| Request for an advisory opinion from Richard Ieyoub, Commissioner of Conservation, as to whether the Office of Conservation can accept the donated services of the LMOGA Foundation to modify software donated to the Office of Conservation by the State of Montana. |
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The Department of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation ("OOC") regulates the procedures necessary to obtain permits for creating and using salt dome caverns. The State of Montana has offered to donate its software to implement electronic permitting to approve mining permits in order to reduce the man-hours necessary to complete the application process currently in use in Louisiana. The software would require modification to be compatible with Louisiana's Division of Administration programming requirements and in certain sections of the program, references to applicable Louisiana regulations would need to be included for convenient reference. OOC has no IT personnel on its staff to perform the modifications and the LMOGA Foundation, a non-profit corporation in Louisiana has offered to assist in the modification of the software.
LMOGA Foundation is not funded directly by any entity under the OOC's regulatory oversight, nor does the Foundation conduct operations in the State of Louisiana that would subject it to the jurisdiction or regulatory oversight of the OOC.
LMOGA Foundation has performed similar services for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
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La. R.S. 42:1115A prohibits a public servant from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably should know that such person has or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public servant's agency, or is seeking, for compensation, to influence the passage or defeat of legislation by the public servant's agency.
La. R.S. 42:1115B prohibits a public employee from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, anything of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public employee knows or reasonably should know that such person conducts operations or activities which are regulated by the public employee's agency, or has a substantial economic interest which may be affected by the performance or nonperformance of the public employee's official duty.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Greg Thibodeaux |
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