Senate, House split on provision in ethics bill

• By MARSHA SHULER
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Feb 26, 2008 - Page: 1A

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The Louisiana Senate decided Monday that the state Board of Ethics should be stripped of enforcement powers.

The House rejected the Senate version a short time later and sent it to a conference committee, which stripped a Senate provision some feared would keep people from filing ethics complaints.

The Senate altered House Bill 41 to expose people filing complaints to paying court costs and attorney fees if the ethics complaints are found invalid.

Senators voted 23-15 to add the “loser pay” provision to the bill.

House Speaker Jim Tucker later asked the House to reject the measure, thereby sending HB41 to a conference committee to hammer out a compromise.

Tucker, R-Terrytown, asked to remove the amendment on courts costs and attorney fees.

The Ethics Board votes twice before deciding whether to move forward on a complaint, he said.

The board essentially has two bites at the apple to declare a complaint invalid before an official needs to call an attorney, Tucker said.

Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, also urged the House to reject the Senate’s changes.

Chaisson, Sens. Butch Gautreaux, D-Morgan City, and Ed Murray, D-New Orleans voted against HB41 when the Senate approved the measure with the “loser pay” provision on a 33-3 vote.

After the House voted 87-12 to reject HB41 as returned by the Senate, the amendment’s sponsor, Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, changed his mind and agreed to drop “loser pay.”

“I certainly don’t intend any consequences that might have a chilling effect on the public bringing attention to any illegal act or official mistake,” Nevers said.

A conference committee late Monday crafted wording that removes the “loser pays” provision from the measure. The compromise awaits final legislative passage today.