Committee advances bill to remove inactive state boards and adopts broad amendment package

The House and Governmental Affairs Committee on March 25 advanced House Bill 861, a measure from Speaker Pro Tem Mike Johnson that would remove inactive or redundant state boards and commissions and clean up related statutory references. The committee adopted a broad amendment package (amendment set 17-18) before reporting the bill favorable as amended.

Sponsor Mike Johnson told the committee the bill implements a long-standing effort ‘‘to streamline government, making Louisiana leaner’’ by removing boards the legislative auditor found inactive or no longer necessary. Emily Andrews of the governor’s office said the 2025 legislative auditor report lists 489 boards and related entities and that the bill removes 24 of them now.

The amendment packet, read aloud by the clerk and explained by staff, includes technical corrections, deletions of certain named entities and additions of a few committees (including a juvenile jurisdiction implementation committee and a quincentenary commission) while removing other corporations and panels. Johnson said staff reached out to contacts the auditor had identified and that the bill is not intended as a ‘‘gotcha’’; committees that can demonstrate recent activity would be worked with to remain in statute.

Several members pressed for specifics. Representative Marcel asked whether the offices and entities on the auditor’s list had been notified; Andrews said staff categorized entities into those that are inactive per the auditor, those already terminated by statute, and local entities (which are excluded from this repeal bill). On the Equal Pay Commission, members and staff agreed the commission’s authority expired in 2006 and should not have remained on the active list.

A committee member who said they previously served as a designee on the state’s waste tire task force urged caution before eliminating some task forces because the underlying problems (in that case, waste tire disposal) remain. Johnson and staff said they had checked with the Department of Environmental Quality and would follow up with Secretary Burdette to confirm ongoing work and, if needed, put an entity back into the bill.

The committee adopted amendment set 17-18 without objection and then reported HB861 favorable as amended by voice consent. The measure now moves to the full House for further consideration.