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The State of Disclosure in Louisiana
Louisiana’s
overall grade remained a C in 2007, though
the state slipped seven places to 23rd
in the rankings. The state received a
higher grade for Disclosure Content Accessibility,
but dropped in the Online Contextual
and Technical Usability category.
Louisiana’s
disclosure law earned a B- in 2007 and
ranks among the top twenty in the country,
with particularly strong expenditure
disclosure and enforcement provisions.
Candidates report the names and addresses
of contributors, but not their employer
or occupation data. Last-minute contributions
and independent expenditures are required
to be disclosed prior to elections. Electronic
filing is required of statewide candidates
raising at least $50,000, but is voluntary
for legislative candidates. The Board
of Ethics set a goal for 20 percent of
all candidates to file electronically
by 2010; currently, 50 percent of statewide
candidates and 15 percent of legislative
candidates file their reports electronically.
Louisiana earned a B in the Disclosure
Content Accessibility category in 2007,
moving up three spots to 19th in the rankings.
Louisiana publishes databases of both contributions
and expenditures that offer many search,
sort and download options. These databases
contain only electronically-filed reports;
the majority of disclosure data online
is found within scanned PDF files which
vary in levels of readability. The Board
of Ethics reports that the public can now
obtain campaign data on disk as well. The
2005 study noted a technical problem with
the searchable database, which at that
time was case-sensitive. This problem has
been resolved, making searches much more
user-friendly. The database could be further
improved by eliminating the excessively
long list of campaign committees that is
provided when a user searches contributions
among all candidates.
Louisiana dropped from a D to an F in the
Online Contextual and Technical Usability
category in 2007, with a lower performance
in the usability test. Usability testers
found accessing the Board of Ethics site
from the state homepage was more challenging
in 2007 than in the past. While the site
is not very difficult to navigate, it lacks
key contextual information, such as a detailed
roster of candidates and comparisons of totals
raised and spent by candidates for a particular
office.
→ Quick
Fix: Post a complete list
of candidates on the disclosure
web site.
♦ Editor’s
Pick: Directory
of Campaign Finance Late Fees. For
each committee that has incurred fees,
the site lists which report was late
and by how many days, the fine amount,
amount paid to date, and outstanding
fee balance. View image
 Disclosure Agency: Board of Ethics
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.ethics.state.la.us
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