Bill to prohibit felons from seeking office advances to House

Published 11:03 am Wednesday, March 30, 2016

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">BATON ROUGE — A proposed state constitutional amendment designed to correct a flaw in a 1998 amendment cleared its second committee Tuesday, and House Bill 275 heads to the full House for debate.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The House Civil Law and Procedure Committee first decided the measure, by Rep. Greg Miller, R-Norco, needed to be a constitutional amendment and then reported it favorably. The House Governmental Affairs Committee approved the measure earlier.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miller’s bill would prohibit a person who has been convicted of a felony from qualifying for or holding elective or appointive office for 15 years. It makes exceptions for people pardoned by an appropriate official.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The state Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the 1998 amendment was unconstitutional because it didn’t match the language in a law enacted in 1997. The amendment was approved by 64 percent of voters in 1998.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The state House amended Act 1492 of 1997 to say convicted felons who were placed on probation could qualify for public office after successful completion of their probation period. That was left out of the amendment because of a clerical error.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Derrick Shepherd, a Marrero Democrat who served as a state representative and senator, pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2008 and was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison. He tried to run for state representative again last year after serving his sentence, but lost court rulings because of the 15-year requirement.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Shepherd challenged the rulings and got the high court’s favorable opinion. But it was too late for him to run for the House seat. He can run for federal office because the 1998 amendment only applies to state law.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">If it’s approved by voters, the new amendment may not prevent Shepherd from seeking public office in the future. Miller told the committee it hasn’t been resolved whether his legislation is retroactive.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Rep. Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport, repeated what he said at the earlier committee hearing that 15 years is a long time and that every felon doesn’t commit the same type of crime. Some are college students who make mistakes in judgment, he said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miller said he is still open to changing the time frame when the measure is heard by the full House. There is also talk about getting better definitions of serious felonies and distinguishing them from lesser crimes that become felonies.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He also repeated what he said earlier about the bill still being needed because residents’ trust in government is at a low point.</span><p>(MGNonline)</p>