BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Lawmakers in the Louisiana House refused Tuesday to enact new work requirements that could force the state health secretary to stop seeing patients as a medical doctor.
Rep. Lance Harris, House GOP delegation leader, said his ethics legislation wasn’t aimed at a specific official. But he’s acknowledged it could ensnare Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ health secretary, Rebekah Gee.
The bill would require department leaders chosen by the governor or lieutenant governor to work at least seven hours a day and 40 hours a week, except when they take vacation or other types of leave. They couldn’t be paid for or volunteer for outside employment from entities regulated by or seeking money from their departments. Violators would face ethics fines.
“It’s a simple good-government bill,” Harris said. “It’s extremely important, in my opinion, that taxpayers get what they’re paying for.”
Democratic lawmakers said it seemed targeted to create problems for Gee, an obstetrics and gynecology doctor who has continued to practice in New Orleans since taking over the Department of Health. The Edwards administration said she does the work for free and said it is evaluating the legislation to determine its potential impact.
“I think it’s unfair what you are trying to do,” Rep. Barbara Norton, a Democrat from Shreveport, told Harris. “There is a political reason, I believe, for what you are trying to do, and I think it’s unfair of you to put us in the middle.”
Rep. Sam Jones, a Franklin Democrat who is close to Edwards, touted Gee’s work overseeing the health department. He said her decision to continue seeing patients - which he said happened one-half day every other week - kept her in touch with the people whose services her department manages.
Jones said Harris’ bill “smacks of misogyny.”
Harris defended the proposal as closely guarding tax dollars.
“It blows my mind when people come against this for whatever reason,” he said.
The House vote was 45-40 Tuesday, short of the 53 votes needed to pass the measure to the Senate for consideration. Failure came even after lawmakers expanded the bill to sweep in more agency leaders, to address concerns the legislation sought to target only the Edwards administration.
Harris, of Alexandria, could bring the bill back for another vote.
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House Bill 849: www.legis.la.gov
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