City of Oakland California

The Public Ethics Commission (PEC) is a seven-member independent, non-partisan commission made up of Oakland residents and charged with ensuring fairness, openness, honesty and integrity in Oakland City government.

Our objective is to make sure Oakland public officials and government decision-making processes operate in a fair and unbiased manner, to promote transparency in Oakland government, and to promote public trust in our local political system.

The Commission’s duties include ensuring compliance with the City of Oakland’s government ethics, campaign finance, transparency, and lobbyist registration laws.

The Public Ethics Commission is currently reviewing how the City could redesign its campaign finance laws to expand citizen participation and equity in the electoral process and reduce the influence of big money in City politics.

Learn more on our campaign finance policy page.

The Commission is proposing a revised policy to the City Council to reform the distribution and use of free tickets by Oakland City officials to ensure ticket distribution and use is for legitimate public purposes and complies with state and local ethics laws, and we want Oakland residents to weigh in! Visit our new Ticket Distribution Policy page to learn more about the Commission's findings, access our report Ensuring Ethical and Transparent Distribution of City Tickets, and check out our proposed policy reforms to address flaws in the present system.