Last-minute pension law change skirts transparency

These are the kind of backroom deals that make people angry and distrustful of government.

In the final hours of the legislative session, state lawmakers crafted a pension law change that gives Louisiana's state police superintendent and one other trooper a sizable retirement boost, with no public debate of the implications or the cost. The price tag is estimated to be $300,000.

The deal was struck in a six-person legislative committee behind closed doors, with the bill's sponsor saying he had no understanding what the law change would do and no one directly taking ownership of the proposal. "Either somebody's not being candid or somebody didn't read this bill. That much is clear," said state Treasurer John Kennedy, who has raised concerns about the legislation. Continue>>>
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