A state Senate panel has approved at Gov. Jeff Landry's request a bill that would broaden his authority over state board and commission appointments, part of the governor's sweeping efforts to consolidate power since he took office in January.
Landry, a Republican, lobbied the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning to pass Senate Bill 462 by Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs. The bill would give Landry's office far more authority over the board appointment process than previous governors by allowing him to appoint the chairs and officers of all state boards.
Under the current system, the governor gets to appoint members on some key boards only over several years, a setup aimed at preventing wholesale reverses in policy after one governor replaces another.
Landry argued that that system doesn't allow newly elected governors to enact their political and policy priorities swiftly enough.
“What you hear sometimes from the critics of this bill is that this has a tendency to inject politics into those boards and commissions. ... This certainly allows the governor to ensure that the politics that are being played at that board are aligned with the governor and the will of this body," Landry said.
After his testimony, the committee approved the bill, sending it to the full Senate.
Since his Democratic predecessor John Bel Edwards vacated the governor's office in January, Landry has moved faster to consolidate power, buck scrutiny and enact his policy priorities across government than any governor in decades. Hodges' bill is one in a slate of measures moving through the state Capitol in the ongoing legislative session that would help Landry achieve those goals.
After Landry's testimony, the Senate and Governmental Affairs advanced another bill that would grant Landry and the Legislature more say in who serves on the state Ethics Board, which has rapped him in the past. The committee also advanced a bill that would curtail public records access by only allowing citizens of Louisiana to request those records.
Other bills filed this session would grant Landry more say in who serves on the state Civil Service Commission and shield his office — among a slew of other government agencies — from the state's public records law.
Landry has said he supports the public records measure but has not taken a position on the other bills.
Prior to Wednesday, he had come to the Legislature to testify in support of legislation only once: Landry last month sided against insurers by supporting House Bill 315, which lengthens the statute of limitations for filing personal injury and property damage suits.
Before the vote on the boards and commissions bill Wednesday, state Sen. Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport, briefly questioned Landry at the mic, saying the bill's purpose seemed unclear.
Landry replied that the bill is about a "bigger picture" than just his governorship.
"There are some boards and commissions under which the governor would have to spend two terms before he or she has an opportunity to institute the policies that the people elected him or her to do," Landry said. "That’s unfair to that governor, whoever that may be. ... That’s unfair to the people who supported that particular governor.”