4.4.24 – Louisiana Illuminator -BY: JULIE O’DONOGHUE
The Louisiana governor is already thought to be all-powerful, but a handful of legislative proposals would give Jeff Landry more control over the state government than any of his recent predecessors.
Two proposed constitutional amendments would allow Landry to pick most members of the Louisiana Supreme Court and state Civil Service Commission, which oversees hiring and firing guidelines for state workers.
Another bill gives Landry control over the Louisiana Board of Ethics, after it dinged him for taking a private flight from a campaign donor last fall.
There’s also legislation to empower Landry to pick the chairpersons and other officers of hundreds of other state boards and commissions.
Most lawmakers who drafted the bills said Landry is not pushing the proposals, though the sponsors include some of the governor’s biggest supporters in the Legislature.
Landry’s office did not respond Wednesday when asked if he was supporting any of the legislation.
Critics described the bills as a callback to the Huey Long era.
“Most people think the Louisiana governor is more powerful than any other governor,” said Terry Ryder, who served as general counsel to former Govs. Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco. “I don’t recall ever feeling like we didn’t have the authority to run the state in the governor’s office.”
“This is what dictators do,” Ryder said.
The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, a nonprofit that promotes transparency and fairness in government, expressed reservations over two of the measures.
“The civil service and ethics boards are designed to be insulated from politics. It’s not perfect, but I would be concerned with any move that would result in the politicization of these boards,” wrote Steven Procopio, the head of the organization, in a statement Wednesday.
Senate Bill 497 – State ethics board appointments
This bill from Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, would allow the governor, the Louisiana House and the state Senate to pick whoever they want to serve on the 11-member state ethics board. Under current law, they have to select members from lists of nominees the presidents of Louisiana’s private universities and colleges compile.
The governor appoints seven ethics board members, and the House and Senate elect two each.
Whether the governor has control over the ethics board is pertinent, because it has accused Landry of violating state ethics laws twice.
Last fall, the board voted to penalize Landry for not disclosing that he used a campaign donor’s private plane to go to a work conference in Hawaii as Louisiana’s attorney general. The case remains unresolved as Landry and the ethics board continue to discuss what fines he might pay.
In 2022, the ethics board concluded Landry violated the law by using campaign funds to reimburse himself for a Chevy Suburban he bought, according to The Advocate. Candidates are not supposed to use their campaign money to purchase immovable property or vehicles. In that case, the ethics board chose not to fine Landry and initially kept the matter confidential.
Miguez said Landry did not ask him to draft the legislation, which was one of the last bills filed before Tuesday’s deadline for submitting new legislation.
The senator doesn’t think private college and university leaders should play a role in picking ethics board members, especially because none of the institutions are in “Cajun country,” where he and Landry live.
“Most of their students are from out of state,” Miguez said. “Why are these particular private institutions all of the sudden subject matter experts to get involved in the ethics process? I don’t understand that at all.”
Proponents of the current process said the private university and college presidents participate in order to insulate the board from too much political influence.
Senate Bill 181 – State civil service control
Sen. Jay Morris, R-Monroe, has sponsored a constitutional amendment that would give the governor control of nearly all members of the state Civil Service Commission.
Under current law, the governor has to pick six commission appointments from lists some of the state’s private university and college presidents provide. Classified state employees elect the seventh member of the commission from their own ranks.
Morris’ proposal would do away with the university presidents’ involvement, letting Landry select most of the commission by himself as long as the state Senate agrees to confirm them. His bill also adds three at-large members for the governor to choose, giving the state leader control of 10 out of 11 commission seats total.
The bill would limit the amount of time a person could spend on the commission from 10 consecutive years to eight years total. Commission terms would shorten from six to four years.
Landry did not ask Morris to file the legislation, though the senator said he talked to the governor about the proposal.
Morris does not support having civil service, which he says can interfere with state agency efficiency by providing too many workplace protections.
