Pardon and Parole board merger gets committee approval
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- Legislation to merge the Board of Parole into the state Board of Pardons and save an estimated $385,220 cleared a Senate committee with a minor change Tuesday. The Senate Judiciary B Committee unanimously approved House Bill 518 by Rep. Joseph Lopinto III, sending it to the full Senate for more debate. "This is cost savings and downsizing," Lopinto said. The measure would abolish the seven-member Board of Parole, which recommends to the governor when an inmate can be released on parole, and merges its function into the state Pardon Board, the five-member body that recommends to the governor the commutation of an inmate's sentence.