As of Jan. 1, AB1234 requires cities, counties and special districts to provide ethics training for their officials. Before this, ethics training was not required.

Los Gatos Town Councilwoman Barbara Spector said so far, her life experience and career as an attorney have provided her with enough ethics training to help her make sound judgments.

"I think it's a good idea, and whether or not I think it's enough training, that just remains to be seen," Spector said. "It would seem that any amount of training is useful."

Spector said while she has not taken any ethics training specifically for council, she has had plenty of courses as a lawyer.

Los Gatos Mayor Diane McNutt said that when she took office three years ago, she enrolled in a two-day workshop at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

"The Markkula Center is really taking a leadership role for people in public service," McNutt said. During the workshop, participants were given different scenarios, such as whether to accept a free dinner from a restaurant owner, and asked to decided how ethical it was.

They found they were not always in agreement, McNutt said.

One of the most difficult things about taking a local government role, said Judy Nadler, senior fellow at the Markkula Center, is that there is no formal training.

"Most people, when they pursue public office, do so because they care deeply about their city," she said. "Yet there is no training to be a council member."

Unlike other professions, officials learn the job as they go, which may or may not be the best approach, said Nadler, who was speaking from experience. She served two terms as mayor in Milpitas and was also on the Santa Clara City Council. During her years as a public official, she said, she did not have an ethics resource to turn to.

Los Gatos council members receive a brief training, and then they are directed by staff and constantly have the town attorney, Orry Korb, instructing them about what is legal.

Sometimes, though, that's just not enough.

"When you are a public official, you deal with complicated and complex situations where it is sometimes hard to recognize ethical dilemmas," McNutt said. This can be difficult, especially in such a small town where professional and personal friendships sometimes overlap.

Nadler said while the center provides workshops that range from courses for newly appointed government officials to leadership and ethics, the center will not be authorized to provide training for the new law.

"The two-hour training the state is requiring is very law- and compliance-based. It's training that you would more likely hear from a city attorney than from an ethicist," Nadler said.

McNutt said the League of Cities is developing an ethics workshop for public officials. While she has not yet booked hers, she and the other council members have two years before it must be completed.

While the two-hour training might be a good start, however, there could be room to expand the time requirement in the future, McNutt said.

"Two hours," she said, "doesn't even being to explore the options."