[StBernard] CONVENING OF LEGISLATURE INTO EXTRAORDINARY SESSION

[Westley Annis]

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

PROCLAMATION NO. 3 BJ 2008

____________________________________________________________________________
______

CONVENING OF LEGISLATURE INTO EXTRAORDINARY SESSION

____________________________________________________________________________
_______

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Paragraph B of Section 2 of
Article III of the Constitution

of Louisiana, I, Bobby Jindal, Governor of the state of Louisiana, HEREBY
CALL AND CONVENE THE

LEGISLATURE OF LOUISIANA INTO EXTRAORDINARY SESSION to convene at the State
Capitol,

in the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during twenty-one (21) calendar days,
beginning at 6:00 p.m. on the

10th day of February, 2008, and ending no later than 6:00 o'clock p.m. on
the 1st day of March, 2008. The

power to legislate at such session shall be limited, under penalty of
nullity, to the following specifically

enumerated objects:

ITEM NO. 1 - Financial Disclosure

To legislate relative to financial disclosure for all elected officials and
certain appointed officials

by:

(1) amending the gubernatorial disclosure requirements of R.S. 42:1124 to
include board

affiliations, the identity of clients, job titles and descriptions, and
value ranges for real property;

(2) applying the gubernatorial disclosure requirements of R.S. 42:1124 (as
amended) to all

statewide elected officials, executive branch department heads, legislators,
all officials elected from

voting districts with a population of five thousand or more, all members of
the Board of Elementary

and Secondary Education, and all members of the Ethics Board and its
administrator, with an optout

provision for judges at such time as the Judiciary Commission implements
equivalent

disclosure standards;

(3) requiring all officials elected from a voting district with a population
of less than five thousand

and all appointees to statewide boards and commissions with authority to
administer public funds

of $10,000 per fiscal year to file a disclosure form with the Ethics Board
stating:

a) Neither I, my spouse, nor any business enterprise in which I or my spouse
have a 10%

interest or greater has received income in excess of $250 from the state of
Louisiana or any

local governmental entity or political subdivision thereof, or from services
performed for

or in connection with a gaming interest;

Page 2 of 6

b) I or my spouse did receive income in excess of $250 from the state of
Louisiana or local

government entities, or political subdivisions or gaming interest (identify
sources and value

ranges for each);

c) I certify that I have filed my federal income tax return for the previous
year. I certify that

I have filed my state income tax return for the previous year;

Or

I certify that I have filed for an extension of my federal income tax return
for the previous

year. I certify that I have filed for an extension of my state income tax
return for the

previous year; and

(4) requiring that candidates for public offices make the same disclosures
as required for office

holders.

ITEM NO. 2 - Conflicts of Interest

To legislate relative to conflicts of interest by statewide elected
officials, legislators and statewide

appointed boards and commissions by:

(1) prohibiting legislators, their spouses, and businesses in which they own
any interest from

entering any contracts that are authorized or renewed during the
legislator's term of office and for

one year thereafter, excluding retail transactions for less than $2,500;

(2) prohibiting negotiated (i.e., non-competitively bid) contracts between
the state and the adult

children, siblings and parents of legislators and their spouses authorized
or renewed during the

legislator's term of office and for one year thereafter, excluding retail
transactions for less than

$2,500, and requiring greater disclosure for all competitively bid contracts
between the state and

these individuals;

(3) providing for an exception to the contract prohibitions during
gubernatorial declared disasters

and authorizing the Governor to waive the retail transactions limitation by
executive order;

(4) prohibiting statewide elected officials, legislators, their spouses, and
enterprises in which they

own any interest from receiving recovery-related contracts, excluding retail
transactions for less

than $2,500, during their term of office and for one year thereafter;

(5) prohibiting statewide elected officials, heads of executive departments,
and legislators from

representing clients before any executive or legislative state agency, with
an exception for

"ministerial matters";

(6) prohibiting legislators from receiving any compensation for assisting
with the execution or

funding of any judgment against the state;

(7) prohibiting lobbying by immediate family members of statewide elected
officials, executive

branch department heads, and legislators of the official's or
office-holder's staff;

(8) prohibiting legislators from performing lobbying services as a
"consultant" or otherwise;

Page 3 of 6

(9) requiring non-governmental entities to submit a supplemental information
form to the Secretary

of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, and requiring the Senate and House
to make these forms

readily available;

(10) repealing the gift exception for elected officials for cultural and
sporting events in R.S.

42:1123(13);

(11) requiring a two-thirds vote of the legislature to enact or re-enact
exceptions to the Ethics Code;

and

(12) repealing the written statement exception to the recusal rule of R.S.
42:1120.

