by Julie O’Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator
May 6, 2025

Investigations into public officials for alleged misconduct could be significantly blunted under a proposal moving forward in the Louisiana Legislature. The bill targets the same process used to bring ethics charges against Gov. Jeff Landry two years ago.

The House of Representatives voted 96-0 Monday for House Bill 674, sponsored by Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia. It would give elected officials and government employees more tools to push back on a state ethics investigation.  The legislation will now be heard in the Senate. 

Members of the Louisiana Board of Ethics said the measure would make it harder for the state to pursue charges over ethical misconduct. 

At 30 pages, the bill is complex and makes dozens of changes to procedures and policies. Yet not one state representative asked a question about it on the House floor Monday before members voted to approve it. 

Beaullieu said lawmakers from both parties are frustrated with the ethics board, which has been accused of harassing public officials and lacking transparency. 

The legislation was drafted with the help of Stephen Gelé, an attorney representing Landry in his negotiations with the ethics board over his charges from 2023. Landry did not disclose flights he took on a political donor’s private plane to Hawaii while attorney general in 2021, although state law required him to do so. 

Gelé said Beaullieu’s bill wouldn’t impact the outcome of Landry’s pending charges because it would only apply to complaints and investigations that occur after the legislation passes. 

Advocates for government transparency have expressed concerns, however. Last week, Ethics Administrator David Bordelon also described the proposed new investigative process as “skewed” in favor of a public servant accused of wrongdoing. 

“It presents some sort of questionable standards,” Bordelon told state ethics board members at their meeting Friday during a lengthy discussion on the legislation.

The ethics board oversees the enforcement of campaign finance laws and the state ethics code for public employees, elected officials and lobbyists. Anyone from a public school teacher to the governor can be subject of one of its investigations. 

Bordelon said witnesses and people interviewed by the ethics staff during an investigation might be less forthcoming if changes in the bill are adopted. Under the legislation, the board would be required to turn over witness statements and documents it secures early in the investigative process, even if the board chooses not to pursue charges.

“It is very much going to change how we obtain the documents and how we present the documents,” Bordelon said.

The ethics board will also have less time to decide whether to issue charges over an ethics violation under Beaullieu’s legislation. Currently, the board has a year from when it receives a sworn complaint about an alleged ethical violation to bring charges or once the board votes to investigate a potential violation. 

House Bill 674 would add several more steps to that process by allowing the subject of the complaint to object and respond to accusations more often during the board’s deliberations. 

“They are lopping off a couple of months, minimum,” ethics board member Alfred “Butch” Speer said. Former Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Speer to the board after he had served as clerk of the Louisiana House for 35 years.

Bordelon agreed. “From the staff level, we will need to have investigations done quicker,” he said. 

Speer is worried the legislation would let subjects facing ethics charges “run out” the clock on investigations by stalling on depositions and other time-consuming procedures allowed under the bill. He suggested the legislature look at giving the ethics board two years to issue charges instead of adding more steps to the process. 

“If they drag their feet long enough, then we run out of time,” Speer said.

Retired Judge Vanessa Whipple, an ethics board appointee of Gov. Landry, said she’s worried the bill would allow any district court in the state to intervene in an ethics investigation so long as a witness in the case lived in its jurisdiction. Currently, ethics cases that reach a state judge on appeal are handled in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, where the ethics board is located.

Whipple said this provision could result in district and appellate courts issuing conflicting decisions on ethics matters. 

The proposed changes would also require the ethics board to expand its staff, especially if they are expected to present in district courts across the state, Whipple added. The board would likely need at least one more attorney and possibly more support workers, she said.

Bordelon said a financial analysis of the bill he provided to the legislature indicates the changes would cost $100,000 annually.

Before the House vote, Beaullieu made one adjustment to his bill in response to complaints from government transparency advocates. He removed a provision that would have required a district court judge to halt subpoenas for an investigation if they annoyed, embarrassed or oppressed a witness. 

Last year, Landry and lawmakers made changes to the ethics board that give the governor more control over its members. Landry now gets to select his board appointees directly. Previously, he could only pick them from lists the leaders of Louisiana’s private colleges and universities provided — a provision meant to insulate the board from political pressure.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

The post As charges linger over Landry, Louisiana House votes to overhaul ethics investigations appeared first on lailluminator.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

The article reports on a legislative change in Louisiana, focusing on the proposed House Bill 674, which aims to modify the state’s ethics investigation process. It provides an even-handed account of the bill’s provisions, including both support and opposition perspectives. The article includes opinions from various stakeholders, such as proponents of the bill and members of the Louisiana Board of Ethics. While the bill is associated with Governor Jeff Landry, the article refrains from showing clear favoritism toward any party or individual. The tone is mostly factual, presenting concerns from multiple sides without an overt ideological stance.