| Advisory opinion regarding whether a member of the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SBPLA), Keith Bienvenu, or his immediate family member, may become an SBPLA approved instructor and accept employment with the Louisiana Association of Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors to teach SBPLA-approved courses to the Louisiana Association of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling-Contractors. |
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Keith Bienvenu is a member of the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana (SPBLA) and he is also the owner of Bienvenu Plumbing-Heating-Cooling. Mr. Bienvenu has been hired by the Louisiana Association of Plumbing-Heating Cooling Contractors (LAPHCC) to teach SPBLA-approved training classes to LAPHCC members. Mr. Bienvenu has been approved for his certification and is seeking to have it renewed. Renewal of an SPBLA certification requires attendance and completion of required continuing professional education courses. The SPBLA has denied renewal of Mr. Bienvenu's certification for fear of a violation of the Ethics Code.
The SPBLA provides certifications for individuals upon completion of a written application stating personal history, licenses obtained and experience. The approval for certification is based upon satisfying the criteria of the application. The LAPHCC is a Louisiana private, non-profit trade organization comprised of individual and corporate memberships in the plumbing, heating and cooling industry. The members are licensed in their profession and maintain their license through completion of SPBLA-approved training classes offered by SPBLA-approved providers, as well as passage of license examinations administered by the SPBLA.
The LAPHCC, as an SPBLA provider, offers the SPBLA-approved training classes to its member firms and their employees, interns and apprentices. LAPHCC is not the sole provider of these training classes. The LAPHCC courses are taught by SPBLA-approved instructors hired by the LAPHCC for this purpose. Other than being an SPBLA-approved provider, the LAPHCC conducts no other official business before the SPBLA as an organization or on behalf of its membership. The SPBLA approval of the classes is based on the course content and material, not the instructors who conduct the classes.
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Section 1113 of the Code prohibits a member of a board or commission or his immediate family members from entering into or being in anyway interested in transactions that are under the supervision of the agency of the public servant.
In Hill v. Commission on Ethics for Public Employees,453 So.2d 558, (La. 1984), the Supreme Court concluded that a member of the Cosmetology Board could renew a license for a beauty shop and a license to practice cosmetology since those renewals were "routine and mechanical." Routine and mechanical was defined as something issued in accordance with the rules and procedures of the agency and not with the approval of the Board.
Section 1111C(2)(d) of the Code prohibits a publicservant from accepting anything of economic value for services rendered from a person who has a business, contractual, or financial relationship with your agency.
Section 1112 of the Code prohibits a public servant from participating in transactions in which he, his immediate family members, or his employer has a substantial economic interest.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Aneatra Boykin |
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