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Your wife, Susan Bourgeois, was appointed Secretary for the Louisiana Department of Economic <br /> Development ("LED") on January 25, 2024. You ask whether your wife's appointment as LED <br /> Secretary prohibits FSC from continuing to provide the above services pursuant to the two one- <br /> year option terms in the two contracts with the State of Louisiana. <br /> ISSUE NO. 1: TRANSACTIONS WITH LED <br /> La. R.S. 42:1113A(1)(a) provides that no public servant, ... or member of such a public servant's <br /> immediate family, or legal entity in which he has a controlling interest shall bid on or enter into <br /> any contract, subcontract, or other transaction that is under the supervision or jurisdiction of the <br /> agency of such public servant. <br /> La. R.S. 42:1102 defines "agency" for public servants in the twenty principal departments of the <br /> executive branch of state government, the office in which such public servant carries out his <br /> primary responsibilities;except that in the case of the secretary,deputy secretary,or undersecretary <br /> of any such department and officials carrying out the responsibilities of such department officers <br /> it shall mean the department in which he serves. <br /> As LED Secretary, your wife's agency is LED. Accordingly, the Board concluded that La. R.S. <br /> 42:1113A(1)(a) prohibits you and FSC from entering into any contracts, subcontracts, or other <br /> transactions with LED while your wife serves as LED Secretary. <br /> ISSUE No.2: CONTRACTS WITH THE STATE OF LOUISIANA <br /> The Code prohibits the secretary of executive branch agencies, as well as their spouses and their <br /> legal entities, from entering into contracts with the State of Louisiana. Specifically, La. R.S. <br /> 42:1113D states that "no person identified in Item (ii) of this Subparagraph or the spouse of such <br /> person nor any legal entity of a person shall enter into any contract with state government." La. <br /> R.S. 42:1113D(1)(a)(ii)(cc) expressly applies this prohibition to the "secretary, deputy secretary, <br /> undersecretary, and each assistant secretary, or the equivalent position of the Department of <br /> Economic Development." <br /> La. R.S. 42:1113D(1)(a)(iii) defines "legal entity of a person" as any,corporation, partnership, or <br /> other legal entity in which a person identified in Item (ii) of this Subparagraph or the spouse of <br /> such person owns an interest of greater than five percent. <br /> La. R.S. 42:1113D(1)(a)(v) defines "state government" as any branch, agency, department, or <br /> institution of state government or with the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association, the <br /> Louisiana Health Insurance Guaranty Association, or any other state quasi-public entity created in <br /> law. <br /> However, La. R.S. 42:11131)(2)(d) provides an applicable exception which states that the <br /> provisions of this Subsection shall not prohibit the following: <br /> Completion of any contract which, at the time it was entered into, was not <br /> prohibited by the provisions of this Subsection; however, no such contract shall be <br /> renewed except as specifically provided for in this Paragraph. <br /> Page 2 of 3 (BD 2024162) <br />