Louisiana Governor’s Mansion records, commission meetings likely to be made secret

Louisiana lawmakers agreed to make documents and meetings about the operations of the publicly-funded governor's mansion secret. (Piper Hutchinson/Louisiana Illuminator)

The Louisiana Legislature has voted overwhelmingly to give the governor more power over the publicly funded Governor’s Mansion and keep records and meetings related to the home secret.

The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved House Bill 799, sponsored by Rep. Vincent St. Blanc, R-Franklin. The House of Representatives also approved the legislation on a 97-3 vote last month. The measure now goes to Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it into law. 

The proposal makes several structural changes to the management of the Governor’s Mansion, located across a small lake from the state Capitol in Baton Rouge. It would close more of the building to the public and keep secret records and meetings concerning the residence. 

Under the St. Blanc bill, all meetings of the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion Commission that oversees the mansion would be held in secret and not open to the public as they currently are. Documents the commission produces will also no longer be public as they are now.

In the current law, public areas of the mansion are defined as its first floor, the state wing of the second floor, a stairwell in the rotunda and all grounds in the front and on the sides of the mansion. The bill takes the state wing on the second floor and declares it a private area. 

The authority of the mansion commission is also weakened through the bill. All members would serve at the pleasure of the governor, instead of staggered terms of one to five years. 

The membership of the commission would also change to include the chief of staff of the governor’s spouse, instead of the mansion’s executive residence director. Three more commission members would also be picked directly by the governor, without consultation from the mansion staff as required now. 

The commission will go from having jurisdiction over the public and private areas of the mansion to just having oversight over its public areas, under the legislation. It’s authority over the public areas of the mansion will also be restricted further than it is now.

The governor used to have to get permission to repaint, redecorate or make substantial changes to the interior design and look of the public areas of the mansion from the commission. The bill now gives all the power over those decisions exclusively to the governor.

The bill also requires the commission to seek the governor’s approval to arrange for loans of artwork and other items to the mansion. Under current law, the commission can do this unilaterally without the governor’s input.

This legislation would go into effect immediately when the governor signs the bill.

It is in keeping with a few other proposals Landry has pushed that would have made records about the governor’s activities and life secret. Lawmakers have scuttled most of these bills after they received widespread criticism.

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