2016-1045 - Laserfiche WebLink

and programmatic issues that other grants do not provide. Additionally, the Agency provides services for emergency assistance, including rent/mortgage, utility assistance and food; life alert systems and fans/heaters for the elderly; book sacks to children for the current school year. For LIHEAP, WAP, AEP, and CSBG, the federal agencies dictate the program requirements and the state agencies serve in a supervisory capacity with limited discretion. The duties performed by the state agencies are ministerial and they simply serve as a conduit through which federal funds are disbursed to non-profits like the Agency, which actually carry out the functions and purposes of the programs. The Board concluded, and instructed me to inform you, that the Agency is not a governmental entity subject to the Code of Governmental Ethics. The Louisiana Supreme Court, in PIAL v. Theriot, 99-1152 (La. 2010), found that all of the following four factors, originally set forth in State v. Smith, 357 So.2d 505 (La. 1978), must be present in order to find that an entity is public: (1) whether the entity was created by the legislature; (2) whether its powers were specifically defined by the legislature; (3) whether the property of the entity belongs to the public; and (4) whether the entity's functions are exclusively of a public character and performed solely for the public benefit. The Agency was not created by the legislature, its powers were not specifically defined by the legislature, and its property does not belong to the public. Therefore, the Agency is not a governmental entity subject to the Code. The Board further concluded, and instructed me to inform you, that the Agency's employees and board members are not "public employees" and thus are not required to take the annual training on the Code of Governmental Ethics. La. R.S. 42:1170A requires each public servant to receive a minimum of one hour of education and training on the Code of Governmental Ethics during each year of his public employment or term of office, as the case may be. La. R.S. 42:1102(19) provides that "public servant" means a public employee or an elected official. La. R.S. 42:1102(18)(a) provides that "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; or (iv) under the supervision or authority of an elected official or another employee of the governmental entity. The duties performed by the state agencies are ministerial and they simply serve as a conduit through which federal funds are disbursed to the Agency, which actually carries out the functions and purposes of LIHEAP, WAP, AEP, and CSBG. Therefore, the Agency's employees and board members are not public employees and thus are not required to take the annual ethics training, pursuant to La. R.S. 42:1170A.