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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State employee protections will go before Louisiana voters
A sign directs voters to a polling place at Edward Hynes Charter School in New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood on Nov. 8, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana voters will get to weigh in next on whether civil service protections should be removed from certain state employees, though it's not certain the measure will result in current government workers losing their status. Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. Jay Morris. R-West Monroe, received final passage Wednesday in the Senate on a 28-9 party-line vote. The proposal is a constitutional amendment that will be placed on a ballot April 18, 2026, pending approval of a separate bill to set that election date. Morris' bill would give state lawmakers power that currently rests with the Civil Service Commission, a seven-member independent review panel that oversees the hiring, promotion and firing of 39,000 'classified' state workers. The commission, working with state agencies on staffing goals, has the power to create and eliminate job positions and decide which jobs should have a protected status and which should not. Classified employees enjoy some degree of protection against politically motivated or otherwise unfair terminations and disciplinary practices because they have the right to appeal such decisions to the Civil Service Commission, which has the final say on staffing matters for most state agencies. Although there was debate and confusion earlier in the week over whether the bill would apply to current classified employees or just future-hires, Morris said in an interview Thursday it could affect current employees 'to a degree.' 'Obviously, it can affect future employees. That's obvious,' he said. 'But it can affect existing employees.' The degree to which it will affect current employees would depend on how the Legislature decides to use the amendment if voters adopt it. Morris said lawmakers would still need to pass a new statute that contains those specifics. 'Any bill passed would have to be carefully constructed to avoid any issues of an unconstitutional taking' of an existing employee's job, he said. Steven Procopio, president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR), a state government watchdog group, said the amendment would give lawmakers power to determine which state employees should be removed from classified civil service. Whether they choose to take it that far remains to be seen, he said. 'Does it affect current employees?' Procopio said. 'I think it's technically possible. You can do it, but there has to be due process applied.' There is a legal precedent from a court case that could require some level of due process before currently classified employees can be fired, he added. 'PAR is for civil service reforms, but I am concerned this doesn't provide enough safeguards,' Procopio said. At any rate, the matter could end up in court before the election over the proposal's ballot language, which does not mention the 'classified' civil service and could mislead voters into thinking it doesn't apply to those workers. The ballot language states: 'Do you support an amendment to allow the legislature to remove or add officers, positions, and employees to the unclassified civil service?' Lawmakers based the ballot language off of a current constitutional provision that states: 'Additional positions may be added to the unclassified service and those positions may be revoked by rules adopted by a commission.' All state employees are classified unless their job falls under one of the 13 unclassified positions listed in the Louisiana Constitution. 'I think that the ballot language could be misleading,' Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, said, noting that the state constitution specifically allows for legal challenges in such situations. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Louisiana lawmakers might shield campaign spending on constitutional amendments, tax proposals
Voters talk outside a polling place at Edward Hynes Charter School in New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood on Nov. 8, 2022. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana lawmakers might eliminate requirements that political donations and spending on constitutional amendments, tax millages and other election propositions be made available to the public. The change would result in voters knowing less about who is working to pass or defeat ballot measures they are asked to consider. Rep. Mark Wright, R- Covington, chairman of the House Republican Caucus, has sponsored House Bill 596. It would make dozens of changes to Louisiana campaign finance reporting laws, including one to end finance reporting requirements for a 'proposition or question to be submitted to the voters.' Should his bill pass, campaign contributions and political spending in an election that doesn't involve a candidate would not have to be made public. The change would apply to proposed state constitutional amendments, property tax measures, local government charter changes and gambling legalization initiatives, among other referenda. The fundraising and spending for Gov. Jeff Landry's failed constitutional amendments on taxes, spending and criminal justice would have been kept secret if these law changes had been in place. Political advertising buys for a controversial ballot measure that established the city of St. George in East Baton Rouge Parish also would have been unknown. Transparency about campaign spending on property tax hikes and renewals – such as one that failed Saturday for the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's Office and one that narrowly passed for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office – also wouldn't be required anymore. Stephen Gelé, a private attorney who handles campaign finance and ethics reports for the governor, helped write the legislation. Onerous campaign finance reporting requirements for ballot measures outweigh the good they provide, he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'The minimal benefits of mandating the reporting of spending on ballot measures – considering the difficulty in enforcement and lack of significant risk of corruption from such spending – is outweighed by the cost of the heavy burden imposed on the constitutional right to free speech by such mandates,' Gelé said in a written statement Sunday. Individuals and business interests might be less likely to contribute to a particular ballot measure campaign if they know their identity will be disclosed, according to Gelé. Allowing citizens to remain anonymous encourages more participation in the political process, he said. The reasons for mandating transparency on political contributions and spending on candidates also don't necessarily apply to ballot measures, Gelé said, because a ballot measure can't be corrupted or bribed like a candidate. Advocates for government transparency are concerned, however. Steven Procopio with the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, said his organization opposes the change and believes it would be a 'step back' for the state, which has been trying to ditch its reputation for sleazy politics. 'I not only think it is a bad idea, I can't believe the citizens won't be angry when they find out about it,' Procopio said in an interview Friday. Louisiana's campaign finance reporting laws for ballot measures are already weak and make it nearly impossible to figure out who is funding the campaigns surrounding those propositions. For example, the groups opposing and supporting the four constitutional amendments on the March 29 ballot spent more than $1 million combined. Who provided the money for the campaigns wasn't clear, however, because the requirements for donor disclosure for ballot propositions are easy to skirt. The two largest spenders on the March amendments did not reveal who was paying for their amendment campaign efforts. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The Vera Institute of Justice spent at least $400,000 on a campaign to defeat Amendment 3, which would have made it easier to send more minors to adult prisons. Based in New York City, Vera took in more than $260 million over the past two years but is not required, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the federal tax code, to disclose its contributors. Likewise, a 'social welfare' organization called Protect Louisiana Values that was set up to support Landry spent $300,000 to back Amendment 2, which would have made dozens of tax and budget changes to the Louisiana Constitution. It is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit – sometimes referred to as a 'dark money' political organization by critics – and also doesn't have to reveal its donors. Should Wright's legislation pass, not only would donors for proposition campaigns no longer be disclosed, but the amount of money being spent and the campaign vendors being paid for advertising and other organization efforts also wouldn't be known. Landry is pushing for the proposal right after he spent weeks trying to blame billionaire philanthropist George Soros for the March amendments' failure. The governor has repeatedly claimed Soros funded the opposition campaign, though Landry hasn't provided evidence to support the assertion. Public finance records are also too vague to determine whether Soros was involved. A Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, Soros is a major donor to liberal causes and has served as a bogeyman for conservatives for years. He never claimed to be involved in the Louisiana election, though he openly spent millions on a Wisconsin Supreme Court race that took place just a few days later in April. 'There was a lot of misinformation and straight-up lies about where the money for the Amendment 3 campaign came from,' Sarah Omojola with the Vera Institute said. 'So I find it interesting that this [bill] is coming forward now.' Republican leaders in the Legislature are attempting to put another proposal to change the state's tax and budget structure back on the ballot within the next year. In its new iteration, it consists of multiple constitutional amendments. Should Wright's legislation pass, the campaign operations surrounding those new constitutional amendments would be largely a secret. His bill is expected to come up for an initial vote Wednesday in the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee.
