The Dallas Ethics Advisory Commission on April 15 voted to recommend that the City Council amend Chapter 12A of the city code to make certain sections of the code of ethics apply to persons doing business with the city, including a provision that could allow the council to disqualify contractors from future city contracts.

Laura Morrison, legal adviser to the commission in the City Attorney’s Office, told commissioners the draft proposed expanding the code so that the same provisions that apply to city officials and employees would also apply to people doing business with the city. Morrison said the draft was developed in coordination with the Office of Inspector General.

The proposal prompted debate over two issues that drew repeated attention from commissioners: whether the code should explicitly include subcontractors and whether the disqualification-from-contracting sanction should carry a minimum time period. Commissioner Susan Bowman said she was reluctant to leave the period entirely to City Council discretion without a minimum and asked whether the commission could recommend a minimum of two years. Several other commissioners and staff pushed back, saying the council’s discretion would allow case-by-case outcomes suited to different levels of culpability.

Baron Eliason, the city’s chief integrity officer, said the proposed change closes a gap in the code by linking persons doing business with the city to the operative provisions of Chapter 12A. He described situations where subcontractors can be used to evade oversight and said including subcontractors can provide an enforcement tool to incentivize general contractors to supervise subs more carefully. Eliason told the commission he could craft additional language if the commission wanted a minimum penalty or other clarifying language.

Commissioners discussed practical concerns: the City Attorney’s Office said subcontractors might not be aware of the city code and noted that imposing duties on them would effectively require contractors to inform their subs. The proposal would also allow a panel of the commission to recommend to City Council that a person doing business with the city be disqualified; the scope and duration of any disqualification would be determined by the council under the current draft.

After discussion the commission moved and seconded the OIG-backed draft language. The motion passed with two commissioners voting no and the remainder in favor.

The proposal will be transmitted to the City Council for consideration as a recommended amendment to Chapter 12A.