ITEM NO. 3 - Transparency for Lobbyists

To legislate relative to increased transparency for lobbyists and lobbying
activities by:

(1) requiring that lobbyists' registration forms include compensation
ranges, subject matter of

lobbying activity, and business relationships with statewide elected
officials, executive department

heads, legislators and their spouses;

(2) requiring that lobbyists' expenditure reports include spending on
spouses and dependant

children of executive branch elected and appointed officials and
legislators, subject matter of

lobbying activities, and expenditure totals by category;

(3) requiring that lobbyists' reports be filed monthly;

(4) requiring all lobbyists' filings to be electronic and posted in an
online, search-able database;

(5) prohibiting contingency fee contracts for lobbyists;

(6) restricting lobbyists' spending on public servants to $50 per meal on
food and beverages per

public servant;

(7) requiring that lobbyists disclose aggregate monthly expenditures in
excess of $50 per public

servant;

(8) increasing penalties for inaccurate or incomplete reporting by
lobbyists; and

(9) establishing penalties for lobbyists who file reports filed "with
knowledge of its falsity"

consistent with R.S. 14:133.

ITEM NO. 4 - Improving Ethics Education and Enforcement

To legislate relative to improving the education and training of public
servants concerning the

obligations and prohibitions of the Ethics Code and to improve procedures
for enforcement of

ethical standards for all public servants by:

Page 4 of 6

(1) requiring annual ethics training for all public servants, with testing
and certification upon completion;

(2) requiring annual ethics training for all lobbyists;

(3) requiring orientation and training for Ethics Board members prior to
performing any function

for the Board;

(4) requiring that at least three members of the Ethics Board be attorneys;

(5) requiring greater separation between the Ethics Board's advisory,
investigatory and

prosecutorial functions;

(6) providing for a confidential advisory process and requiring that
opinions be sterilized before

publication to preserve the confidentiality of public servants requesting
opinions;

(7) requiring the Ethics Board to expedite the process for, and maintain
confidentiality during, the

initial screening of complaints;

(8) requiring that all complaints not warranting investigation be summarily
dismissed and

expunged;

(9) requiring the Ethics Board to offer consent judgments for expedited
compliance following

investigation but before charges are filed, with all final consent judgments
made public;

(10) separating the prosecutorial and adjudicatory process by utilizing
administrative law judges

to preside over hearings and to rule on charges and penalties;

(11) creating objective criteria for the Ethics Board's current authority to
issue waivers and grant

penalty reductions;

(12) mandating the prompt referral of unpaid fines to the Attorney General's
office for collection

proceedings;

(13) requiring the Ethics Board to maintain certain records for seven years,
to file an annual

performance report online, and to post "as soon as possible" all disclosure
forms and reports of

candidates, public officials, and lobbyists on the Ethics Board website in a
search-able database;

(14) providing criminal penalties for willful and fraudulent violations of
the Ethics Code;

(15) requiring the suspension of public servants charged with a crime
related to his or her public

office;

(16) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Louisiana establishing
the power of electors

to exercise the legislative power of the state to propose a new law or amend
existing law requiring

that public servants convicted of a crime related to their public office
forfeit the tax-payer potion

of their pension; and

Page 5 of 6

(17) prohibiting indicted legislators from serving on committees, subject to
waiver by either

chamber by a two-thirds vote.

ITEM NO. 5 - Transparency and Public Access to Information

To legislate relative to improving access to public information and records
by:

(1) requiring the online posting of reports of all state spending by agency
and function;

(2) requiring all legislative floor proceedings and committee hearings to be
broadcast free of charge

over the internet and archived for at least three years;

(3) prohibiting legislators from changing votes after completion of floor
action;

(4) providing for an expedited and efficient administrative appeals process
to resolve disputes over

access to public records;

(5) authorizing the termination of public employees who willfully violate
the public records law

and the open meeting law; and

(6) prohibiting the use of counter letters to circumvent the Ethics Code.

ITEM NO. 6 - Further Combating Fraud and Abuse

To legislate relative to other public officers and private citizens
participating in the prevention of

fraud and abuse by:

(1) enabling the Office of Inspector General by statute;

(2) granting authority to local inspector generals and ethical governing
bodies to issue and enforce

subpoenas in state court and providing for confidentiality during
investigations by such;

(3) expanding whistleblower protection to prohibit threats of reprisal to
public servants; and

(4) authorizing qui tam incentives and standing to citizens to pursue public
fraud cases when the

state refuses to act.

ITEM NO. 7 - Improve Campaign Finance Laws

To legislate relative to improving campaign finance laws by:

(1) requiring that Section 527 political groups disclose all contributors,
contributions and

expenditures;

(2) requiring third party political advertisements to disclose the identity
of the group sponsoring

the advertisement on or within the advertisement itself;

(3) prohibiting candidates for elected offices from using campaign funds to
pay family members;

(4) prohibiting candidates for statewide and legislative offices from
fundraising during regular

legislative sessions;

Page 6 of 6

(5) requiring candidates to successfully complete ethics training as a
condition of qualifying;

(6) prohibiting individuals with outstanding ethics fines from qualifying as
a candidate for elected

office;

(7) requiring candidates to request that contributors above $250 disclose
the identify of their

employers and to disclose such information on campaign reports; and

(8) establishing a $10,000 limit for individuals and entities contributing
to gubernatorial transition

teams.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and

caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, at the

Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 1st day of

February, 2008.

/S/ Bobby Jindal

GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA

ATTEST BY

THE GOVERNOR

/S/ Jay Dardenne

SECRETARY OF STATE