BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A special ethics exemption designed to let a former state senator lobby the Legislature even though his brother is currently in the Senate is nearing final legislative passage.
New Orleans Rep. Jeff Arnold, a Democrat, says his proposal is “a narrowly-drawn exception” for a member of the Legislature’s immediate family.
The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill without objection Wednesday and with no naming of who it was designed to help.
But Arnold has previously identified that it was special carve-out to allow former state Sen. Francis Heitmeier to lobby at the Louisiana Capitol even though his brother, David, is a state senator.
The House-approved measure moves next to the full Senate for debate.
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House Bill 459 can be found at www.legis.la.gov
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