New Orleans Ethics Review Board: Standards and Enforcement

The New Orleans Ethics Review Board is the primary municipal body responsible for interpreting and enforcing the ethical standards that govern public officials, employees, and contractors operating within the City of New Orleans. This page covers the Board's legal foundation, its enforcement process, the categories of conduct it most frequently addresses, and the boundaries that define where its authority begins and ends. Understanding the Board's role is essential context for anyone navigating New Orleans government at any level.

Definition and scope

The New Orleans Ethics Review Board operates under authority granted by the New Orleans Home Rule Charter, which establishes the Board as an independent body charged with administering the city's Code of Ethics. That code governs conflicts of interest, financial disclosure obligations, post-employment restrictions, and the conduct of elected officials, appointed officers, and city employees.

The Board is composed of 9 members. Under the Charter framework, members are appointed through a process designed to insulate the Board from direct political control — no more than a fixed number of seats may be held by members of the same political party, and members serve staggered terms to preserve institutional continuity. The Board has authority to issue advisory opinions, conduct investigations, hold hearings, and impose sanctions.

The city's ethics framework operates alongside — but is legally distinct from — Louisiana's statewide ethics law administered by the Louisiana Board of Ethics. The state body has jurisdiction over all public servants in Louisiana under Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 42, Chapter 15 (the Code of Governmental Ethics). The New Orleans Ethics Review Board addresses municipal-level conduct and local code provisions specifically, while the state board handles broader conflicts involving state law.

Scope, coverage, and limitations: The New Orleans Ethics Review Board's jurisdiction covers city employees, elected officials such as members of the New Orleans City Council and the office documented at Office of the Mayor, and individuals serving on boards and commissions under city authority. It does not cover employees of Orleans Parish's independently elected offices — such as the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office or the New Orleans District Attorney's Office — when those individuals are acting under state rather than municipal authority. It also does not cover employees of neighboring jurisdictions such as Jefferson Parish or St. Bernard Parish, nor does it apply to state or federal employees working within the city's geographic boundaries.

How it works

The Ethics Review Board process moves through 4 structured stages:

1. Complaint initiation — A complaint may be filed by any person with knowledge of a potential violation, or the Board may initiate a proceeding on its own motion. Complaints must be filed in writing and identify the respondent, the alleged conduct, and the provision of the Code of Ethics believed to have been violated.
2. Preliminary review — Board staff conduct an initial review to determine whether the complaint falls within jurisdiction and states a facially sufficient allegation. Complaints that do not meet this threshold are dismissed without a formal hearing.
3. Investigation and hearing — If a complaint survives preliminary review, investigators gather documentary evidence, interview witnesses, and prepare a report. The respondent receives notice and has the right to respond. A formal hearing before the Board then allows both sides to present evidence.
4. Determination and sanction — The Board issues a written opinion. Where a violation is found, sanctions available under the Code include public reprimand, fines, and referral to the appointing authority for further disciplinary action including removal.

The Board also issues advisory opinions — formal written guidance that public officials may request before taking action they believe may raise ethics concerns. An advisory opinion issued in good faith provides the requestor with a defense against subsequent enforcement action based on the same facts.

Common scenarios

The Board most frequently addresses 3 categories of conduct:

Conflicts of interest arise when a public official or employee participates in a governmental decision in which the official has a personal financial interest. A department director who awards a contract to a business in which a family member holds an ownership stake presents a textbook conflict scenario. The New Orleans Inspector General often develops overlapping investigative interest in such matters, though the two bodies have distinct mandates — the Inspector General focuses on fraud, waste, and abuse across city government, while the Ethics Review Board adjudicates violations of the specific Code of Ethics.

Financial disclosure failures involve the failure to file required annual personal financial disclosure statements. Elected officials, candidates for city office, and certain appointed positions are required to disclose financial interests annually. Missing or materially incomplete filings constitute a violation independent of any underlying conflict.

Post-employment restrictions prohibit former city officials from immediately leveraging their prior government positions to benefit private clients before the same agencies they previously served. A former city attorney appearing before the New Orleans City Attorney's Office on behalf of a private party within the restricted period would fall into this category. Louisiana R.S. 42:1121 sets baseline post-employment restrictions at the state level, and the local code adds city-specific parameters.

Decision boundaries

The Board distinguishes between matters within its exclusive jurisdiction, matters of concurrent jurisdiction with the Louisiana Board of Ethics, and matters outside both bodies' scope entirely.

Ethics Review Board exclusive jurisdiction applies to conduct that implicates only local code provisions with no state law analog — certain campaign finance disclosures under city ordinance, for instance, or conduct by members of city-created advisory boards whose positions carry no state statutory basis.

Concurrent jurisdiction exists where the same conduct — such as a conflict of interest by a city council member — implicates both Louisiana's Code of Governmental Ethics and the local Code of Ethics. In practice, the two bodies coordinate to avoid duplicative proceedings, and a final adjudication by the state board may affect how the local body proceeds. Louisiana R.S. 42:1141 governs the enforcement structure for the state code.

Outside scope entirely are matters that are criminal in nature — bribery, extortion, and public corruption prosecuted under Title 14 of Louisiana Revised Statutes fall to the New Orleans District Attorney's Office and federal prosecutors, not to the Ethics Review Board. The Board's sanctions are administrative, not criminal, and carry no imprisonment authority. Similarly, personnel disciplinary matters that do not implicate a specific ethics code provision are handled through the New Orleans Civil Service Commission rather than the Ethics Review Board.

A critical operational distinction separates advisory opinions from enforcement opinions. Advisory opinions are prospective — they guide future conduct and confer protection. Enforcement opinions are retrospective — they adjudicate past conduct and may impose penalties. A public official who acts contrary to a previously issued advisory opinion covering identical facts forfeits the good-faith defense that the opinion would otherwise provide.

Public records of Board opinions and complaint dispositions are subject to the Louisiana Public Records Law (Louisiana R.S. 44:1 et seq.), though certain investigative records may be withheld during pending proceedings. Guidance on accessing such records is available through the New Orleans public records requests process.

References

• New Orleans Ethics Review Board — City of New Orleans official page
• Louisiana Board of Ethics
• Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics, R.S. Title 42, Chapter 15
• Louisiana Public Records Law, R.S. 44:1
• New Orleans Home Rule Charter — City of New Orleans
• Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 — Criminal Law