LEGISLATIVE GUIDE

We need legislators to know about the problems at the LSBPIE.  Coming soon, you will be able to click here and get a punch list as to what we need you to do!

WHY WAS THIS SITE MADE?

When Representative Mert Smiley first suggested in his legislative hearing last April that he might want to combine the services of the LSBPIE under another board as a cost savings measure, many of us opposed that concept.  We recognized that there were problems but incoming Chairman John Mowell promised change and an open forum like we had never seen before.  We fell for it hook, line and sinker and the changes that were promised actually created less open communication.

CHANGE MUST COME and upon reflection, it would appear that the LSBPIE believes that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of the rules or the law. 

COMPLAINTS WERE FILED, but we believe that the best chance for change is with the legislative session and will propose two bills, one to change the make up of this board and the other to abolish it and place its duties under the scope and authority of another governmental entity. 

KNOWLEDGE IS THE KEY

  

SOMETIMES PLAN B IS OK!    THE LPIA IS OUT OF THE BOARD!

I sincerely believe that if you are going to complain about an issue, you should also come to the table with a plan to solve that problem and it is important to note that we have a plan for you to consider. 

House bill 997 has advanced in the house and passed with a vote of 87 to nothing in favor and absolutely no opposition filed. A huge THANK YOU to Representative Steve Pugh who filed this bill on behalf of a few "board watchers" who met with him and outline the numerous problems with this board.  It's no secret that my wish would have been to complete scrap this board and move it's authority to the Secretary of State, but Rep Pugh wanted to address it another way.  Even so, this is evidence that a we CAN have change if you work for it.  We told this board that they made a mistake, and they ignored us, so we are working to change the law.  Wouldn't it be a refreshing change to just fire them all?

HOUSE BILL 997 was originally filed simply to remove the LPIA position on the board and reduce it to six members.  Since we had not had an opportunity to work out all our points that we wanted, Representative Pugh went ahead and filed the original bill based upon the information that he had.  We appreciate that. 

At the March 20th LSBPIE board meeting, the LSBPIE discussed this action and decided that they would remain neutral on this bill, other than to contact the Legislator and request that he change the number back to 7 but that they don't care where that other member comes from as long as it's NOT a member of an association.

You read that right....the LSBPIE has thrown the LPIA under the bus and actually supports cutting that membership position from the board.  So much for the officers kissing the hind end of the board.  It got them no where.   And on this note, I agree...the LPIA should not have a member on this board.  In fact, when we look back at much of the controversy of the board, a great deal of it can be centered around the LPIA member at large.  History continues to repeat its self in part to the continuity of the staff and the LPIA doing the same thing over and over and not expecting to make changes. 

One board member said it best today when he asked " Is the LPIA even still in business?"

Our Group supported the change back to 7 members and offered amendments that would do the following:

The 7th member would be a private citizen, having no financial or family ties to the private investigator industry.  

ALL board members would be subject to term limits and could not serve more than 2 terms, regardless of when those terms were served.

The language of serving "at the pleasure of the Governor" is being replaced to simply appointed by the Governor for a four year term.

And the first term will begin on JULY 1, 2012

Its a change that will bring more fairness to the board whereas the 7th member will be a CITIZEN having no ties to the private investigation industry so that we can at least have two members on the board that are NOT your competitors.  Private Investigators regulating their competition in an industry where cutting someone's throat doesn't seem like that great of an ideal to us.  So, we're happy that at least two people who serve on this board will NOT be private investigators.

LPIA MISSING IN ACTION
The LPIA was notified of this bill and did not produce any opposition, either at the committee level or on the house floor.  Strange, but even as the bill has passed the House in it's amended form, the LPIA website still reports to their members that the bill will change the number of board members from 7 to 6 members, confirming again to many people that it would appear that the LPIA is out of touch, hence the reason for this bill in the first place.

CHANGE! 
It's a good thing when you identify the problem that is preventing success, remove that problem and set the stage for success.

STAY TUNED!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SERVE ON
THE LOUISIANA STATE BOARD OF PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
EXAMINERS?

HOUSE GOVERNMENTAL AND AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING

Did members of the LSBPIE lie to the House Governmental Committee last year when they appeared before them?  That is a question that certain members of the House want to know and we would not at all be surprised if this Board is not summoned back to this hearing to respond to the allegations.  Stay tuned...cause it's going to get interesting.  Its a felony to lie to the Legislative Committee after signing a card to testify.

NEXT UP....
The board will soon file notice to promulgate a new rule to "fix the CE problems" and give them more power to control the mess that they acknowledge.  Interesting that they are following up on promulgating a new rule, all while ignoring the existing one.

THIS IS WHAT WE HAD HOPED FOR!

OUR FIRST CHOICE

DISBAND THIS BOARD COMPLETELY.  SHUT THE DOOR!

We believe in the license process and think that the legislative had the right idea, the public is best served by a licensed individual, but not the way it is done now!

We propose that the duties that are currently assigned to the LSBPIE be scrapped and that the process of issuing licenses for private investigators be reassigned to be under the guidance of the Secretary of State. 

This office is a no nonsense office that has done an admiral job of managing the notary publics as well as the elections.  Already, an agency must be in good standing with the Secretary of State office and this is a natural choice.

As envisioned, the Secretary of State would need an advisory board to which he would garner industry information from so that the Continuing Education program might be better understood by the professionals actually involved, but they would otherwise not be involved in the day to day operations of the license process.

The license process needs to be streamlined and the political process of competing private investigators having legislative authority over their competition needs to be changed.  We need a fair, impartial process that only real change can bring about.

I believe it would save the investigators money because with over $375,000 in the bank now, its evident that the cost to obtain a private investigators license is too high.

Some would argue that the State Police is the designated agency, but I argue otherwise because of the traditional conflicts between law enforcement and private investigators as well as the fact that the State Police is not the best choice in my opinion due to other factors that will be explored in more detail to come.

OUR SECOND CHOICE

CHANGE THE  BOARD MAKE UP AND THE WAY IT IS APPOINTED

We believe the fees are too high
We believe that the At Large position that is held by the LPIA is wrong!
There should be a general public member on the board
 

Details of the changes that we propose will be forthcoming soon.  The key is that what we have now is not working and that there have been too many scandals that need to stop.