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HB210 • 2026

ETHICS/CODE: Provides for retroactivity of certain provisions of Act No. 492 of the 2024 Regular Session

ETHICS/CODE: Provides for retroactivity of certain provisions of Act No. 492 of the 2024 Regular Session

Education
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Michael Melerine
Last action
2026-05-27
Official status
Senate received Conference Committee Report - Sched. for 5/31/26
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about what happens if the bill is vetoed by the governor.

Ethics Law Change: Retroactive Application

This bill makes certain ethics rules from a previous law apply both forward and backward in time for some situations involving school board members and local government officials.

What This Bill Does

  • Makes the new ethics rule about employment with businesses that have dealings with governmental entities apply to past actions as well as future ones.
  • Exempts certain school board and municipal authority members from having to follow disclosure rules if they were already working for a business before June 5, 2024, which had or was seeking a contract with their government entity.
  • Requires anyone who starts working under these conditions after June 5, 2024, to file the necessary disclosures.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Members of school boards and parish or municipal governing authorities
  • Businesses that have contracts or seek contracts with governmental entities

Terms To Know

Retroactivity
Making a new rule apply to events before the rule was made.
Disclosure requirements
Rules that require people to share information about their financial interests or activities.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify what happens if the governor vetoes it.
  • It only applies to situations where a final decision has been made by the Board of Ethics or Ethics Adjudicatory Board after June 5, 2024.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Filed

Plain English: The amendment makes it so that statewide elected officials cannot get paid for lobbying, consulting, or advising others, and this rule applies starting from June 5, 2024.

  • Adds a new rule stating that statewide elected officials cannot be compensated for activities like lobbying, consulting, or giving advice.
  • This new rule is applied retroactively to June 5, 2024.
  • The amendment text does not provide details on how this change will affect existing situations before the effective date of June 5, 2024.
Adopted

Plain English: The amendment exempts certain school board and local government members from having to disclose past employment with entities that had business dealings with their governmental entity, but requires them to start disclosing any such employment starting June 5, 2024.

  • Exempts individuals who were employed by a company or organization that had or sought a business relationship with their local government before June 5, 2024 from having to disclose this information under R.S. 42:1114.
  • Requires these individuals to start disclosing any such employment on or after June 5, 2024 as per R.S. 42:1111(C)(6).
  • The amendment does not provide details about the specific circumstances under which past disclosures would be exempted.
Draft

Plain English: The amendment allows certain school board and local government members who were previously employed by a business with ties to their entity before June 5, 2024, to be exempt from specific disclosure requirements.

  • School board and local government members are not required to comply with the disclosure rules in R.S. 42:1114 for employment that occurred before June 5, 2024, if they were working for a business that had or was seeking a relationship with their governmental entity.
  • However, these individuals must still file disclosures for any employment starting on or after June 5, 2024, as required by R.S. 42:1111(C)(6).
  • The amendment text does not specify the exact nature of the disclosure requirements in R.S. 42:1114 and R.S. 42:1111(C)(6), so details about what information needs to be disclosed are not provided.
Filed

Plain English: The amendment rejects the Senate's changes to HB210, which is about making certain parts of Act No. 492 from the 2024 Regular Session apply retroactively.

  • Rejects all amendments made by the Senate to HB210.
  • The amendment text does not provide details on what specific changes were rejected, only that it rejects them.
Adopted

Plain English: The amendment adds a new section that says statewide elected officials cannot be paid for lobbying, consulting, or advising work, and this rule applies starting from June 5, 2024.

  • Adds a new section stating that statewide elected officials cannot receive compensation for lobbying, consulting, or advising activities.
  • Specifies that the new restriction on compensation applies retroactively to June 5, 2024.
  • The amendment does not specify what happens to any payments made before June 5, 2024.

Bill History

  1. 2026-05-27 H

    Scheduled for floor debate on 05/31/2026.

  2. 2026-05-27 S

    Conference committee report received.

  3. 2026-05-27 H

    Conference Committee report received. Lies over under the rules.

  4. 2026-05-27 H

    Notice of Senate conferees appointed.

  5. 2026-05-27 S

    Senate conference committee members appointed: Cathey, Abraham, and Bass.

  6. 2026-05-27 S

    Notice House Conference Committee members appointed.

  7. 2026-05-26 H

    House conferees appointed: Melerine, Beaullieu, and Domangue.

  8. 2026-05-26 S

    Notice House rejected the Senate amendments.

  9. 2026-05-26 H

    Read by title, roll called, yeas 97, nays 0, Senate amendments rejected, conference committee appointment pending.

  10. 2026-05-25 H

    Scheduled for concurrence on 05/26/2026.

  11. 2026-05-19 H

    Received from the Senate with amendments.

  12. 2026-05-18 S

    Rules suspended. Senate floor amendments read and adopted. Read by title, passed by a vote of 34 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

  13. 2026-05-11 S

    Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.

