Pursuant to LA Constitution Art. III, §19 most of the legislation adopted in the 2008 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature took effect on August 15, 2008.  To review the 2008 Acts organized by effective date click here. 

The Police Jury Association of Louisiana adopted twelve resolutions at it's annual convention.  Each of the twelve resolutions were unanimously adopted. 

To view an index of the resolutions, click here.  Copies of particular resolutions may be obtained by contacting the PJAL office.

The 2008-09 State budget has been signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal with the following appropriations for the Parish Transportation Fund in Schedule 20. Note both Parish Road Fund Programs were not cut this year.  

20-903 PARISH TRANSPORTATION EXPENDITURES:

Program Description: Provides funding to all parishes for roads systems maintenance. Funds distributed on population-based formula as well as on mileage-based formula.

The Police Jury Assn has updated its Summary of the Financial Disclosure Laws by Tier, incorporating the changes from the 2008 Regular Session.  The significant changes were 1. Establishment of June 30th as the final day to resign to avoid disclosure for 2008; and 2. the creation of Tier 2.1 which includes virtually all State boards and commissions and many local boards and commissions.  To view the updated summary click here.

The deadline of June 30th for officials to avoid the financial disclosure provisions of recently enacted ethics laws has passed.  Reports from the Secretary of State indicate over 100 appointed officials and a few elected officials have resigned.  The Secretary of State anticipates the receipt of additional filings that would relate back to the 30th.  Of most note among the resignations are 10 of the 11 members of the LA Board of Ethics and the Administrator of the LA Board of Ethics, who had been on the job for only about seven months.  It may take several months for the Board and Administrator to be replaced.  Among the impending tasks for the Board is the development and promulgation of the new financial disclosure forms called for by Act 1 of the 2008 1ES and Act 472 of the 2008 RS.

The PJAL has fielded a number of calls from local officials trying to understand the impact of the recently adopted changes.  We will continue to provide information and assistance on this and other issues.

SB 718 (Act 472) by Sen. Martiny (click to view) significantly changes the public servants that will be required to provide financial disclosure.  The primary change is the inclusion of any board or commission that expends, invests or distributes more than $10,000 annually.  The following are excluded from the definition of board and commission:

(i) The governing authority of a parish.

(ii) Any board or commission or like entity that governs a political subdivision created by a single parish governing authority of a parish with a population of two hundred thousand or less, or any subdistrict of such a political subdivision.

iii) The governing authority of a municipality.

(iv) Any board or commission or like entity that governs a political subdivision created by a single municipal governing authority of a municipality with a population of twenty-five thousand or less, or any subdistrict of such a political subdivision.

(v) A board of directors of a private nonprofit corporation that is not specifically created by law.

For the remainder of the boards and commissions, the disclosure will be at a newly created Tier 2.1, which is more extensive than the Tier 3 reporting and less extensive than the Tier 2 reporting, as created by Act 1 of the 1^st Extraordinary Session of 2008. 

FOR A REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION REQUIRED UNDER TIER 2.1 click here

Act 162 of the 2008 Regular Session provides that the financial disclosure provisions enacted in the 1st Special Session and by Act 472 (SB 718 - boards and commissions) of the Regular Session will only apply to officials in office on or after July 1, 2008.  That means that officials who resign prior to July 1st will NOT be subject to the new financial disclosure reporting for the 2008 calendar year. 

Act 1 of the 1st Special Session requires reporting from all elected officials whose election districts have a population in excess of 5000. This is not the population of the official's parish or city, but rather the individual district from which that official is elected.

Act 472 of the Regular Session created Tier 2.1, a new level of financial disclosure reporting, that is applicable to many state and local boards and commissions.  See Below

The LA Legislature adjourned the 2008 Regular Session on Monday, June 23rd.  A full legislative report will be issued by the end of the week, but in summary the PJAL enjoyed a good session.  SOme highlights include:
HB 420 - which proposes a constitutional amendment that, if adopted will significantly increase the parish distribution of state mineral severance taxes.  HB's 1336 & 1337 - which provide exceptions to the Code of Ethics for certain local matters.  HB 584  & 668 - which provide for the creation of trust funds for handling post-employment benfits under the GASB 45 rules.  HB 748 - which provides a cap for the costs of inmate medical care.

