After trying unsuccessfully for two years, Gov. Jeff Landry appears to have convinced state legislators to give a more lucrative pension to the official who oversees gambling in Louisiana.
Lawmakers are advancing a bill that would give higher retirement pay to Christopher Hebert, the Landry-appointed chair of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.
Without the legislation, Hebert would have to end his participation in the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System and join the Social Security system, which provides about half the benefits.
It took the Senate only 75 seconds to unanimously pass legislation earlier this month that would allow him to be part of LASERS. The legislation, Senate Bill 477, doesn’t seem likely to face opposition in the House either. Its next step is the House Retirement Committee. Sen. Ed Price, D-Gonzales, is the sponsor.
SB477 gives a boost in pay to Hebert, who under state law earns $169,400 per year. Under the bill, he would receive a salary equal to that of a court of appeals judge, about $200,000 per year. SB477 also would allow him to receive “expenses, benefits, emoluments, and any supplemental pay to which such judges are entitled.”
The supplemental pay alone is typically worth an additional $1,100 per month for Hebert, according to judges.
It’s unusual for the governor to go to such lengths to push legislation that benefits a single person.
Landry tried unsuccessfully two years ago to convince the Legislature to change the pension rules.
Last year, the governor’s lawyers tried to convince officials at LASERS to allow the board chair to stay in the system. That effort failed as well.
The governor’s office has called Hebert “an exceptional regulator.
Hebert declined to discuss the legislation.
SB477 makes another adjustment for Hebert that will allow him to continue to work specifically as an adjunct professor.
Until now, state law has not allowed the chair to have outside employment to prevent possible conflicts of interest with companies the board regulates.
State law has not allowed the chair to be part of LASERS because members of boards are not considered full-time state employees. At least one past chair, Ronnie Jones, who held the job from 2013-20, was kept out of LASERS at a significant financial cost.
Price’s SB477 would end that prohibition by expressly stating the chair is eligible to participate in the retirement program.
In an interview, Price said the governor’s office asked him to file the bill for Hebert, who spent 20 years within LASERS while working in the attorney general’s office.
Hebert served as chair of its gaming enforcement division when Landry elevated him to chair the gaming control board in 2024. In that position, Hebert is the state’s top regulator of the gambling industry and represents the state at conferences around the country.
Last year, following inquiries by The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, officials at LASERS informed Hebert that they shouldn’t have allowed him to continue in the state retirement system a year earlier when Landry named him to chair the gambling board and now planned to remove him.
The governor’s office then asked LASERS to suspend that decision while it sought an advisory opinion from the attorney general’s office. That opinion, which did not carry the force of law, said Hebert was allowed to be part of the state retirement system.
Two years ago, Landry got state Rep. Ed Larvadain, D-Alexandria, to amend a bill late in the legislative process that would have let Hebert be part of LASERS. The amendment was ruled not germane to Larvadain’s bill.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct Hebert’s salary.