  14. 2026-05-07 S

    Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

  15. 2026-05-06 S

    Reported favorably.

  16. 2026-04-15 S

    Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs.

  17. 2026-04-14 S

    Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.

  18. 2026-04-14 H

    Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 83, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

  19. 2026-04-13 H

    Scheduled for floor debate on 04/14/2026.

  20. 2026-04-09 H

    Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.

  21. 2026-04-08 H

    Reported with amendments (10-0).

  22. 2026-03-09 H

    Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs.

  23. 2026-02-20 H

    First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/20/2026.

  24. 2026-02-19 H

    Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs.

  25. 2026-02-19 H

    Prefiled.

Official Summary Text

ETHICS/CODE: Provides for retroactivity of certain provisions of Act No. 492 of the 2024 Regular Session

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HLS 26RS-362 ENGROSSED
2026 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 210
BY REPRESENTATIVE MELERINE
ETHICS/CODE: Provides for retroactivity of certain provisions of Act No. 492 of the 2024
Regular Session
1 AN ACT
2 To provide relative to the applicability of R.S. 42:1111(C)(6) as enacted by Act No. 492 of
3 the 2024 Regular Session of the Legislature; to provide for retroactivity; to provide
4 for effectiveness; and to provide for related matters.
5 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
6 Section 1. The provisions of R.S. 42:1111(C)(6) as enacted by Act No. 492 of the
7 2024 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be applied prospectively and retroactively.
8 However, the provisions of R.S. 42:1111(C)(6) as enacted by Act No. 492 of the 2024
9 Regular Session of the Legislature shall not apply to any matter subject to a final decision
10 of the Board of Ethics or Ethics Adjudicatory Board rendered on or before the effective date
11 of this Act. Any member of a school board or parish or municipal governing authority who
12 prior to June 5, 2024, was employed with a person that had or was seeking a contractual or
13 other business or financial relationship with the member's governmental entity or an agency
14 under the jurisdiction or supervision of the member's governmental entity shall not be
15 required to comply with the disclosure requirements in R.S. 42:1114 for such employment.
16 However, a person shall be required to file a disclosure for any employment on or after June
17 5, 2024, as required by R.S. 42:1111(C)(6).
Page 1 of 3
HLS 26RS-362 ENGROSSED
HB NO. 210
1 Section 2. This Act shall become effective upon signature by the governor or, if not
2 signed by the governor, upon expiration of the time for bills to become law without signature
3 by the governor, as provided by Article III, Section 18 of the Constitution of Louisiana. If
4 vetoed by the governor and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become
5 effective on the day following such approval.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 210 Engrossed 2026 Regular Session Melerine
Abstract: Provides for the retroactivity of an ethics exception for school board members
and members of a parish or municipal authority to continue employment with a person who
has or is seeking a business or financial relationship with his or a related governmental entity
or agency under certain circumstances.
Present law generally provides that no public servant and no legal entity in which the public
servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of 25% shall receive any thing of
economic value for or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for a
source from whom the public servant is prohibited by present law (R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or
(B)) from receiving a gift.
Proposed law retains present law.
Act No. 492 of the 2024 Regular Session, effective June 5, 2024, enacted a present law
exception authorizing a member of a school board or parish or municipal governing
authority to continue employment with a person who has or is seeking a contractual or other
business or financial relationship with his governmental entity or an agency under the
jurisdiction or supervision of his governmental entity, provided that all of the following
conditions are met:
(1) The member is a salaried or wage-earning employee of his employer.
(2) The compensation of the member is substantially unaffected by his employer's
contractual or other business or financial relationship with his governmental entity
or other agency under the jurisdiction or supervision of his governmental entity.
(3) The member is not an officer, director, trustee, or partner of his employer.
(4) The member does not own an interest which exceeds one percent of the legal entity
which employs him.
(5) The member does not participate in any transaction with his governmental entity or
agency under the jurisdiction or supervision of his governmental entity, including
recusing himself from any vote, involving his employer.
(6) The member complies with financial disclosure requirements.
Proposed law retains present law and provides that the present law exception shall be applied
prospectively and retroactively, but shall not apply to any matter subject to a final decision
of the Board of Ethics or Ethics Adjudicatory Board rendered on or before the effective date
of proposed law.
Page 2 of 3
HLS 26RS-362 ENGROSSED
HB NO. 210
Proposed law provides that any member of a school board or parish or municipal governing
authority who prior to June 5, 2024, was employed with a person that had or was seeking a
contractual or other business or financial relationship with the member's governmental entity
or an agency under the jurisdiction or supervision of the member's governmental entity shall
not be required to comply with the disclosure requirements in present law for such
employment. However, a person shall be required to file a disclosure for any employment
on or after June 5, 2024.
Effective upon signature of governor or lapse of time for gubernatorial action.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on House and
Governmental Affairs to the original bill:
1. Waive the disclosure requirements of members of a school board or parish or
municipal governing authority in order to comply retroactively to the present law
exception.
Page 3 of 3