Panel finds Board of Ethics' food-and-drink limit rule sufficient

A legislative panel considered and found sufficient an amended rule from the Board of Ethics that updates the annual food-and-beverage gift limit required by RS 42 11 15.1, the Chair said, and no member objected.

The rulemaking was summarized by Miss Smith, who told members the Board seeks to update the food-and-beverage limit and that "RS 42 11 15.1 in the, code of ethics does require that that food and beverage limit be adjusted every year to reflect the increase in the consumer price index for food and beverage." Miss Smith and the Chair discussed the numeric adjustment; the transcript records an increase amount of $4.84 but does not clearly report the new total dollar limit.

After brief procedural confusion when a quorum was momentarily lost and then restored, the Chair announced that Representative Laura Verdane would make a motion to find the Board of Ethics' proposed rule acceptable. The Chair asked whether there was any objection; "seeing no objection, we find this rule sufficient and acceptable," the Chair said, and the panel returned to standing at ease to await Representative Marcel's return from a nearby meeting on education.

The transcript does not record a roll-call vote or individual tallies; the acceptance was recorded by voice as "no objection." The statute cited in the discussion is RS 42 11 15.1, which Miss Smith described as the authority requiring an annual cost-of-living adjustment tied to the consumer price index for food and beverage. The transcript shows one spelling variant for the mover's name ("Representative Laura Verdane" and once as "Lava Dane"); the motion text and the Chair's acceptance are preserved as spoken in the record.