§1102. Definitions
Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following words and terms, when
used in this Chapter, shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Action of a governmental entity" means any action on the part of a governmental
entity or agency thereof including, but not limited to:
(a) Any decision, determination, finding, ruling, or order, including the judgment or
verdict of a court or a quasi-judicial board, in which the governmental entity or any of its
agencies has an interest, except in such matters involving criminal prosecutions.
(b) Any grant, payment, award, license, contract, transaction, decision, sanction, or
approval, or the denial thereof, or the failure to act with respect thereto; and in which the
governmental entity or any of its agencies has an interest, except in matters involving
criminal prosecutions.
(c) As the term relates to a public servant of the state, any disposition of any matter
by the legislature or any committee thereof; and as the term relates to a public servant of a
political subdivision, any disposition of any matter by the governing authority or any
committee thereof.
(2)(a) "Agency" means a department, office, division, agency, commission, board,
committee, or other organizational unit of a governmental entity. For purposes of this
Chapter, "agency of the public servant" and "his agency" when used in reference to the
agency of a public servant shall mean:
(i) For public servants in the twenty principal departments of the executive branch
of state government, the office in which such public servant carries out his primary
responsibilities; except that in the case of the secretary, deputy secretary, or undersecretary
of any such department and officials carrying out the responsibilities of such department
officers it shall mean the department in which he serves; and except that in the case of public
servants who are members or employees of a board or commission or who provide staff
assistance to a board or commission, it shall mean the board or commission.
(ii) For the governor and lieutenant governor, it shall mean the executive branch of
state government.
(iii) For public servants in the office of the governor or the lieutenant governor it
shall mean their respective offices.
(iv) For public servants in the legislative branch of state government, it shall mean
the agency or house of the legislature by which a public employee is employed and the
legislative branch in the case of legislators.
(v) For public employees, except judges, of the supreme court, courts of appeal,
district courts, and other courts authorized by Article V of the Constitution of 1974, it shall
mean the court in which the public employee serves and any other court in which decisions
of that court may be reviewed.
(vi) For public servants of political subdivisions, it shall mean the agency in which
the public servant serves, except that for members of any governing authority and for the
elected or appointed chief executive of a governmental entity, it shall mean the governmental
entity. Public servants of political subdivisions shall include, but shall not be limited to,
elected officials and public employees of municipalities, parishes, and other political
subdivisions; sheriffs and their employees; district attorneys and their employees; coroners
and their employees; and clerks of court and their employees.
(b) The board may adopt rules and regulations to provide for the application of this
definition.
(3) "Agency head" means the chief executive or administrative officer of an agency
or any member of a board or commission who exercises supervision over the agency.
(4) "Assist" means to act in such a way as to help, advise, furnish information to, or
aid a person with the intent to assist such person.
(5) "Board" means the Board of Ethics.
(6) "Compensation" means any thing of economic value which is paid, loaned,
granted, given, donated, or transferred or to be paid, loaned, granted, given, donated, or
transferred for or in consideration of personal services to any person.
(7) "Controlling interest" means any ownership in any legal entity or beneficial
interest in a trust, held by or on behalf of an individual or a member of his immediate family,
either individually or collectively, which exceeds twenty-five percent of that legal entity.
(8) "Elected official" means any person holding an office in a governmental entity
which is filled by the vote of the appropriate electorate. It shall also include any person
appointed to fill a vacancy in such offices.
(9) "Ethics body" means the Board of Ethics.
(10) "Governing authority" means the body which exercises the legislative functions
of a political subdivision.
(11) "Governmental entity" means the state or any political subdivision which
employs the public employee or employed the former public employee or to which the
elected official is elected, as the case may be.
(12) "Immediate family" as the term relates to a public servant means his children,
the spouses of his children, his brothers and their spouses, his sisters and their spouses, his
parents, his spouse, and the parents of his spouse.
(13) "Legislator" means any person holding office in the Senate or the House of
Representatives of the Louisiana Legislature which is filled by the vote of the appropriate
electorate.
(14) "Participate" means to take part in or to have or share responsibility for action
of a governmental entity or a proceeding, personally, as a public servant of the governmental
entity, through approval, disapproval, decision, recommendation, the rendering of advice,
investigation, or the failure to act or perform a duty.
(15) "Person" means an individual or legal entity other than a governmental entity,
or an agency thereof.
(16) "Political subdivision" means any unit of local government, including a special
district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions.
(17)(a) "Public employee" means anyone, whether compensated or not, who is:
(i) An administrative officer or official of a governmental entity who is not filling
an elective office.
(ii) Appointed by any elected official when acting in an official capacity, and the
appointment is to a post or position wherein the appointee is to serve the governmental entity
or an agency thereof, either as a member of an agency, or as an employee thereof.
(iii) Engaged in the performance of a governmental function.
(iv) Under the supervision or authority of an elected official or another employee of
the governmental entity.
(b) However, "public employee" shall not mean a person whose public service is
limited to the following:
(i) Periodic duty in the National Guard pursuant to 32 U.S.C. 502.
(ii) A contract to provide attest services as a certified public accountant.
(iii) Volunteering as described in R.S. 29:735.3.1(A).
