Public employment: disqualification from employment.

The California Constitution provides that a person shall be disqualified from holding office if he or she has been convicted of bribery, and directs the Legislature to enact laws to exclude persons convicted of malfeasance in office or other high crimes from office. Under existing statutory law, a person is disqualified from holding any office upon the conviction of specified crimes designated in the Constitution or statute. Existing law enumerates events causing a vacancy in office, including the conviction of a felony or any offense involving a violation of official duties. This bill would disqualify for 5 years a person who employed at will for the purposes of providing services to an elected public officer from any public employment, including, but not limited to, employment with a city, county, district, or any other public agency of this state, if he or she is convicted of a felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her duties as a public employee. That 5-year disqualification period would begin at the later of either the person's final conviction or release from any incarceration.