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Fact check: Did John Bel Edwards vote to give "convicts" taxpayer funded pension plans?
November 16, 2015
By Charles Aull
Did Louisiana gubernatorial candidate John Bel Edwards vote in favor of giving "convicts" in Louisiana taxpayer funded pension plans?
A TV ad released by his opponent David Vitter's campaign says that he did.
When we looked into this claim, we found it be largely inaccurate. In 2010, Edwards voted against a bill that prohibited former state employees from receiving payments from the state's public retirement system while incarcerated. This, we argue, is not quite the same as supporting pension plans for convicts. Moreover, Edwards co-sponsored and voted in favor of a similar bill two years later.
Background
John Bel Edwards is a third-term state representative and currently a Democratic candidate for governor of Louisiana. He and his opponent, Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter, advanced past seven other candidates in the state's primary election in October. They will face each other in a general election on November 21.
In September, Vitter's campaign released an ad called "John Bel Obama," seeking to tie Edwards' stances on criminal justice issues to the policies of President Barack Obama. At one point in the ad, the narrator states, "Edwards even voted to allow convicts to receive taxpayer funded pensions." As the narrator speaks, a caption appears on the screen overlaying an image of a prisoner behind bars. The caption reads, "Edwards voted for taxpayer-funded pensions for convicts."
But is that true? Did Edwards vote in favor of giving convicts in Louisiana taxpayer-funded pensions?
HB 224
The ad cited HB (House Bill) 224 as its source, but it did not state what year. We reached out to Vitter's campaign to find out, but we have not yet heard back. When we do, we will update this article accordingly.
In the meantime, we went to the Louisiana State Legislature's website to see if we could find in its legislative database an HB 224 related to pension plans for prison inmates. Edwards' tenure as a state representative provided the time frame. He was elected in 2007 and took office in January 2008. Our search therefore extended from the beginning of 2008 to September 2015—when the ad was released.
We found one HB 224 related to pension plans for prison inmates within this time frame. It's from 2010 and was sponsored by third-term Republican J. Kevin Pearson. The bill failed in the House 56–42, and Edwards is listed as having voted against it.
What did this bill actually seek to do? In short, it would have prohibited state employees convicted of a crime from receiving payments from the state's public retirement system while incarcerated. Pension payments would be forfeited for any crime, not just those related to the individual's service as a public employee. The bill's original text stipulated the following:
| “ | No monthly retirement benefit or lump-sum payment of any kind shall be payable by a public retirement system to a public servant for any period of time during which he is incarcerated.[1] | ” |
The bill is similar to pension forfeiture laws in other states. The magazine Governing—a publication focused on state and local politics—lists 25 states as of May 2012 that had some sort of law denying public officials access to state pension payments while incarcerated.
So is Vitter's campaign ad an accurate portrayal of Edwards' vote against HB 224 in 2010?
We argue that it's misleading. On the one hand, Edwards technically did vote in favor of allowing some convicts—public servants—to continue receiving payments from the state retirement plan. On the other hand, the campaign ad fails to clarify that HB 224 pertained only to former state employees and that these individuals were already receiving pension payments prior to their incarceration.
But there is another layer to this story.
In our search for the HB 224 from Vitter's ad, we also came across HB 10 from 2012. This bill is similar to HB 224 in that it, too, prohibits state employees convicted of a crime from receiving payments from the state's public retirement system while incarcerated. But it is more limited. Unlike HB 224, HB 10 contains language stating that pension payments are only to be withheld from public servants convicted of state or federal felonies associated with their office; and, instead of a blanket prohibition, the forfeiture is triggered only by the sentencing judge. Nearly all—at least 22—of the laws listed in Governing's database of states with pension forfeiture laws include language comparable to HB 10.
Edwards voted for this bill and was also a co-sponsor of it. HB 10 passed 101 to zero in the House and 37 to zero in the Senate. Governor Jindal signed the bill into law as Act 479 in June 2012.
Conclusion
An ad released by Louisiana gubernatorial candidate David Vitter stated that his opponent, State Representative John Bel Edwards, "voted to allow convicts to receive taxpayer funded pensions." We found that to be a misleading statement. Edwards voted against a bill in 2010 that would have prohibited former state employees from receiving pension payments while in prison, which, we argue, is significantly different from voting "to allow convicts to receive taxpayer funded pensions." We also noted that two years later Edwards voted in favor of and co-sponsored a similar bill that forbade former state employees from receiving pension payments while incarcerated, provided that their crime was associated with their office.
Launched in October 2015 and active through October 2018, Fact Check by Ballotpedia examined claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluated claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. As of 2025, Ballotpedia staff periodically review these articles to revaluate and reaffirm our conclusions. Please email us with questions, comments, or concerns about these articles. To learn more about fact-checking, click here.
Sources
JohnBelObama.com, "Home," accessed November 13, 2015
Louisiana State Legislature, "Bill Search" accessed November 13, 2015
Louisiana State Legislature, "HB224, 2010" accessed November 13, 2015
Governing, "State Pension Forfeiture Laws" May 2012
Louisiana State Legislature, "HB10, 2012" accessed November 13, 2015
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Notes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
