Reputation in the Balance

A good reputation is hard to earn, but often easy to lose. A bad reputation is the exact opposite.

Over time, Louisiana has earned a national reputation as a state with a poor legal climate. Sensible and fair-minded people may disagree as to whether or not that reputation is just, but regardless of your opinion on that question, there is no doubt how the nation sees us.

Louisiana ranks No. 7 nationwide on the Tort Activity Index, No. 49 for its lawsuit climate and No. 7 on the Judicial Hellholes list. Nearly 60 percent of Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) members report that frivolous lawsuits increase the costs of doing business, savings they could otherwise re-invest in their business and the economy. Seventy percent of corporate executives around the country report that a state’s litigation environment affects where they locate and do business.

While Louisiana has earned a reputation for a poor legal climate over time, nothing prohibits us from taking control of the system, passing sensible laws to improve it, and changing our reputation for the better. In fact, this year LABI is supporting three small impactful steps for the judiciary that can make one giant leap for Louisiana’s legal reputation.

The first piece of legislation is HB698 by Rep. Neil Abramson, a bill that calls for an annual report of court budgets that taxpayers easily view. Every year, the Louisiana Supreme Court prepares an annual report that offers data and detailed information on the operations of Louisiana courts such as the number of judges and location of every court, the number of criminal and civil case filings, and the number of trials. This report, however, offers little to no information on the resources, budget, or expenditures of the Supreme Court or other state courts.

Rep. Abramson’s bill would encourage the judiciary to promote better public access to basic data on court budgeting, place them on similar footing with other governmental agencies, and allow taxpayers to better monitor spending and performance.

The second piece of legislation is HB293 by Rep. Taylor Barras to disclose the contracts held in the judicial branch.

One national study gave Louisiana an “A” for internal auditing, a “B” for state budget processes, and an overall “C-” score on the State Integrity Index, while rating judicial accountability with an “F” grade. Louisiana specifically scored poorly on such indicators as access to court administrative records.

The Public Affairs Research Council writes: “Citizens are typically concerned with three issues when tracking government’s use of dollars – which services the state is paying for, who the state chooses to provide services, and why and how the vendors are chosen.” States such as Arkansas, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oregon among others, include judicial contracts on their state’s transparency website.

Specifically, Rep. Barras’ bill would require the Supreme Court to establish a website by Jan. 1, 2016, to annually publish the following information on judicial contracts for goods or services: contract amount, agency, and a brief description of the purpose, and dates, name of the contractor, and city and state of the contractor’s business.

The final piece of legislation LABI is supporting to improve the legal climate this session is HB294 by Rep. Stuart Bishop to require personal financial disclosure for judges.

Rep. Bishop’s bill would require online and accessible financial disclosure by judges in the same manner as other elected officials in

Louisiana, which will promote public access, discourage potential conflicts of interest, and enhance public confidence in the integrity of all branches of state government.

In 2014, a national study gave Louisiana a failing grade for judicial financial disclosure, criticizing both the level of detail in the disclosure and the lack of accessibility to the statements.

A reputation, whether earned or not, can be always changed by one’s actions. These three small steps should be embraced by the judiciary and would go a long way to improving our legal reputation. If instead of supporting these three simple bills, the judiciary opposes and kills them, that action alone may go a long way towards reinforcing a poor reputation that we all strive to leave in our past.

Reputation in the Balance