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