The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee approves legislation that would give the governor the authority to choose the chair person and officers of state boards and commissions. Governor Jeff Landry appeared before the panel to explain why a governor should have this power.
“This just helps the continuity of the governor and the legislature to move the policies that the people elected all of us to enact,” Landry said.
A Louisiana governor is already responsible for appointment members to hundreds of different state boards. Shreveport Senator Sam Jenkins questioned whether it’s a good thing for the governor to also have the authority to pick a chair person.
“Do you think by selecting the chair of the board that it would affect the autonomy of the board to oversee or supervise whatever agency or group that they are responsible for?” Jenkins asked.
Landry believes it’s important that the politics of the board align with the governor’s politics and currently that is not the case 100-percent of the time.
“By allowing these boards to elect their own chair, they play their own politics. Sometimes it’s ours, many times it might not be,” Landry said.
The measure was approved without objection.