“I could probably see us doing without civil service altogether,” he said.
The Civil Service Commission establishes guidelines for the state’s 38,000 classified employees and is involved in the hiring and firing processes for government workers. Its supporters say the current process prevents a governor from having too much influence over the state workforce.
Senate Bill 462 – Boards and commissions
The governor would be able to appoint chairs and other officers for hundreds of boards and commissions as long he sent notice to the affected groups within 20 days of taking office, under legislation from Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs. His picks would also be subject to Senate confirmation.
State government alone includes hundreds of boards that manage everything from tax policy and prisoner parole to Superdome improvements and physician licensing. The governor would also be able to remove a board chair at any time he desired, under Hodges proposal.
The only boards and commissions that wouldn’t be affected by this change are those where the selection process for chairmen and officers is included in the state constitution.
Hodges said she hadn’t talked to the governor about her bill. She was asked to draft it by an “interested party interested in some of the same things that I’m interested in” who she refused to name publicly.
“If Republicans are in control — and we are — conservative Republicans, then we should see that reflected in our boards and commissions,” Hodges said.
House Bill 533 – Louisiana Supreme Court
This constitutional amendment, sponsored by Rep. Mark Wright, R-Covington, would give the governor the power to appoint Louisiana Supreme Court justices rather than having the voters elect them.
Wright’s proposal expands the court from six to eight justices and allows those currently on the bench to serve out the rest of their term. Starting in 2025, the governor would get the power to replace each judge as their term expires.
The governor’s picks for the job would be subject to approval from two-thirds of state senators present for the confirmation vote. The Senate would also be required to hold confirmation hearings, and the judges would serve 10-year terms, which is the current length.
Of the legislation to empower Landry more, this proposal seems to be the least likely to pass.
It’s a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-thirds vote of each legislative chamber and approval from voters on the November ballot.
Many state lawmakers are attorneys and unwilling to make even modest changes to the judiciary. Lawmakers are also moving new Supreme Court district maps in the current session on the assumption the court’s elections would continue.
House Bill 799 – Governor’s Mansion
Rep. Vincent “Vinney” St. Blanc, R-Franklin, has filed a bill to weaken the authority of a commission that oversees the governor’s mansion and its grounds in downtown Baton Rouge. Instead, the sitting governor would have more control over the facility.
The proposal removes the mansion commission’s jurisdiction over the “private” areas of the house and its grounds and expands the parts of the residence that are off limits to the public. Additionally, the panel would also no longer have oversight over decorating, painting, renovations, rearrangement of furniture or art, and other significant changes. Instead, the governor’s family could make those adjustments without its approval.
A member of the mansion staff, the executive residence director, would also be removed from the commission and replaced with the chief of staff for the governor’s spouse. A provision requiring the governor to consult with the mansion staff about who three of his appointees to the commission should be is also eliminated in the legislation.
Under the proposal, commission members could be removed at any time by their appointing authority, which is either the governor, the governor’s spouse or the spouse’s chief of staff. It also repeals language passed in 2022 that would allow the commission to accept private donations to help with the upkeep of the mansion.
The commission’s meetings would also be exempt from the state’s open meetings laws, allowing it to meet without public notification or attendance. Its records would be kept secret and not subject to state public records laws, under the legislation.
St. Blanc said he had filed the bill at the request of Landry and that the regulations surrounding the governor’s mansion often get “tweaked” when a new person takes office.
“It is the people’s house,” he said.
Senate Bill 403 – Higher education boards and higher education commissioner
Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, has filed legislation to give the governor the authority to select the chairman of all of the state’s higher education boards and to pick the higher education commissioner.
Currently, the board members themselves pick their board chairmen, and the Board of Regents — which has oversight over statewide higher education policy — picks the higher education commissioner with a two-thirds vote of its members.
Higher education board members serve staggered terms, which means Landry is unable to replace all the board members appointed by former Gov. John Bel Edwards for a few years.