HLS 21RS-593 ORIGINAL 2021 Regular Session HOUSE BILL NO. 456 BY REPRESENTATIVES EDMONDS AND DAVIS Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Provides relative to protection of employee data submitted to Louisiana Economic Development as a condition of business incentive program verification 1 AN ACT 2To amend and reenact R.S. 44:4.1(B)(22) and to enact R.S. 36:104.1(H), relative to 3 employee data provided for compliance with the Department of Economic 4 Development; to require such employee data to be redacted by the department; to 5 exempt such data from Public Records Law, to provide for exceptions; and to 6 provide for related matters. 7Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana: 8 Section 1. R.S. 36:104.1(H) is hereby enacted to read as follows: 9 §104.1. Fee for independent certified public accountant or tax attorney verification 10 reports required for certain Department of Economic Development programs; 11 protection of employee information; applicability 12 * * * 13 H.(1) The department shall redact the following employee data submitted by 14 an applicant in accordance with the provisions this Section, and such information 15 shall be exempt from the Public Records Law, R.S. 44:1 et seq.: 16 (a) Social security number. 17 (b) Name. 18 (c) Job title. 19 (d) Wages. Page 1 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-593 ORIGINAL HB NO. 456 1 (e) Street name and house number. 2 (f) Employee payroll information and tax withholding information. 3 (g) Bank information. 4 (h) Unemployment number. 5 (i) Louisiana Department of Revenue account number. 6 (j) FastLane code. 7 (2) The provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall apply to the 8 following Department of Economic Development incentive programs and forms: 9 (a) The Industrial Tax Exemption Program annual certification of 10 compliance. 11 (b) The Louisiana Quality Jobs Program annual certification report. 12 (c) The Louisiana Enterprise Zone Program employee certification report. 13 (d) The Retention and Modernization Tax Credit baseline jobs worksheet 14 and new job worksheet. 15 Section 2. R.S. 44:4.1(B)(22) is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows: 16 §4.1. Exceptions 17 * * * 18 B. The legislature further recognizes that there exist exceptions, exemptions, 19 and limitations to the laws pertaining to public records throughout the revised 20 statutes and codes of this state. Therefore, the following exceptions, exemptions, and 21 limitations are hereby continued in effect by incorporation into this Chapter by 22 citation: 23 * * * 24 (22) R.S. 36:108 36:104.1(H), 108 25 * * * Page 2 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-593 ORIGINAL HB NO. 456 DIGEST The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)] HB 456 Original 2021 Regular Session Edmonds Abstract: Requires some employee data be redacted from required verification reports for certain economic development programs and exempts such data from Public Records Law. Present law requires a verification report to be submitted by an independent certified public accountant or tax attorney to certify compliance with certain Department of Economic Development tax credit programs. Present law requires an applicant seeking to certify eligibility to make any records related to the application for the program available to the accountant or tax attorney for the preparation of the required verification report. Proposed law retains present law and requires the Department of Economic Development to redact the following information from the records required to be submitted by the applicant to comply with present law: (1)Social security number. (2)Name. (3)Job title. (4)Wages. (5)Street name and house number. (6)Employee payroll information and tax withholding information. (7)Bank information. (8)Unemployment number. (9)Louisiana Department of Revenue account number. (10)FastLane code. Proposed law exempts such data from Public Records Law. Proposed law makes the following programs and forms exempt from proposed law: (1)The Industrial Tax Exemption Program annual certification of compliance. (2)The Louisiana Quality Jobs Program annual certification report. (3)The Louisiana Enterprise Zone Program employee certification report. (4)The Retention and Modernization Tax Credit baseline jobs worksheet and new job worksheet. Page 3 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions. HLS 21RS-593 ORIGINAL HB NO. 456 (Amends R.S. 44:4.1(B)(22); Adds R.S. 36:104.1) Page 4 of 4 CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored are additions.