(c) A public employee shall be in such status on days on which he performs no
services as well as days on which he performs services. The termination of any particular
term of employment of a public employee shall take effect on the day the termination is
clearly evidenced.
(18) "Public servant" means a public employee or an elected official.
(19) "Public speech" means a speech, or other oral presentation, including a panel
discussion, or radio or television appearance before the public at large, or before any civic,
political, religious, or educational group or organization or an organization qualified for an
exemption from federal income tax under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code by a
member of the legislature in his capacity as a legislator.
(20)(a) "Reasonable transportation", with reference to employees in the legislative
branch of state government only, means transportation organized primarily for educational
or for informational purposes, including on-site inspections, to any state, territory, or
commonwealth of the United States, to the territorial waters of Louisiana, and to any offshore
structure located on the outer continental shelf seaward of such territorial waters and offshore
of Louisiana, if such transportation is for official legislative purposes and receives prior
approval from the presiding officer of the respective house by which such legislative
employee is employed.
(b) "Reasonable transportation", with reference to legislators only, means
transportation:
(i) Organized primarily for educational or for informational purposes, including on-site inspections, to any state, territory, or commonwealth of the United States, to the
territorial waters of Louisiana, and to any offshore structure located on the outer continental
shelf seaward of such territorial waters and offshore of Louisiana.
(ii) Organized primarily for entertainment purposes incidental to food, drink, or
refreshments to any point within this state that is within a fifty-mile radius of the perimeter
of the legislator's district, or within a fifty-mile radius of the perimeter of the parish wherein
the state capitol is located.
(iii) Organized primarily for making a public speech from the legislator's home or
the capitol, to and from the site of the public speech from the sponsoring group or
organization, provided that the public speech is given in any state, territory, or
commonwealth of the United States or any country in North America.
(21) "Regulatory employee" means a public employee who performs the function of
regulating, monitoring, or enforcing regulations of any agency.
(22) "Responsibility" in connection with a transaction involving a governmental
entity means the direct administration or operating authority, whether intermediate or final,
and either exercisable alone or with others, and either personally or through or with others
or subordinates, to effectively direct action of the governmental entity, as the case may be,
in respect to such transaction.
(23) "Service" means the performance of work, duties, or responsibilities, or the
leasing, rental, or sale of movable or immovable property.
(24) "Substantial economic interest" means an economic interest which is of greater
benefit to the public servant or other person than to a general class or group of persons,
except:
(a) The interest that the public servant has in his position, office, rank, salary, per
diem, or other matter arising solely from his public employment or office.
(b) The interest that an elected official who is elected to a house, body, or authority
has in a position or office of such house, body, or authority which is required to be filled by
a member of such house, body, or authority by law, legislative rule, or home rule charter.
(c) The interest that a person has as a member of the general public.
(25)(a) "Thing of economic value" means money or any other thing having economic
value, and includes but is not limited to:
(i) Any loan, except a bona fide loan made by a duly licensed lending institution at
the normal rate of interest, any property interest, interest in a contract, merchandise, service,
and any employment or other arrangement involving a right to compensation.
(ii) Any option to obtain a thing of economic value, irrespective of the conditions to
the exercise of such option.
(iii) Any promise or undertaking for the present or future delivery or procurement
of a thing of economic value.
(b) In the case of an option, promise, or undertaking, the time of receipt of the thing
of economic value shall be deemed to be, respectively, the time the right to the option
becomes fixed, regardless of the conditions to its exercise, and the time when the promise
or undertaking is made, regardless of the conditions to its performance.
(c) Things of economic value shall not include any of the following:
(i) Salary and related benefits of the public employee due to his public employment
or salary and other emoluments of the office held by the elected official. Salary and related
benefits of public employees of higher education institutions, boards, or systems shall include
any supplementary compensation, use of property, or other benefits provided to such
employees from funds or property accruing to the benefit of the institution, board, or system,
as approved by the appropriate policy or management board, from an alumni organization
recognized by the management board of a college or university within the state or from a
foundation organized by the alumni or other supportive individuals of a college or university
within the state the charter of which specifically provides that the purpose of the foundation
is to aid said college or university in a philanthropic manner.
(ii) Promotional items having no substantial resale value.
(iii) Pharmaceutical samples, medical devices, medical foods, and infant formulas
in compliance with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq., provided to a
physician, health care professional, or appropriate public employee for the administration or
dispensation to a patient at no cost to the patient.
(iv) Food, drink, or refreshments consumed by a public servant, including reasonable
transportation and entertainment incidental thereto, while the personal guest of some person.
(v) With reference to legislators and employees in the legislative branch of state
government only, reasonable transportation when organized primarily for educational or
informational purposes, including on-site inspections, and including food and drink
incidental thereto.
(vi) With reference to legislators only, reasonable transportation organized primarily
for making a public speech.
(26) "Transaction involving the governmental entity" means any proceeding,
application, submission, request for a ruling or other determination, contract, claim, case, or
other such particular matter which the public servant or former public servant of the
governmental entity in question knows or should know:
(a) Is, or will be, the subject of action by the governmental entity.
(b) Is one to which the governmental entity is or will be a party.
(c) Is one in which the governmental entity has a direct interest. A transaction
involving the agency of a governmental entity shall have the same meaning with respect to
the agency.