re: Some Louisiana lawmakers backing out of NDAs as questions arise over data centers & deals

quote:

---

I sign NDAs all the time. For refineries, military bases, yes, data centers. All kinds of things. It happens.

---

However, do you sign them as a member of the government? How do you get around open records laws? Genuinely curious how a government document can be hidden from the open records laws....

quote:

---

How do you get around open records laws?

---

Very easily lol

Governments aren’t entering into contracts or making decisions under these NDAs. That would be illegal and thus inherently could not be covered by an NDA. An NDA can’t cover anything that would be subject to Public Records or Open Meetings laws.

These are done to get information from companies that are pitching ideas and proposals. Trade secrets, proprietary information etc of private entities are exempt from Public Records laws.

Pretty standard stuff, the average person is an idiot though, so they get whipped into a lather about things like this.

quote:

---

NDAs are not magical.

They can be overridden by subpoena.

No one does an NDA over illegal activity anyway. They do them for competitive reasons.

---

You sound dumb. To get to the point of subpoena, the damage (in this type situation) would already be done.

NDAs might not knowingly be done over illegal activities, but they are done to get stuff done before citizens are fully educated on how things effect their lives.

In my personal opinion, I didn't elect anyone locally who is expected to not tell me facts behind projects!

Did you?
Start and local governments represent me and you. If a company wants to build something ANYWHERE on state soil, and public process is SOP.

quote:

---

. Trade secrets, proprietary information etc of private entities are exempt from Public Records laws.

---

Trust me I get that

But I doubt the nda itself has proprietary info in it

quote:

---

But I doubt the nda itself has proprietary info in it

---

It would include the identity of the parties, which is the whole point. These businesses don’t want their planning to be an open book.

Backing out of a NDA is a good way to get companies to stop thinking about coming to Louisiana.

Data centers suck but the NDA is always used by any company looking to relocate.

In the data center context the jobs aren’t being created.

quote:

---

If these NDAs are so obviously bad, why wouldn’t they be rejected prior to signing? It seems like there was good reason to enter in the beginning. I’m genuinely curious about this.

---

Well….

For more than two years, Louisiana State Senator John “Jay” Morris helped pave the way for Meta to build one of the world’s largest data centers, called Hyperion, in Richland Parish.
The Republican attorney lobbied a utility regulator for a key approval. He co-sponsored two bills that enabled the land deal between Meta and the state. And he voted “yea” on two additional bills that provided the trillion-dollar tech company with tax breaks worth an estimated $3.3 billion.
Now, a Floodlight investigation has found that while Morris used his political position to advance the project, he and his business partners were buying and selling the land around it over the past 15 months.
As recently as February, Morris and his partners sold hundreds of acres to utility giant Entergy for a methane-burning power plant to provide electricity for the data center.
Morris’ recent land deals haven’t been disclosed until today, according to Floodlight’s review of ethics filings, votes, media coverage and state Senate records. It’s unclear how much money he has made from these transactions — Louisiana law does not require buyers and sellers to publicly disclose sale prices.

Experts told Floodlight the senator’s actions may violate state ethics laws — such as La. R.S. 42:1112(A), 42:1120 and 42:1101 — which prohibit government officials from participating in official actions that benefit them financially, require them to recuse themselves from voting when a conflict exists and prohibit the use of public office for private gain.
"What makes it particularly egregious is not one isolated vote, but a sustained pattern: creating legal authority for a specific land deal, backing a huge tax break, lobbying a regulator, quietly positioning personal real estate around the project,” said Professor Dane Ciolino, an expert in governmental ethics at Loyola University New Orleans.

Morris pointed out that his land holdings are reported publicly in his annual financial disclosures. But his most recent disclosure is from 2024 — making the past two years of his land deals difficult to piece together.

He was also clear that he did not disclose his Entergy negotiations to Coussan ahead of the vote.
“ I'm really sure he didn't know that I was gonna sell any land to Entergy because I was under an NDA, and I couldn't say anything to him anyway,” Morris said.

The NDA (nondisclosure agreement) is a previously undisclosed fact: Morris indicated he had a confidential commercial relationship with Entergy when he contacted Coussan — one that obligated him not to discuss his pending business with the company. Under Louisiana ethics law, the question is not whether he was allowed to discuss the deal, but whether he should have disclosed his personal financial interest to the regulator as part of that conversation.

LINK

POS is hiding behind an NDA to personally profit from what amounts to insider trading.

quote:

---

Governments aren’t entering into contracts or making decisions under these NDAs.

---

Politicians certainly are.