(1) In our democratic form of government, the conduct of officers and employees of the State must hold the respect and confidence of the people. They must, therefore, avoid conduct which is in violation of their public trust or which creates a justifiable impression among the public that such trust is being violated.

(2) To ensure propriety and to preserve public confidence, officers and employees of the State must have the benefit of specific standards to guide their conduct and of some disciplinary mechanisms to guarantee uniform maintenance of those standards. Some standards of this type are so vital to government that violation thereof should subject the violator to criminal penalties.

(3) In our democratic form of government, it is both necessary and desirable that all citizens should be encouraged to assume public office and employment, and that, therefore, the activities of officers and employees of the State should not be unduly circumscribed.

(4) It is the desire of the General Assembly that all counties, municipalities and towns adopt code of conduct legislation at least as stringent as this act to apply to their employees and elected and appointed officials. This subchapter shall apply to any county, municipality or town and the employees and elected and appointed officials thereof which has not enacted such legislation by January 23, 1993. No code of conduct legislation shall be deemed sufficient to exempt any county, municipality or town from the purview of this subchapter unless the code of conduct has been submitted to the State Ethics Commission and determined by a majority vote thereof to be at least as stringent as this subchapter. Any change to an approved code of conduct must similarly be approved by the State Ethics Commission to continue the exemption from this subchapter.