HLS 23RS-4240 ORIGINAL
2023 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 296
BY REPRESENTATIVE GLOVER
COMMENDATIONS: Commends Laura Gail Sullivan for her decades of dedicated and
distinguished public service
1 A RESOLUTION
2To commend and congratulate Laura Gail Sullivan for her decades of dedicated and
3 distinguished public service.
4 WHEREAS, Laura Gail was born in Jennings, Louisiana, to Catherine Calhoun
5Edgar and the late Sidney James Sullivan Jr. as the eldest of their four children, and she is
6also big sister to a bonus younger brother from her father's second marriage; and
7 WHEREAS, Laura Gail is a 1983 graduate of Lake Arthur High School in Jefferson
8Davis Parish, a 1987 graduate of Centenary College of Louisiana with a bachelor's in
9mathematics, a 1991 graduate of Louisiana State University with a master's in journalism,
10and a 1993 graduate of California Western School of Law with a juris doctorate; and
11 WHEREAS, Laura Gail was admitted to the Louisiana State Bar in 1995 and the
12California State Bar in 1996; and
13 WHEREAS, in April of 1994, Laura Gail began her public service career as a judicial
14clerk for the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Charles "Corky" Marvin from
15whom she learned "There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting", which
16became an art that she perfected through her career; and
17 WHEREAS, in 1996, she transferred to the gaming division of the Louisiana
18Department of Justice as an assistant attorney general, and in 1997, she went to work for the
19House of Representatives for the first time as the staff attorney for the House Committee on
20Labor and Industrial Relations with Chairman Representative Charlie DeWitt; she often
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HR NO. 296
1credits Chairman DeWitt for sharing political insights and helping her to learn how to "read
2a room" and "read a vote"; and
3 WHEREAS, in mid-1999, she left the legislature for a brief time to work in the
4private sector, but in January of 2000, Laura Gail returned to the House of Representatives
5to again staff the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, and less than a year
6later transferred to the House Committee on Health and Welfare to work with Chairman
7Rodney Alexander; it was during her time with health and welfare that she drafted, at the
8request of Representatives Cedric B. Glover and Tony Perkins, the legislation she is most
9proud of – Act 109 of the First Extraordinary Session of 2000 that provides a safe haven for
10relinquishment of newborn babies; and
11 WHEREAS, in 2002, she transferred to the House Committee on Retirement and it
12is in that subject matter that she found her niche, spending the balance of her public service
13career mastering the intricacies of the law and challenges on the various retirement systems;
14and
15 WHEREAS, in 2005, Laura Gail moved to the "upper chamber" to staff the Senate
16Committee on Retirement; and
17 WHEREAS, in 2008, she was promoted to Senate Counsel, and it was during the
182008-2012 term that she recalls having a "dream team" legislative experience working under
19Senate retirement chairman Senator Dudley "Butch" Gautreaux with Senate staff attorney
20Lauren Bailey and secretary Janice Hughes and House retirement chairman Representative
21Joel Robideaux and House staff attorney Matt Tessier and secretary Karen Stephens, and
22Legislative Auditor staff Paul Richmond; working together, the "dream team" drafted and
23the legislature passed a workable strategy to address the state's initial unfunded accrued
24liability (IUAL), yielding a final payoff in 2029; and
25 WHEREAS, in addition to her committee staffing responsibilities, since becoming
26Senate Counsel in 2008, Laura Gail has also had responsibilities as Amendment Room
27Manager and Night Manager and has staffed numerous task forces and legislative
28commissions and served as her chairman's designee on several retirement boards and
29committees; and
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HR NO. 296
1 WHEREAS, in 2020, Laura Gail was appointed a division director in the Senate, the
2position she currently holds; and
3 WHEREAS, during her Senate career, Laura Gail has directly staffed or supervised
4the staff of eleven of the Senate's seventeen standing committees; and
5 WHEREAS, in her quiet, determined, and understated manner, Laura Gail embodies
6and upholds the highest ideals intrinsic to a successful legislative staffer; and
7 WHEREAS, Laura Gail always approaches her work in an intentional, practical
8fashion – every issue thoroughly researched, every response carefully considered, and every
9legislative instrument drafted and redrafted to be clean, precise, and reflect the author's
10intent; and
11 WHEREAS, all who interact with Laura Gail are impressed by her intelligence,
12competence, dedication, honesty, and integrity; undergirding her character is her intense
13loyalty to those fortunate to be counted among her friends; and
14 WHEREAS, Laura Gail's institutional knowledge of her subject matter and the
15legislative process is vast and deep; to simply say that she will be missed by her colleagues
16is a serious understatement; and
17 WHEREAS, despite her workload and personal responsibilities, Laura Gail always
18makes time to help a colleague; she often speaks of the love and support she felt from her
19"Senate Family" during her battle with cancer and the perspective it brought to her life,
20making the return of this affection even more of a priority for her than it was before her
21battle; and
22 WHEREAS, in the years that follow, Laura Gail shall fondly recall memories and
23significant events from the past, the rarefied environment that is state government, and the
24colorful cast of characters that have graced the halls of the Legislature of Louisiana.
25 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
26Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend and congratulate Laura Gail Sullivan on the
27occasion of her retirement after three decades of dedicated and distinguished public service;
28does hereby acknowledge and recognize the myriad of contributions she has made on behalf
29of this August body and the state of Louisiana; and does hereby extend to her best wishes
30and much success and fulfillment as she enters the next chapter of her life.
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HR NO. 296
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)]
HR 296 Original 2023 Regular Session Glover
Commends and congratulates Laura Gail Sullivan for her decades of dedicated and
distinguished public service.
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