<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">How is The National Golf Club of Louisiana able to donate rounds of golf under the current state ethics laws?</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Both Frasch Park and Mallard Cove golf courses tell me that they are not allowed to donate rounds of golf as that would be considered a “trade of services,” which is strictly prohibited by the state ethics law for any governmental agency to engage in.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Andrea Mahfouz, Westlake city clerk, said Monday that two rounds at the city’s National Golf Club were donated to The Chamber Southwest Louisiana.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“If it was wrong to do so,” she wrote in an email, “we will take them back.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She said the city’s legal counsel hadn’t offered Westlake Mayor Bob Hardey an opinion on the donations. And</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Hardey said Tuesday that the city had no plans to seek an opinion from the state Attorney General’s Office.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Paula Ramsey, an executive with the chamber, said Wednesday that the rounds would be awarded as prizes in the chamber’s upcoming golf tournament, which will be at the National.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She said the golf course has provided free rounds for tournament prizes “for several years … anytime I have asked.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Ramsey said she has never asked Mallard Cove for a donation, but that Sulphur Parks and Recreation officials have declined to provide a round at the Frasch Park course, saying they were unable to do so.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Steven Gayfield, head of SPAR, said Wednesday that it’s long been a policy not to give away rounds of golf at the Sulphur course. Lake Charles city spokesman Matt Young on Friday said Mallard Cove doesn’t give away rounds of golf because doing so would violate state law.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadsubhead">Three-prong test</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Section 14 of Louisiana Constitution Article VII says that “the funds, credit, property, or things of value of the state or of any political subdivision shall not be loaned, pledged, or donated to or for any person, association, or corporation, public or private.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The state Supreme Court in September 2006 said that provision “seeks to prohibit a gratuitous alienation of public property.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In its interpretation of the court’s decision, the state Attorney General’s Office, in December of that year, articulated a three-prong test to determine the legality of a transfer or expenditure of public funds.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The political subdivision involved “must have a reasonable expectation of receiving something of value in exchange”; officials’ actions must have a public purpose; and the transfer or expenditure must yield “a public benefit proportionate” to its value.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Attorney General’s Office has over the years revised the three-prong test. Under the current iteration — as listed in a 2015 opinion — the public body involved must show the following for its transfer to be permissible:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“A public purpose for the expenditure or transfer that comports with the governmental purpose for which the public entity has</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">legal authority to pursue.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“The expenditure or transfer, taken as a whole, does not appear to be gratuitous.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“The public entity has a demonstrable, objective, and reasonable expectation of receiving at least equivalent value in exchange for the expenditure or transfer of public funds.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadsubhead">‘Never happen again’</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Jenifer Schaye, general counsel for the state Legislative Auditor’s Office, said Friday that donations of public resources are a “site-specific thing.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Still, she said, she would interpret the constitutional provision conservatively, and she suggested Westlake officials seek an attorney general’s opinion.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">A “step in the right direction,” Schaye said, would be a cooperative endeavor agreement between Westlake and the chamber that clearly lays</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">out the value of the donations and the benefit the city expects to reap from them.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Cooperative endeavor agreements, which set the terms for transfers of public resources, are subject to the aforementioned three-prong test.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">After hearing what Schaye had told The Informer, Hardey on Friday said the city would rescind the golf rounds — which he said were given as part of a policy carried over from the previous administration.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“They ain’t happening again,” he said. “That’ll never happen again.”</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.lla.la.gov/legalFAQs; www.ag.state.la.us.</span>

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