House panel supports $50 meal limit, Ban on free tickets from lobbyists OK'd
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- Lobbyists should spend no more than $50 to wine and dine lawmakers and state officials and also should be prohibited from buying tickets to sporting and cultural events for the public officials, a House committee decided Tuesday.

After mulling a series of amendments, the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs approved Senate Bill 8 by Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, limiting the amount lobbyists can spend on meals and liquor to $50 "per occasion." It also approved Chaisson's Senate Bill 3, prohibiting lobbyists from giving freebies to sports and cultural events.

An occasion was defined in the bill as "a single event at which food, drink or refreshment is consumed." That could include a breakfast, lunch and dinner.