- (a) Advisory opinions, except those issued by the Arkansas Ethics Commission on its own initiative, shall be issued only in response to a written request setting forth an inquiry into matters falling under the jurisdiction of the commission.
- (b) The commission may, on its own initiative, direct the staff to prepare a draft opinion, or it may accept a draft advisory opinion from the staff without first receiving a request when the commission determines the subject of the draft opinion is of such public concern that an advisory opinion would benefit the public.
- (c) No advisory opinion shall be valid, official, or have any effect unless same has been approved by a vote of a majority of a quorum of the commission.
(d)
- (1) Any citizen shall be entitled to request an advisory opinion from the commission.
- (2) Any request which meets these procedural guidelines shall be responded to within ninety (90) days, unless good cause be shown.
- (3) The response to opinion requests shall be prepared by the commission staff and shall be presented by staff to the full commission for its consideration within the time limit set forth above, unless good cause be shown.
- (e) The commission is not bound by or obligated to release the conclusions or language of the staff’s draft opinion but may alter, amend, add to, or strike any portion of the draft opinion, or may order that said draft opinion be tabled for future consideration or that it be rewritten to comply with the commission’s directives, as the commission shall so decide.
- (f) No draft opinion prepared by the commission staff shall be considered an official opinion until it has received an affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum of the commission.
(g)
- (1) The commission may reconsider, withdraw, or amend prior opinions upon request of a citizen, or on its own motion, on a majority vote of a quorum of the commission.
- (2) In such event, written notice shall be mailed to the citizen who originally requested the opinion at the last address which that citizen provided to the commission.
- (h) All advisory opinions issued by the commission shall be made available for public inspection.