Public Official

A public official is an elected or appointed official, or an employee of a Federal, state or local government in the United States.  There are five exceptions to this definition, including a college or university, a government–sponsored enterprise, a public utility, guaranty agency or an agency of any state functioning as a student loan secondary market.  The 1998 amendments to the LDA expanded the definition of Apublic official@ in Section 3(15)(F) to add a Agroup of governments acting together as an international organization.@  Its purpose was to ensure those international organizations, such as the World Bank, would be treated in the same manner as the governments that comprise them.