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Goal #1: Adopt the Nation’s Best Ethics Laws
Louisiana should be a national model for ethics in government,
overcoming our past to lead the country in transparency and accountability.
Holding public office means sacrificing a level of
privacy in order to promote faith in government.
– National Conference of State Legislatures, 2004
The Problem
Louisiana’s history of public corruption continues to harm our image around the country. National rankings highlight the real weaknesses
in our governmental ethics laws, inhibiting prospects for greater investment and economic growth.
The Solution
To establish Louisiana as a national model for ethics in government,
existing ethics laws and enforcement measures must be strengthened
significantly. Lawmakers can undertake specific actions to enhance
transparency in the conduct of official activities and to increase citizens’
access to this information. With these measures in place, we can improve governance and the management of state resources, while building
our image to attract business and development.
The Blueprint for Action
- Require financial disclosure from all legislators and statewide elected officials. According to the National Conference of State
Legislatures: “Holding public office means sacrificing a level of privacy in order to promote faith in government.” To shed light on potential
conflicts of interest, 39 states require all legislators to publicly disclose personal financial information.
Legislators, statewide elected officials, ethics board members, and candidates for these offices – and their respective spouses – should submit information to the
Louisiana Board of Ethics that describes their employment, officer and director positions, investments, property, and liabilities. To protect individual privacy, dollar figures
should be reported in value ranges, not exact amounts. Officials who file late should be listed in an online, searchable database; those who file fraudulently should be
subject to substantial penalties.
Investment in our future: $50,000
- Increase public access to the details of lobbyist activities. While Louisiana lobbyists are required to register with the state and file semi-annual activity reports,
providing additional information on these forms would increase public awareness of external influences on lawmakers.
The proposed law would require new lobbyists to register with the state prior to undertaking any lobbying activities, and the type of compensation and the subject matter
for lobbying should be added to the registration form. On lobbyist activity reports, the total of all expenditures should be distributed by the category of spending, such
as food, beverages, and, entertainment for officials; political ads and polling; fundraisers and charity events; and printing and mass media. Spending on elected officials
should include all members of their household, and minor loopholes that except some expenditures should be closed. In addition, the ethics administration should require
the subject matter addressed by the lobbyist to appear on the form as well as a list of direct business relationships with legislators, elected and appointed officials, and
their household members. All registration and activity forms must be filed electronically to enable the Board of Ethics to post the forms online for public downloading in a
timely manner and to portray lobbyist spending by category and by individual legislator.
Investment in our future: $50,000
- Be transparent when allocating state funds for local projects. Because local
project requests total tens of millions of dollars and are added into the budget at the
discretion of individual legislators, there must be a process for public review and
oversight. While the House of Representatives passed a rule to this effect in 2007,
a new statutory mandate will cement this process and apply to both the House and
the Senate.
Legislators who propose amendments to the General Appropriations Bill allocating
funding for a non-governmental entity should be required to complete a descriptive form
with such details as the sponsor’s name, the reason for the use of state funds, the name
of the entity, information on the project itself, and a list of legislators and their family
members with an interest or position in the organization being funded. The House Clerk
and Senate Secretary’s staff would be required to post these disclosure forms and the
amendments on their respective websites to ensure timely public access before passage
of the General Appropriations Bill.
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| Telephone survey conducted 29 March-11 April
2007 with 600 likely Louisiana voters; Source:
LA Ethics 1 and Southern Media & Opinion
Research, Inc. |
Investment in our future: $0
- Strengthen the Ethics Administration Program to train our leaders, prevent violations, and enforce Louisiana’s ethics laws. The merit of sound ethics laws
hinges on the capacity for prevention and enforcement by an independent ethics board.
The legislature has historically under-funded the ethics program. Without sufficient staff and resources, genuine oversight and enforcement of Louisiana’s ethics laws
is just not possible. At the same time, it is critical to simplify and clarify ethics laws to enhance both prevention and enforcement. To this end, the ethics board is
currently undertaking a review of the hundreds of exceptions to the ethics code in partnership with watchdog groups; their recommendations must be examined and
adopted in 2008.
Recognizing the code’s complexity and the fact that violations are often made inadvertently, Act 315 of the 2007 legislative session mandated ethics training for all
public servants. However, no additional funding was provided to the ethics administration to fulfill this mission. Additional staff is necessary to conduct web-based and
classroom training on the Code of Ethics and to investigate and report potential violations. Technology must also be upgraded to enable electronic training and filing
and to improve public access to available information.
Investment in our future: $630,000
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