The Board of Ethics is responsible for enforcing the City’s Public Integrity Laws and is required to include information concerning its enforcement activities in its Annual Report. 

Board investigations stem from three main sources: complaints received from the public; referrals from a government agency; or from the initiative of the Board’s Executive Director. To accept a complaint for investigation, the complaint must: 

• Provide the full name and address of the complainant; 

• Identify the person or persons who allegedly violated the Public Integrity Laws; and 

• Contain facts that describe a violation of the Public Integrity Laws, including relevant times, places, and names of witnesses, if known. 

If the complaint does not meet these requirements, the Executive Director is required to reject it and notify the complainant of the reasons for the rejection. The complainant is free to refile their complaint at any time with additional information or to resolve the issues raised by the Executive Director’s response. 

If the complaint satisfies the requirements, the Executive Director is required to accept it and Board Enforcement Staff begin an investigation into the allegations. If the investigation leads to probable cause that a violation occurred, the Executive Director can initiate an administrative or judicial enforcement proceeding. 

While an investigation is ongoing, a person (e.g., a witness, complainant, subject, etc.) may not disclose any information or documents related to the investigation learned or obtained solely from the Board or Board Staff (unless subject to certain exceptions articulated in Board Regulation No. 2 (Investigation and Enforcement Proceedings), Subpart D). Once the investigation has ended, a person may disclose any information about that investigation.

At any point, the Executive Director can seek to resolve a matter through a settlement agreement. In a settlement agreement, subjects of enforcement admit to violations and, in most cases, agree to pay a civil monetary penalty. All settlement agreements must be approved by the Board.

The following tables summarize the Board’s FY2025 investigation and enforcement activity. The data below does not reflect the total number of active investigations as of the end of FY2025.

The following tables summarize the Board’s investigation and enforcement activity stemming from complaints in FY2025.

The following tables summarize the Board’s investigation and enforcement activity stemming from referrals from other governmental agencies in FY2025.

The following tables summarize the Board’s investigation and enforcement activity in FY2025 stemming from the Executive Director’s initiative.

In FY2025, the Board approved one settlement agreement:

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 (February 19, 2025): Resolving lobbying violations of Philadelphia Code Chapter 20-1200 and Board Regulation No. 9 for failure to register as a lobbying principal; failure to file quarterly expense reports; and failure to keep records of lobbying expenses. IBEW Local 98 has agreed to pay $24,600 in civil monetary penalties.

Parties in FY2025 paid a total of $24,600 in civil monetary penalties. 

The Board’s settlement agreements are available on the Board’s website here. 

A lawsuit filed in FY2024 by For a Better Philadelphia 501(c)(4) and For a Better Philadelphia PAC and two individuals against the Board and the Executive Director, related in part to the Board's campaign finance enforcement activities in FY2023, was dismissed by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on October 8, 2024. At the time of this report, the dismissal of the lawsuit is on appeal before the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.