Florida Form 8B Voting Conflict Memorandum: Filing, Deadlines, Penalties

Florida Form 8B, the Memorandum of Voting Conflict for County, Municipal, and Other Local Public Officers, is the one-page disclosure you file when a vote before your board would affect your private finances or those of a relative, business associate, or principal. Download it from the Florida Commission on Ethics website, fill in the meeting date, your board, the category of conflict, and a plain-English description of what the conflict is, then file it with whoever records the minutes within 15 days of the vote.¹ The written form is only part of the obligation. Florida law also requires you to announce the conflict out loud at the meeting, and if you are an appointed officer, to stay out of the matter entirely.

When You Actually Need to File

A conflict exists when a measure before your board would produce a “special private gain or loss” for you, a relative, a business associate, or a principal who retains you. Relative covers parents, spouse, children, siblings, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law. The gain or loss has to be economic. A reputational hit or a political embarrassment on its own does not trigger Form 8B.²

One boundary worth knowing before you file: if the measure affects a broad class of people and your economic exposure is no different from everyone else’s in that class, there is no conflict and no form. A countywide property tax change that hits you the same way it hits every other property owner falls into this category. A rezoning that happens to boost the value of your adjacent lot does not, because your benefit is bigger and more specific than the general public’s.

Elected Officers vs. Appointed Officers

Section 112.3143 treats the two groups differently, and the differences shape both what you do at the meeting and when the form is due.

If You Are Elected

You may not vote on the conflicting measure. Before the vote is taken, state publicly to the assembly what your interest in the matter is. You then have 15 days after the vote to file Form 8B with the person who records the minutes.² Abstaining is not a shortcut. The oral disclosure and the written memorandum are each required on their own.

If You Are Appointed

The rule is stricter. You may not “participate” in the matter at all, and participation is defined broadly enough to include any attempt to influence the decision through written or oral communication, whether you make it yourself or direct someone else to make it. Lobbying another board member, speaking during discussion, or telling staff what to recommend all count.

Timing works differently too. If you know about the conflict before the meeting, file the written memorandum with the minutes-keeper beforehand, and the memorandum has to be given to the other board members right away. If the conflict only surfaces during the meeting, disclose it orally when it comes up and then file the written form within 15 days. Either way, the memorandum is read aloud at the next meeting after it is filed.¹

Filling Out the Form

Form 8B is a single-page PDF available at ethics.state.fl.us under Current Forms.³ You can type it or print and fill it in by hand. There are three working pieces: the header fields, the conflict checkboxes, and the narrative.

Header Fields

The top of the form asks for the calendar date the vote took place, the full official name of the board or commission you serve on, the political subdivision (county, city, or other local government), and your legal name and mailing address as they appear in your official capacity.¹

Conflict Category Checkboxes

Next you check one or more boxes indicating whose gain or loss created the conflict:

The measure inured to your own special private gain or loss.
The measure inured to the special gain or loss of a business associate (write in the name).
The measure inured to the special gain or loss of a relative (write in the name).
The measure inured to the special gain or loss of a principal by whom you are retained (write in the name).
The measure inured to the special gain or loss of a parent, subsidiary, or sibling organization of a principal that has retained you (write in the name).

Check every box that fits. A contract that benefits you personally and also benefits a business partner gets both boxes.

Narrative Description

The bottom of the form is a blank space for describing the conflict in your own words. This is where most Form 8B filings fall short. Write specifically. Identify the measure that was voted on, explain how it connects to your private interest, and state why that connection creates a financial benefit or harm. “I have a business interest” says nothing. “I own a commercial lot adjacent to the parcel being rezoned, and the rezoning would likely increase the market value of my property” gives any future reader the full picture.

Sign and date at the bottom. Your signature authenticates the disclosure, and once filed, the form is a public record.

Filing and the Public Reading

Hand the completed form to whoever keeps the minutes for your board, usually the clerk or board secretary. Elected officers have 15 days from the vote. Appointed officers who knew about the conflict in advance file before the meeting; appointed officers who discovered the conflict during the meeting have 15 days from the oral disclosure.²

The clerk incorporates the memorandum into the official minutes, and it is read publicly into the record at the next meeting after filing. That reading gives constituents who were not in the room a chance to hear the disclosure.¹ After that, the form sits in the permanent minutes and is available for public inspection.

Mistakes That Create a Second Problem

The most common error is treating abstention as the whole answer. Quietly sitting out a vote without the oral announcement and without filing Form 8B does not satisfy the statute. The spoken disclosure and the written memorandum are independent requirements.

A vague narrative is the next trap. The description has to let a member of the public see the connection between the vote and your interest. If what you wrote could describe half the board, rewrite it with names: the property, the contract, the business relationship, or the relative.

Appointed officers forget that the ban extends past voting. Lobbying another board member, directing staff, or writing a memo advocating for a position all count as participation under the statute, even if you never cast a vote.

Watch the deadline. The 15-day clock runs from the vote (for elected officers) or from the oral disclosure (for appointed officers who learned of the conflict at the meeting). A late filing does not cure the obligation, and the lateness itself can become the subject of an ethics complaint.

Penalties for Skipping It

The Florida Commission on Ethics investigates complaints and makes findings and recommendations to the authority that can actually impose discipline, such as the Governor or the body itself.⁴ The consequences are civil rather than criminal, but the range under Section 112.317 is wide:⁵

Removal or suspension from office
Impeachment
Public censure and reprimand
Forfeiture of up to one-third of monthly salary for up to 12 months
A civil penalty of up to $20,000
Restitution of any financial benefit received because of the violation

Beyond the formal sanctions, an ethics complaint is itself a public record, and defending one takes months and usually a lawyer. Filing the form correctly and on time is a much smaller task than answering for not filing it.

1
Florida Commission on Ethics. CE Form 8B – Memorandum of Voting Conflict for County, Municipal, and Other Local Public Officers
2
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 112.3143 – Voting Conflicts
3
Florida Commission on Ethics. Current Forms and Filing Information
4
Florida Commission on Ethics. Guide to the Sunshine Amendment and Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees
5
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 112.317 – Penalties