Who enforces ethics and conflict-of-interest safeguards for Georgia public officers?

• A. There are no ethics rules.
• B. The Constitution and state ethics laws prohibit self-dealing and require public officers to avoid conflicts of interest (as enforced by ethics bodies and statutes).
• C. Ethics rules only apply to federal employees.
• D. Conflicts are allowed if it benefits the officeholder.

Answer: (B)

Georgia requires public officers to avoid conflicts of interest and to refrain from self-dealing. Those safeguards are established by the state Constitution and fleshed out in state ethics laws, which spell out what counts as a conflict, when disclosures are required, and when a public official must recuse themselves. Enforcement falls to ethics bodies—the Georgia State Ethics Commission and the agencies it oversees—under the authority of those ethics statutes. Penalties and remedies for violations come from the same laws. So the best answer reflects that these rules exist at the constitutional and statutory level and are enforced by dedicated ethics bodies and the statutes they administer. Conflicts aren’t allowed simply because they might benefit the officeholder, and these rules apply to state and local officials, not just federal employees.