Louisiana lawmakers are pushing bills that benefit their own businesses. And it’s perfectly legal.
In April, he introduced a bill that would have prohibited the heads of state agencies from taking side jobs that overlap with their government roles -- arrangements he said could put them in a precarious situation.
"The conflict that you get in is, let's say you're over the industry itself," Harris said that month when presenting the bill in a House committee, "you may promulgate some rules or make some decisions that would be advantageous to that particular company or to that particular industry. That's what it gets at. It's just a good-government bill."
Yet, within weeks of introducing that bill, Harris proposed two separate bills that would have benefitted Leebo's, a chain of convenience stores and gas stations that he owns, by making it more difficult for larger retailers to sell gas more cheaply than he does. One bill, critics said, would have raised the price of gas by at least
In an interview, Harris said he saw no irony in his assiduous policing of executive-branch conflicts while also pushing for legislation that would benefit his business interests. "It's not a conflict of interest, and we know it's not because the House rules make it clear and so does the
Harris is right that he's not breaking a rule.
"If someone has a financial interest in legislation before them, we just can't imagine that person to be a neutral judge," said
This year, The Advocate and ProPublica are investigating conflicts of interest in the
Even if they've recused themselves from voting, legislators can still participate and influence legislation under
Since February, a
Some of the bills have passed the Legislature; some have not. And some are hanging in the balance, poised to come back in future sessions. In many cases, the lawmakers' industry ties have been well known among legislators as they've debated the proposed laws, often unfazed by the financial benefits their colleagues stood to reap.
The system operates the way it does in part because
But some say it goes too far. Cross said he's seen legislators look past egregious conflicts of interest over the years, adding that Louisianans should expect more from their elected officials.
"The idea that someone should recuse themselves during matters of their own interest is a fundamental part of governance in
Conflicts OK for some, not for others
The way Harris, the
"In my home market right now, this past weekend, there were two or three national box chains that were selling gasoline" for
One of Harris' bills would have prevented larger retailers who receive a federal subsidy for blending ethanol into their gas from passing the savings on to consumers, a practice he believes is already illegal under state law. The bill sailed through the House, but Harris tabled it before a vote after pushback from the
"I don't want to be saying this, I helped my buddy Lance, but I cost everybody in my state more dollars," said state Sen.
The bill was opposed by national gas retailers and ethanol and renewable-fuel producers, who argued Harris did not understand the consequences of his bill. They said the cost savings generated from the ethanol blending is already factored into gas prices and impossible to separate out.
"I can assure you this, there will be a
Harris' second bill, which would make it easier for businesses to sue retailers who illegally undercut their gas prices, passed both chambers.
Though Harris openly drew on his own experience while testifying about his failed bill, in a recent interview, he downplayed the legislation's potential effect on him.
"My locations aren't that close to the big boxes," he said.
"No matter what the representative says, he is hard at work for his own financial benefit," Stonecipher said. "The fact remains that taxpayers -- those who voted for him, those who refused to, and the massive majority who do not even know who he is -- are paying him a salary, and not insignificant expenses, to significantly profit himself."
Members of the Legislature earn between
While he was pushing for passage of his gasoline pricing bills, Harris was also advocating for legislation to ban the conflicts of interest of state department heads who work for Gov.
Harris didn't name names when he presented his bill, which ultimately failed, but he said the stakes were too high to test the public's confidence when it comes to people running the state's agencies.
"Due to the public trust of being a public servant, it's very important that you put in 100 percent time and work full-time and you don't have any perceived or otherwise enhanced conflicts of interest," he said in the April committee hearing.
Harris said it's routine for lawmakers to sponsor legislation that favors whatever industry they work in. The governor, who is a lawyer, did the same thing in 2012 when, as a legislator, he sponsored a bill that would have increased the cap on damages people could have collected in medical malpractice lawsuits from
"That would benefit the trial attorney industry, but there were no questions asked when he did that and no articles were written," Harris said.
"As a lawyer,
Overhaul of ethics laws does little
In 2008, at the urging of then-Gov.
Now, they aren't allowed to vote if a bill would treat them differently than others in similar situations. For instance, if Harris proposed legislation that would only benefit his gas stations, he wouldn't be able to vote on it. But since his bills affect the entire industry, the law doesn't view them as a conflict of interest.
