California Government Code Section 1090 Conflict of Interest

In Lexin v. Superior Court (2010) 47 Cal.4th 1050, the Supreme Court stated that Government Code section 1090 "codifies the long-standing common law rule that barred public officials from being personally financially interested in the contracts they formed in their official capacities." (Lexin, supra, 47 Cal.4th at p. 1072.) The statutes' overlap with the common law rule is not completed because the statutes are concerned with financial conflicts of interest and the common law rule encompassed both financial and nonfinancial interests that could result in divided loyalty. (See Clark v. City of Hermosa Beach (1996) 48 Cal.App.4th 1152, 1171, fn. 18 56 Cal. Rptr. 2d 223 Political Reform Act of 1974 focuses on financial conflicts of interest while the common law extended to noneconomic conflicts of interest.)