Overview -
The first special session of the 2008-2012 Louisiana Legislature was an effort to address the perception - sometimes deserved and sometimes not - on the part of Louisiana citizens and others across the nation that government in Louisiana does not operate in an ethical, honest and open manner. To that end, state lawmakers finally approved over 25 bills at the session.
The measures focus on financial disclosure, transparency in government operations, conflicts of interests involving public servants, campaign disclosure reforms and ethics board operations and enforcement. The idea is to give citizens free and open access to information about their government and the conduct of their public servants and candidates for office. Legislators balanced the need to strengthen Louisiana's ethics laws with the desire to make sure the reforms were not overreaching or otherwise discouraged citizens from public service.
The resulting reforms will not only elevate Louisiana to one of the top states in the nation with strong ethics laws and regulations, the new laws also will provide the state with the foundation needed to address other issues of importance to our citizens, economic development, education, workforce training and health care reform. Legislators are expected to continue their discussions about additional ethics reform measures at the Regular Session which begins the end of March.

Financial Disclosure & Transparency - 
HB 1 (Tucker) - Requires lawmakers, statewide elected officials, local officials, certain state appointed officials and members of certain state boards and commissions to publicly disclose personal financial information and that of their spouse on an annual basis in various amounts of detail depending on the office held. Candidates for those offices must also file financial disclosure reports. The financial disclosure requirements are defined in three tiers with varying degrees of detail. 

The most stringent requirements apply to the governor, statewide elected officials, department secretaries, the executive secretary of the PSC, the state education superintendent, college system presidents, the commissioner of higher education, the commissioner of administration, and the governor's chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, executive counsel and legislative director. Detailed information regarding employment, business interests, relationships with non-profit organizations in which they are officers or directors, sources of income including specific information about any income from the state, its political subdivisions and gaming interests, immovable property assets and certain other assets as well as certain transactions involving those assets, and certain liabilities over $10,000. The income, assets and liabilities are reported in six categories ranging from less than $5000 to $200,000 or more, except for the income from the state, any political subdivision or gaming services which must be reported dollar-for- dollar.

The next tier of reporting requirements applies to legislators, BESE members, members of the Board of Ethics and its administrator, elected officials who represent a district of 5000 or more and each member of a state board or commission with the authority to spend, disburse or invest more than $1 million in a fiscal year or a member of a board or commission who is paid $16,800 or more. The reporting requirements are similar to Tier I, however the level of detail and required reporting thresholds in some instances are less. Credit card debt and loans from financial institutions are not reported. The income, assets and liabilities are reported in four categories ranging from less than $5000 to $100,000 or more. The same dollar-for-dollar reporting requirement in Tier I for income from the state, any political subdivision or gaming services is required for Tier II.

The third tier of reporting requirements applies to elected officials representing a voting district of less than 5000 population and members of state boards and commissions with the authority to spend, disburse or invest $10,000 to $1 million in a fiscal year. This tier requires the reporting of any income over $250 received from the state or any political subdivision and gaming interests.

The first reports are due May 15, 2009 covering financial data from calendar year 2008 for Tier I and Tier II, except for those in Tier II who notify the ethics board that they are filing an extension for completion of their federal income tax return. For those with federal tax filing extensions, the new reports are due within 30 days of the tax filing. Those affected by the Tier III requirements will file their first reports May 15, 2010 covering financial data from calendar year 2009.

Judges are no longer included in the law. However, the Louisiana Supreme Court is on the record agreeing to require the same type of financial disclosure reports as to be required of legislators by June 15th. Senate Concurrent Resolution 5 urges and requests the Louisiana Supreme Court to adopt such rules and the legislative leadership intends to file a bill for consideration at the Regular Session which would place the financial requirements for judges in state law in case the State Supreme Court does not adopt the ethics standards as agreed.

SB 35 (Chaisson) - Prohibits the use of counter letters by public officials and candidates in an effort to avoid disclosing assets required by the ethics code. Violators will face up to $10,000 in fines. Counter letters are used to temporarily transfer property from one entity to another. Such counter letters are already prohibited as it relates to the office of the governor and candidates for that office.

SB 37 (Chaisson) - Requires the Division of Administration to establish and maintain a web site that details state spending with a searchable data base. The web site must be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2009. The implementation cost is estimated to be $1 million.

