a gift if there exists a personal relationship between the two that would justify the gift.

2. A state officer or employee may make or receive such a gift on an occasional basis, including an occasion on which gifts are traditionally given or exchanged, provided the gift, which may not be in cash, has an aggregate market value of Twenty Dollars ($20.00) or less per occasion.

3. A state officer or employee may make or receive such a gift when items such as food or refreshments are to be shared in the agency among several employees.

4. A state officer or employee may make or receive such a gift involving personal hospitality provided at a residence which is of a type and value customarily provided by the state officer or employee to personal friends, or when the gifts consist of items given in connection with the receipt of personal hospitality of a type and value customarily given on such occasions.

5. A state officer or employee may make or receive such a gift appropriate to the occasion in recognition of infrequently occurring occasions of personal significance such as marriage, illness, birth or adoption of a child, retirement, resignation or transfer.

Promulgated by Ethics Commission January 10, 2014; effective upon Legislature’s sine die adjournment May 23, 2014; operative January 1, 2015.