Whoa, don’t look now, but North Carolina just legalized prostitution! Well, sort of that is, and the legalization doesn’t apply to everyday citizens. However, sexual relationships between a consenting politician and lobbyist are now officially A-Okay, reports The Daily Beast. Don’t look so surprised — the rules have never applied to the political elite.

If this rule sounds unethical to you, you’d be wrong. In fact, North Carolina’s own Ethics Commission is the body that gave its collective thumbs up to lobbyist/politician fornication. In December, the state’s lobbying compliance director formally asked the commission — hypothetically, supposedly — whether such relationships were permitted by state ethical standards. Now, two months later, the group decided that these sexual relationships are on the up-and-up, leading some to wonder whether the Ethics Commission had been “lobbied” in the interim.

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In North Carolina, politicians and staffers must disclose all gifts from lobbyists that cost over $10. However, politicians have no obligation to acknowledge having sex with lobbyists since sex is free. “Consensual sexual relationships do not have monetary value and therefore are not reportable as gifts or ‘reportable expenditures made for lobbying’ for purposes of the lobbying law’s expenditure reporting provisions,” wrote the North Carolina Ethics Commission.

The Ethics Commission may insist that its decision is different from prostitution, yet by allowing corporations to hire people who can sway politicians with sexual acts, it’s certainly opening the door to that sort of behavior. It would certainly be easier for industries to conceal their influence by enticing government officials with off-the-books sex than having to disclose “moneyed” presents instead.