| Advisory Opinion request regarding whether the Code of Governmental Ethics prohibits an employee of Governor's
Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness from receiving reimbursement for travel costs and a stipend from VIA LINK, a 501(c)3
nonprofit organization, for participating in a working group. |
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Kay Keen is
a full-time employee of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency
Preparedness (GOHSEP), a state agency. Her position as the State Voluntary
Agency Liaison (VAL) falls under Recovery Operations. In this position, Ms. Keen works with
Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs).
VIA LINK, a 501(c)3
nonprofit organization, has been awarded a grant by the Gulf Research Program
for funding to build a
series of free disaster data tools that would support GOHSEP, other Louisiana
VOAD (LAVOAD) members, and the public.
To meet the requirements of the
grant, VIA LINK must establish a working group to discuss the challenges that
their organizations face during disasters, and what types of data tools could
be built to address those challenges. VIA LINK would then build and maintain
the data tools envisioned by the working group and provide them for free.
The
mission of LAVOAD is to reduce the impact of disasters on Louisianans by
enhancing the effectiveness of service providers and stakeholders who help
communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. LAVOAD has no
paid employees.
As Louisiana's State VAL, Ms. Keen is an Ex Officio (non-voting)
member of the LAVOAD Board. Due to her knowledge and experience at GOHSEP and
participation on the Board for LAVOAD, Ms. Keen has been asked to be a member
of the working group VIA LINK seeks to establish. The working group will meet
three times virtually and one time in person. The Gulf Research Program grant
would reimburse travel/hotel costs for the in-person meeting and would also pay
a $3,000 stipend. The stipend could be paid to the participant state employee,
Kay Keen, to GOHSEP, or be waived. GOHSEP's General Counsel, Clayton Revere, has stated that to his knowledge, GOHSEP
itself has no direct investment in LAVOAD nor is there any
prospective contract between GOHSEP and VIA LINK.
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La. R.S. 42:1115A(1) 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 have a
contractual, business or financial relationship with the public servant's
agency.
La. R.S.
42:1102(2)(a)(i) defines
"agency" to mean a department, office, division, agency, commission, board,
committee, or other organizational unit of a governmental entity. "Agency of
the public servant" and "his agency" when used in reference to the agency of a
public servant shall mean for public servants in the twenty principal
departments of the executive branch of state government, the office in which
such public servant carries out his primary responsibilities.
AO 2016-893: Issue
addressed in the opinion permitted Mayor of New Orleans to get reimbursed
for his attendance in meetings, conferences, and seminars while he
attends in his capacity as Vice President of the US Conference of Mayors.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Kathryn Rich |
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