BATON ROUGE — Prompted by the recent passage of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s ethics initiatives, the Louisiana Supreme Court on Wednesday adopted a financial disclosure provision for state judges and justices of the peace and their spouses similar to the laws approved for legislators and other public officials.
The court also revised the code of judicial conduct to create tighter restrictions on the receipt and reporting of gifts by judges, including a limit of $50 on accepting food and drink at any single event.
Jindal launched his ethics law overhaul in a special session in February, but he left judges out of the new disclosure requirements and gift restrictions after the Supreme Court pledged to adopt a similar set of standards. If the judges had not taken up the initiative, lawmakers were prepared to pass restrictions on judges during the legislative session that is scheduled to begin Monday.
The court’s new provisions, which will take effect Jan. 1, were signed by Chief Justice Pascal Calogero Jr., who was not available for comment Wednesday.
A statement from the court released late Wednesday said the disclosure provisions are “consistent with and comparable to those provisions adopted by the state Legislature earlier this year for legislators and other public officials.” The gifts provisions incorporate portions of Louisiana law that apply to other public officials and the American Bar Association’s Model Code of Judicial Conduct, the release said.