Government Code section 1090 which prohibits public officials and employees from making contracts in which they have a financial interest applies to independent contractors hired by government entities if the contractors have duties to engage in or advise public contracting.  Here, Sahlolbei was a doctor at a county hospital with authority to hire other doctors for the hospital.  He hired a doctor, making a secret deal for the new hire to pay him a kickback of part of the new doctor’s salary.  That constituted a violation of section 1090.

California Supreme Court (Liu, J.); June 26, 2017; 2017 WL 2729540