Gov. Jeff Landry is pushing for dramatic changes to the Louisiana Board of Ethics’ investigation process that was used to charge him in 2023 with breaking the state ethics code. The changes Landry seeks would make it easier for subjects of an ethics complaint – like he is – to avoid charges or a probe into their alleged wrongdoing.
The proposed modifications are part of a sweeping rewrite of the state ethics code for elected officials and public employees in House Bill 397, sponsored by Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia.
Beyond making it harder to bring ethics charges, the legislation also loosens limits on elected officials and state employees’ state travel, weakens restrictions on government contracts with public servants and their families, and reduces requirements for elected officials and political candidates’ public disclosure of financial interests.
The proposal cleared its first major hurdle Wednesday when the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee allowed it to go to the floor without any objection or amendments.
Stephen Gelé, Landry’s private lawyer who handles ethics and campaign finance concerns for the governor, helped craft the legislation. He presented the bill alongside Beaullieu in the House committee.
Gelé is also one of the attorneys defending Landry against ethics board’s charges for not disclosing flights Landry took on a political donor’s plane to and from Hawaii. The ethics board and Landry, through Gelé, are still in negotiations about the appropriate punishment for the governor’s alleged violation.
In an interview Wednesday, Gelé said the bill would not affect Landry’s existing ethics case because its changes would only apply to future cases.
Beaullieu said he brought the bill after hearing complaints about the ethics board’s investigations being “overly aggressive.” Gelé has previously accused the ethics board of bullying people who face complaints.
If the legislation passes, the ethics board would have a far higher threshold to clear for launching an investigation into potential ethical misconduct.
Under the bill, an elected official or public employee would be able to avoid an investigation into misconduct if they had “already cured any potential violation” – a standard that critics said was vague and difficult to understand.
The person facing the investigation could also ask a district court judge to limit or shut down an ethics board probe if the alleged target or a witness in the case might experience “annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, undue burden or expense” as a result of the inquiry, according to the bill.
The ethics board would also have to justify an investigation, making the case that the agency’s “limited resources” should be spent on a particular alleged misconduct claim over other cases.
Likewise, a district judge would only be able to seek relevant information for a case if it’s deemed cost effective for the state, and “the importance of the information sought outweighs the burden of producing the information.”
Steven Procopio, president of the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, called the proposed rewrite problematic. The changes would give too much leverage to the person facing misconduct allegations, he said.
“If someone has committed a violation of the ethics code, embarrassment is not a defense,” said Procopio, whose organization advocates for transparency and fairness in state government.
Barry Erwin, policy director for the nonpartisan Leaders for a Better Louisiana, agreed with Procopio. He complained the proposed new process features too many obstacles before the ethics board could launch an investigation.
Erwin and Procopio also expressed concerns about the two-thirds vote that would be needed from ethics board members multiple times before any single probe into misconduct could take place.
Elected officials now have more control over the board than they have had in years. Landry pushed the legislature in 2024 to upend the makeup of the ethics board membership and give him more influence over it.
The board used to consist of 11 positions, filled by the governor and legislators from lists of nominees provided by the state’s private university and college leaders. The higher education administrators were involved to insulate the board from political pressure.
Landry and lawmakers passed a law last year that eliminated the private college leaders’ nominees. They also expanded the board to 15 seats, which the governor and legislators fill directly. The governor now picks nine members, and the Senate and House pick three members each.
This means the governor could potentially block an ethics board investigation through his nine appointees under the new legislation. Only five members need to vote against an investigation for it to be killed.
Another portion of Beaullieu’s legislation targets the issue that got Landry in trouble with the ethics board – private plane travel. The bill would allow state officials to report trips on private planes as if they are the equivalent of purchasing a business class or coach airplane ticket on a commercial flight.
Beaullieu’s proposal also eases restrictions on legislators’ travel for state business on private planes provided by political donors or outside organizations.
Legislators were previously only allowed to accept flights on private planes for public speeches if they were traveling within the United States or Canada.
If the bill is approved, they will be able to accept private plane travel for government business anywhere in North America or the U.S. territories, including locations in the Caribbean, as long as they are making a public speech, participating in a panel discussion or making a media appearance.