In 2015 and 2017, there were no recusals for legislative votes.
Over time, loopholes in the 2008 law have become clear. First, while lawmakers are not allowed to vote if they have a prohibited conflict of interest, they are still allowed to participate in the debate. Second, if someone outside of the Legislature identifies a violation, it can only be considered if another member of the Legislature decides to take it up.
Speer calls conflicts of interest a "thorny" issue.
Because lawmakers' salaries are relatively low, conflicts tend to be embraced rather than avoided. Speer said it's important that lawmakers who are educators weigh in on education bills, and that lawyers in the Legislature weigh in on proposed changes to the legal system. Likewise, farmers should debate agriculture policy and business owners should help shape regulatory policy.
Firsthand knowledge is what fuels a citizen legislature, he said.
"You don't want people who have never had the benefit of life experience being the only one to weigh on laws," he said. "That's the antithesis of a citizen legislature."
"If my law firm represents
'There's a line we do not want to cross'
Earlier this year, lawmakers were called into a special session to figure out how to close a budget gap of hundreds of millions of dollars that still threatens to shutter a range of state services. The prevailing idea was to retain some expiring state sales taxes.
Amid that debate, state Rep.
The break would have benefited his own business, McFarland Timber. But McFarland noted that timber is the largest industry in his district and one of the most important agricultural industries in the state, so he is a natural advocate.
"I appreciate how it can be perceived, I can. And I think about that. Other members have asked me, 'Are you being self-serving?'" he said in an interview. "And there's a line we do not want to cross."
McFarland's amendment was approved but, ultimately, the sales-tax bill was rejected by a vote of the House. During the second special session, which ended Monday, when another sales tax renewal was considered, the exemption for timber was included in the original bill so McFarland didn't have to pursue an amendment. He voted for the bill, but it stalled in the Legislature.
McFarland said he expressed support to the bill sponsor about including the exemption.
"I said I obviously want it in there," McFarland said. "It's the largest industry in my district, so it's imperative that it's in there."
A third special session will take place this month and the issue could come up again.
Lawmakers who own nursing homes
When the Legislature debates bills affecting nursing homes, a highly regulated industry, legislators' conflicts of interest are often thrown into high relief. This year, for example, nursing home administrator and state Rep.
"Why is the nursing home industry so anxious to pass such legislation?" she said.
In an interview, Hensgens said he doesn't know if the assisted living facilities would be able to compete meaningfully with nursing homes, because there are so few in the state. But he said he proposed the bill only out of concern that the
But last year, the same measure was proposed as an amendment on an unrelated bill with a week left in the regular session. The sponsor of the amendment then was state Sen.
When the bill went to a conference committee to negotiate the final product, two out of the three
And this year, after Hensgens abandoned his moratorium bill, Mills for the second year in a row amended an unrelated bill to impose the moratorium for another five years. After pushback from assisted living facility owners, he withdrew the amendment.
"When
"Unfortunately, we often see legislators with financial interests fight for a bill or kill a bill that impacts their bottom line or is in their best interest financially," Muhl said. "But is it in the best interest of taxpayers and families?"
This year, Mills, chairman of the
One of the bills would have expanded home health services, and presumably drawn business away from nursing homes, by shifting elderly Medicaid enrollees into managed-care plans. That bill was rejected. The other bill would require nursing homes to allow residents to keep surveillance cameras in their rooms so their families can keep an eye on them. It has since been signed into law.
Mills said in an interview that when he first joined the Legislature in 2007, amid the push for ethics reform, he was more cautious about conflicts. In 2011, for instance, because the pharmacy and nursing home he partially owns provides care to Medicaid patients, he recused himself from a far-reaching bill that sought to redirect money from the state tobacco settlement to pay for scholarships instead of a fund where it was used for health care.
But Mills said he hews much more closely to the letter of the law now, openly using his business expertise to inform his decision-making in the Legislature. He noted that he has voted against the wishes of the nursing home lobby before, including this year when he voted for a nursing home camera bill that the industry opposed.
"I struggled with it at first, but then I realized that all of us represent some sort of business interest," he said.
ProPublica is teaming up with The Advocate to explore conflicts of interest in the
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