Did a Louisiana parish assessor have to give the Legislative Auditor employees' and spouses' property lists?

Plain-English summary

The Legislative Auditor asked the East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor for a list of immovable property owned by the assessor's employees and their spouses. The assessor's attorney asked whether both groups' information had to be supplied. In Opinion 03-0040, the Louisiana Attorney General said the Auditor could obtain the employees' information if the investigation fell within one of the statutory circumstances allowing an audit or investigation of an assessor. On the facts supplied, he found no authority to demand the spouses' property information.

The AG did not know the precise purpose of the Auditor's request, which referred generally to an audit of tax assessment practices. He assumed for his answer that the audit was authorized. His distinction then turned on public employment: the assessor's employees were public employees; their spouses were private citizens, and he said it was difficult to relate their property to the public fisc.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Parish assessors

The opinion did not treat every request from the Legislative Auditor as automatically within his authority over an assessor. It identified limited statutory grounds for auditing or investigating an assessor and then assumed one applied. On that assumption, the AG said information about the assessor's employees had to be provided.

Legislative auditors

The AG recognized broad authority to examine public financial records and employees in connection with authorized duties, but described specific limits on audits of assessors. He found no authority, based on the request as described, for spouse-owned property information.

Employees and spouses

The opinion distinguished public employees from their spouses as private citizens. It did not decide that the Auditor could never obtain information about a spouse in a differently supported investigation; it answered the request on the facts supplied.

Common questions

Q: Could the Legislative Auditor get property ownership information about assessor employees? A: The AG said yes if the audit or investigation of the assessor fell within a statutory ground he described. He assumed that was so because the request's precise purpose was not stated.

Q: Did the same answer apply to employees' spouses?
A: The AG said he found no authority on the supplied facts to require information about spouses, whom he treated as private citizens.

Q: Did the AG determine whether this particular audit was authorized? A: No. He said the request described only an audit of tax assessment practices and assumed it fell within one of the allowed circumstances.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion described the Legislative Auditor's role as fiscal advisor to the Legislature and cited La. R.S. 24:513 for his audit authority. It said the Auditor was not authorized to conduct a performance audit on any assessor. Separately, an audit or investigation of an assessor was allowed only in specified circumstances, such as complaints of illegal or irregular acts, serious control deficiencies, or a determination of state interest by the Auditor and Legislative Audit Advisory Council. Its first-page May date stamp is OCR-damaged, so the exact issue date is left blank.

Citations and references

Authority in the opinion: La. R.S. 24:513. The opinion also cited Article 3, Section 11 of the Louisiana Constitution and Attorney General Opinion No. 02-0132.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0040

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

~tat~ ~f ~o~isiana
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL.: (225) 342-7013
FAX: (225) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
ATTORNEY GENERAL

I AY 0 1 2003
Opinion Number 03-0040

4 Assessors
La. R.S. 24:513, et seq.
Article 3, Section 11 of Louisiana Constitution Mr. Carl E. Babin, Attorney
East Baton Rouge Parish Tax Assessor’s Office East Baton Rouge Assessor should supply information as to his employees to Legislative 138 Maximilian Street
Auditor but not as to his employees’ spouses.
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Dear Mr. Babin:

The East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor has been asked by the Legislative Auditor to supply a list of all immovable property owned by his employees and/or their spouses to his office. You question if the Assessor must supply this information.

The Legislative Auditor acts as the fiscal advisor to the Louisiana Legislature. He performs the duties and functions provided by law related to auditing the fiscal records of the state.1 He has authority to compile financial statements and to examine, audit, or review the books and accounts of the state and specifically public employees. His examination may include financial accountability, legal compliance and evaluations of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of any particular auditee’s programs.
Additionally, the Legislative Auditor may examine all papers, books, accounts, records, etc., in connection with his duties.2

Although the Legislative Auditor is not authorized to conduct a performance audit on any assessor, he may audit or investigate an assessor only in those instances as specified by law.3 Particularly, he may audit or investigate an Assessor if he has received complaints of illegal or irregular acts or if an Assessor exhibits a record of egregious control deficiencies and failures to comply with laws and regulations. He may also audit or investigate an Assessor if in his opinion and that of the Legislative Audit Advisory Council it would be in the best interest of the State to do so.’~

We are unaware of the particular purpose of the Auditor’s request of your client. The request simply refers to an audit of tax assessment practices in Louisiana. Thus, we can only assume that this audit or investigation falls within one of the specified circumstances when the auditor may conduct an audit or investigation of an assessor.

Article 3, Section 11 of the Louisiana Constitution La. R.S. 24:513
Attorney General Opinion No. 02-0132
La. R.S. 25:522 and La. R.S. 24:513 (A)(3)(4)(a-f)

Opinion Number 03-0040
Mr. Carl E. Babin, Attorney
East Baton Rouge Parish Tax A.~sessor’s Office
Page -2-

If we assume so then it is our opinion that the Auditor would be entitled to the information as to the employees of the Assessor.
They are public employees. However, we cannot find any authority based upon the information provided to us for providing the information as to non public employees, i.e. spouses of the assessor’s employees. Further, any audit or investigation must relate to the public fisc and it is difficult to relate property owned by private citizens to the public fisc.

We trust that this adequately responds to your request. If you have questions or comments, please contact our office.

With kindest regards,

Yours very truly,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

BY:
TINA VICARI GRANT
Assistant Attorney General

RPI/TVG/dam