Welcome to OGEC

Mission Statement

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) will impartially and effectively administer and enforce Oregon's government ethics laws for the benefit of Oregon's citizens. The Commission will emphasize education in achieving its mission.

Organization

OGEC was established by vote of the people in 1974. The Commission is comprised of a nine-member citizen commission as well as nine staff members who are all charged with enforcing government ethics laws. Oregon Government Ethics laws prohibit public officials from using or attempting to use their official position or office to obtain financial gain or to avoid a financial detriment. In addition, it requires public disclosure of economic conflicts of interest. OGEC also enforces state laws which require lobbyists and the entities they represent to register and file quarterly reports of their expenditures. The third area of OGEC jurisdiction is the executive session provisions of public meetings law.

Annual Performance Progress Reports

View the current and historical reports.

Affirmative Action Plan

The Affirmative Action statement has many components that are required by state and federal law. Those requirements help guide state agencies to successfully incorporate diversity, inclusion and equity into their organizational business plan, workforce parity, and inclusion practices.

Affirmative Action Plan (pdf)

Executive Order No. 22-11

Strategic Plan

View the 2018 Strategic Plan (pdf).

Agency Awards

Oregon Ethics’ Case Management System Named a StateScoop 50 Innovation of the Year

OGEC's system transformed an entirely manual, paper-based process into an efficient, real-time, online system that enables the public to search ethics case findings and advice provided by the Commission on demand, resulting in far fewer public records requests. The new system provides online submission of complaints, which feed into an administrative interface that enables Commission staff to track and investigate cases, and respond to public records requests more efficiently.

“We first implemented the public facing search functionality in January 2017,” said Executive Director Ron Bersin. “Making case findings and Commission advice available on-demand was our first priority for this project. The administrative functionality was developed second, and has significantly improved our efficiency and accuracy processing ethics violation cases.”

Members of the state and local IT community nominated thousands of government leaders in February and March 2018. From there, StateScoop narrowed the list to the top 170 with the most nominations. StateScoop readers then cast more than 500,000 votes nationally in March and April to select the final 50 2018 winners.

The Case Management System was developed through Oregon’s E-Government Program in partnership with the Oregon Information Division of NICUSA who is under contract to provide digital services.

History

During the Watergate scandal of the early seventies, Americans were confronted with deceit and misuse of power by elected officials. Citizens across the nation began calling for accountability from their governments. In response, Oregon was one of the first states to create laws designed to open government to greater public scrutiny.

In 1974, more than 70 percent of the voters approved a statewide ballot measure to create OGEC. The ballot measure also established a set of laws (ORS Chapter 244) requiring financial disclosure by certain officials and creating a process to deal with the inevitable question of conflicts of interest. The drafters of the original laws recognized that "conflicts of interest" are, indeed, inevitable in any government that relies on citizen lawmakers.

Did you know: The Oregon Legislature, in 1993, changed the agency's name to Government Standards and Practices Commission (GSPC), then during the legislative session of 2007 changed the agency's name back to Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC)?

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