HCR 6 (Tucker) SR 12 (Chaisson) - These measures create a process for the submission and public review of budget requests from non-governmental entities for state funding. Beginning July 1, 2008, such non-governmental entities must submit detailed information about their operations, officers, key personnel, the proposed budget and goals connected with the state monies and any relationship with an elected or appointed state official or that official's immediate family. The new requirement is designed to bring more transparency to how taxpayer dollars are spent.

Conflicts of Interest - 
SB 1 (Chaisson) - Prohibits legislators, the governor, statewide elected officials, state department secretaries, state penal system wardens and assistant wardens, the governor's chief of staff, commissioner of administration, executive counsel, and legislative director, the Civil Service Commission director, members of BESE, the state education superintendent, college system presidents, the commissioner of higher education, Board of Ethics members and the board administrator, the executive secretary of the PSC and their spouses and businesses from contracting with the state.

Immediate family members can continue to contract with the state through a competitively bid or negotiated contract. No negotiated agreements for consulting contracts will be allowed.

Retail purchases under $2500 are exempt.

Legislators, statewide elected officials, the commissioner of administration, the governor's chief of staff and his executive counsel and their spouses and businesses are specifically prohibited from entering into contracts for disaster recovery-related projects where the federal funds pass through the state. The prohibition will not apply to construction-related contracts more than two years after the declared disaster.

Other elected and appointed officials are allowed to have such disaster recovery-related projects, but must disclose such contracts.

Existing contracts that are banned with the new law may continue until the end of this legislative term in 2012. Annual reports detailing information regarding those contracts as well as those contracts that will be allowed on the part of immediate family members must be filed with the Board of Ethics.

Contract prohibitions continue for one year after leaving office. However, an elected official who currently holds a "prohibited" contract may continue the contract after the end of this term if he leaves office.

SB 5 (Chaisson) - Eliminates the ability of an elected official to vote on matters where there may be a personal conflict of interest as long as they file a statement disclosing the conflict. In the case of a possible conflict of interest, the official must recuse himself from voting. The conflict will not prohibit the official from participating in the debate and discussion of the matter in question as long as the conflict is verbally disclosed.

HB 22 (Champagne) - Closes a loophole in the current state nepotism law that could allow an elected official with no hiring authority to get the person with such authority to hire their relatives without any repercussions.

Lobbyists Reform -
SB 3 (Chaisson) - Eliminates the broad exception in the ethics code that allows elected officials to receive free tickets for sporting and cultural events from persons seeking to influence an elected official as long as the value of the tickets does not exceed $100 per event or more than $500 in a year.

Free tickets to such events will now be limited to complimentary admission to civic, non-profit, educational or political events when the elected official is a program honoree, a speaker or panel member.

Free admission to professional, semi-professional or collegiate sporting events are specifically prohibited.

 

Free fishing trips, hunting trips and golf outings are also specifically banned unless such trips and outings are in connection with a candidate's, elected official's or organization's fundraising event that is open to the public.

The new restrictions are effective upon the signature of the governor.

SB 8 (Chaisson) - Limits food and drink provided by a lobbyist to a public servant to $50 a person per an occasion.

Ties the limit to the CPI, beginning July 1, 2009.

 The prohibition will not apply to national or regional organizations' events or to events connected with statewide organizations of governmental officials or employees.

The new limits go into effect March 30, 2008.

 

SB 11 (Chaisson) - Expands the information lobbyists must disclose on their registration and expenditure reports to include not only their clients but also how much they are paid by those clients within certain ranges, any business relationship they or their clients have with legislators and their spouses and certain executive agency officials and their spouses, the subject matters which they intend to lobby, and expenditures on public servants as well as the spouse and children of legislators and certain executive branch officials.

The reports must be made on a monthly basis and include anything of economic value provided. The current thresholds of $50 an event or $250 in the aggregate for the reporting period are eliminated.

An immediate family member cannot register as a lobbyist unless they were a lobbyist at least one year before the legislator was elected to office or before becoming an immediate family member. Those lobbyists with immediate family members in the legislature will not be allowed to lobby their family member or their employees or committee chair staff.

 

Nineteen other states require lobbyists to disclose their income from lobbying.

The new reporting requirements take effect Jan. 1, 2009 with the first monthly reports due by Feb. 15, 2009.