Thanks to all of our members for reacting to legislative alerts and to the many friends of local government in the Legislature.

The House passed SB 807 by a large margin.  The House did adopt two sets of amendments but voted to end consideration of amendments with seven amendments still to be considered.  One of the two amendments adopted was Amendment #5290 (click to view) which may impede access to PEG channels.  The other amendment was Amendment #5264 (click to view) which improves the indemnification provisions of the bill.  Amendments to remove the exemption for pre-1974 Home Rule Charter governments and to clarify that Lafayette would be exempt were rejected.  As the bill was amended by the House it will next go back to the Senate for concurrence or rejection of the House amendments.  If the Senate votes to concur, the bill then goes to the Governor for his signature.  If the Senate votes to reject the bill will go to a conference committee where it could be re-written by a committee of three House members and three Senators.

This week the House will likely vote on SB 807 by Sen. Duplessis.  This is the legislation that strips local governments of cable franchise authority, leaving that authority to the State.  The legislation provides loopholes for providers to evade franchise fees.  Under the bill AT&T will have virtually unfettered access to local rights-of-way under much more favorable terms than existing franchise agreements.  Finally, the bill would allow existing cable operators to VOID existing local franchise agreements.  We are hopeful that the House will consider a number of amendments to the legislation that will lessen the adverse impact on local government. PLEASE URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE SB 807 or AMEND SB 807 to address local government concerns.

The 2008 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature must end by 6:00pm on June 23rd.  The Senate Finance Committee is working on the State Operating Budget and both the House and Senate are becoming more involved with bills that have already passed through the other chamber.  HB 668 is the first bill in the PJAL package to complete the legislative process and is now awaiting the Governor's signature.  

The PJAL included two bills in our legislative package to address the issues created by the relatively recent GASB 45 ruling.  This ruling mandates that governments, such as parishes, must account for anticipated post-employment benefits, outside of pensions, for retired employees as a liability.  Such benefits include health insurance benefits that a parish would offer to pay on behalf of its retired former employees.  To off-set this liability on their balance sheet, a parish needs an asset to avoid being out-of-balance.  HB's 584 and 668 have both passed both the House and the Senate.  HB 668 will now go to the Governor for his signature while HB 584 is pending House concurrence in some minor Senate amendments.  HB 584 is a propsoed COnstitutional amendment that will be on the ballot at same time as the 2008 Presidential election.

The House Commerce Committee passed SB 807 by Sen. Duplessis.  This is the legislation that strips local governments of cable franchise authority, leaving that authority to the State.  The legislation provides loopholes for providers to evade franchise fees.  Under the bill AT&T will have virtually unfettered access to local rights-of-way under much more favorable terms than existing franchise agreements.  Finally, the bill would allow existing cable operators to VOID existing local franchise agreements.  The bill will next be heard on the House Floor.  URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE SB 807 or AMEND SB 807 to address local government concerns.

HB 419 by Rep. Edwards PASSED the House Floor on Monday on a vote of 95-1.  This bill would increase the maximum salary for a police juror to $1600/month and would allow for up to an additional $400/month to the police jury president.  HB 419 will now moved to the Senate.

HB 436 by Rep. Arnold proposed to limit a local government's authority to roll-forward millages rates to a single 90 day period in the year millage rates rolled down after reassessment.  This would have place the bodies in the position of roll-forward to the maximum rate allowable or lose, forever, the ability to roll-forward millages rates.  We opposed the legislation on the grounds that it would force parishes to make quick decisions without sufficient time for consideration of the need to roll-forward or the appropriate level of roll-forward.  We noted that it could result in many jurisdictions rolling millage rates forward unnecessarily out of fear of losing the roll-forward authority should conditions change in the future.

The vote on Thursday, May 9th was 48 YEAS and 48 NAYS.  A bill needs 53 votes to pass.  While this is a victory for local government, the victory may be short-lived.  The measure is subject to being voted on again on reconsideration.  The list showing how legislators voted is here.  A "Nay" vote was a vote against the bill and for local government.  Each parish should check and see how its delegation voted and thank those who voted with local government and urge those who voted for the bill not to support it if it comes back up for a vote.