Campaign Finance Reform -
SB 14 (Marionneaux) - Requires that third party campaign communications clearly state who is paying for the ad and whether or not the candidate authorized the communication. The third party must also clearly identify who they are and name the chief operating officer of the group. The law is effective Jan. 1, 2010.

SB 29 (Marionneaux) - Requires third party political committees organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code known as 527 committees disclose their contributors and expenses on a monthly basis. ***The House added provisions to prohibit a candidate from using campaign funds to pay an ethics fine and to require a candidate to pay campaign finance disclosure fines personally or with contributions from qualified donors.

HB 73 (Bodie White) - Requires political action committees, except those affiliated with political parties, to file required contribution and expense reports electronically beginning 7/1/09 if the committees collect donations or spend more than $50,000 in a calendar year.

HB 78 (Leger) - Phases-in required electronic filing of campaign finance reports for all major or district candidates beginning Jan. 1, 2010 with full implementation by Jan. 1, 2012. When fully enacted, statewide candidates must file electronically no matter the amount of contributions or expenditures. Others must file electronically if they raise or spend more than $25,000.

SB 47 (Adley) - Increases the fine that can be assessed against those who commit an intentional criminal violation by not properly reporting money spent and received for canvassing efforts in a campaign. ***The House added the same provisions regarding the payment of ethics and campaign fines as added to SB 29 above.

HB 7 (Tucker) - Sets a limit of $10,000 on individual contributions to gubernatorial transition and inaugural activities and requires the contributions and expenses to be disclosed.
Ethics Board Operations and Enforcement -

HB 41 (Tucker) - Revamps the operations of the Board of Ethics so that a 3-person state administrative law judge panel, the Ethics Adjudicatory Board, will take over the responsibility of issuing findings regarding violations of ethics laws. Any finding issued by the adjudicatory panel must be accepted by the Board of Ethics. The change is a move to address the perception that the current process puts the board in the position of judge, jury, prosecutor and investigator.

HB 29 (Tucker) - Requires that at least 3 of the governor's seven appointees to the ethics board be lawyers with at least 8 years as a member of the Louisiana Bar. Ethics board members may not participate in political campaign activities, hold public contracts or hold any elected office.

HB 6 (Tucker) - Expands ethics training for public servants approved by the legislature last year to require at least one hour of training every year and includes lobbyists in the training requirements. The ethics education plan is being phased-in beginning this year with all public servants required to complete the training by 2012.

HB 33 (Carter-Peterson) - Requires the person or persons designated to provide ethics training and advice in an agency receive ethics training. One of the designated ethics counsels must be an attorney. State law already requires that each agency have at least one person on staff that advises on ethics matters. The measure is effective Jan. 1, 2009.

HB 65 (Greene) - Prohibits a person from qualifying for elected office if they owe $250 or more in ethics fines. State law already prohibited a person from becoming a candidate if they owed campaign finance-related fines.

HB 90 (Dixon) - Requires the ethics board to include a plain, concise statement of the essential facts surrounding an alleged ethic violation when accusing someone of an ethics violation.

HB 74 (Connick) - Sets up a process for the ethics board to issue declaratory opinions on ethics issues that are appealable through the courts. The board now issues advisory opinions, however those opinions may change and are not appealable by the person seeking the opinion. 

HB 8 (Tucker) - Provides additional protections for whistleblowers to prohibit threats of reprisal on the part of anyone who has the authority to discipline a public servant who reports possible wrongdoing to authorities.

Other Reforms - 
SB 58 (Martiny) - Creates the crime of abuse of office to prohibit public servants from using their office to coerce anyone into doing something or giving them something that they are not entitled to by the nature of their office. Violators face up to $5000 in fines and 5 years in prison.

SB 53 (Murray) - Doubles the maximum sentence for corrupt influencing or public bribery to 10 years in jail and/or $10,000 in fines.

 HB 56 (Tucker) - Creates the Office of Inspector General, which currently exists only by gubernatorial executive order, in state law. Establishes nationally accepted standards for the office operations and the qualifications for the Inspector General. Requires the legislature to provide adequate funding for the office and prohibits the governor or the legislature from reducing the salary of the Inspector General during his six year term of office. Allows for the removal of the Inspector General by the governor with the approval of a majority of the legislature.



Prepared by the Senate Office of Communication
2/26/08