October 18, 2026. A promise of confidentiality in a development deal does not, by itself, answer whether the public can obtain the government’s records. The answer depends on who holds the records, which law authorizes withholding them, whether its conditions were met, and whether the negotiations remain active under that law.
That distinction matters when a project involves public land, tax incentives, water capacity, or utility improvements. In WWNO’s October 16 interview with Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, the discussion of nondisclosure agreements raised a practical question for Louisiana residents: how can the public examine the obligations behind a major development? A useful request starts with the legal authority and the documents supporting it.
An NDA and a public-records exemption do different work
An NDA describes promises between its parties. A public-records exemption supplies a legal basis for withholding a government record. When an agency answers a request by referring to an NDA, ask which statute protects the particular record and how that statute applies. The agreement itself, its signatories, and its date may be part of the records being requested; their availability can also be disputed.
La. R.S. 44:31 places the burden of proving that a record is outside public access on the custodian. That does not make every document relating to a public project immediately available. Louisiana has specific protections for certain economic-development negotiations, and a record may be subject to another applicable exemption even after those negotiations end.
Three development laws to distinguish
The state’s principal provisions for this issue are R.S. 44:22 for Louisiana Economic Development, R.S. 44:22.1 for qualifying port negotiations, and R.S. 44:22.2 for parishes and municipalities. They share a structure, but they are not interchangeable.
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| Custodian and law | Required confidentiality record | Public notice |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Economic Development — R.S. 44:22 | Company’s written request explaining its reasons and making confidentiality a condition of negotiations; secretary’s reasoned determination that disclosure would harm negotiations. | Notice in the state’s official journal within 10 days of the determination. |
| Port commission or port, harbor, and terminal district — R.S. 44:22.1 | Written company request and chief executive’s reasoned determination. The qualifying project must relate to or facilitate transportation of goods in domestic or international commerce. | Notice in the commission’s or district’s official journal within 10 days. |
| Parish or municipality — R.S. 44:22.2 | Written company request at the outset of negotiations and chief executive’s reasoned determination; additional limits on qualifying projects and agreements. | Notice on the local government’s website and in its official journal within 5 days. |
Each notice must provide general information about the negotiation and the date of the confidentiality determination. Those notices give a requester a way to identify the claimed protection without first obtaining the withheld business records. Ask for the published notice, its publication date, and any later notice extending the protection.
The local-government provision defines the covered government as a parish or municipality. It should not automatically be applied to every board, district, or authority connected with a project. Identify the entity holding each document and the authority that entity actually invokes.
The additional conditions for parish and municipal deals
Under R.S. 44:22.2, the company seeking incentives must commit to a qualifying project: at least 15 permanent manufacturing or distribution-center jobs; at least 25 permanent jobs in digital media, headquarters, research and development, or inbound call-center operations; or at least $5 million in capital improvements. The statute does not provide a general confidentiality rule for every private proposal received by a mayor or parish president.
The statute also requires an affirmative vote of the local governing authority, consistent with the Open Meetings Law, before the chief executive enters an agreement. Request the agreement, agenda, minutes, and recorded vote. Whether a particular agreement or vote satisfies the law requires examination of the actual record; the absence of a document from a website is not proof that it never existed.
As presently enacted, R.S. 44:22.2 terminates on January 1, 2028. That date concerns this particular provision. It does not establish that every record now withheld under every Louisiana confidentiality law must become public on that date.
The end of confidentiality is not simply the press-announcement date
All three development provisions identify events that end an active negotiation: the government stops pursuing the project, the company stops pursuing it, or a proposal affecting the negotiation is submitted to a public body for consideration at a public meeting, whichever occurs first. The public-meeting trigger deserves particular attention because it does not depend on waiting for construction or for every document to be signed.
A press conference can identify a project and prompt a records request, but a public announcement is not the statutory test. Obtain the dated proposal, transmittal, meeting agenda, attachments, and minutes. They can establish what was submitted, to which public body, and for what consideration.
Consider a hypothetical parish project. The parish makes a confidentiality determination on February 2. On May 8, a proposal affecting that negotiation is submitted to the parish council for consideration at a public meeting. If those facts satisfy the statutory trigger, the parish cannot justify continued withholding under R.S. 44:22.2 merely by pointing to an NDA scheduled to last until the following February. A separate exemption would require its own legal basis.
The statutes also impose an outside time limit. The initial period cannot exceed 12 months from the determination. Continued protection requires active negotiations, a new determination of harm, and another notice, and cannot exceed an additional 12 months. The maximum under each of these provisions is 24 months from the initial determination. A renewal cannot preserve a negotiation that has already ended under the statute.
Expense records, permits, and other useful starting points
Each of the three laws makes negotiation-expense records public, while permitting temporary redaction of information that would identify the negotiating party. Request invoices, payments, and expense records with any lawfully confidential details redacted. An assertion that some project information is protected does not answer whether the public portion of an expense record can be produced.
These provisions also exclude license and permit applications from their negotiation protections, along with records of negotiations concerning hazardous-waste or waste sites as defined in the referenced environmental statute. That limitation is specific: it does not declare every industrial project a waste site or eliminate other exemptions that might apply to particular information in a permit file.
The development statutes also require reciprocal confidentiality from the party receiving protected government information. If the public body relies on one of these provisions, the supporting record should address the applicable statutory conditions, including any claimed extension. A request for those records does not guarantee that every supporting document will be released; any withholding still needs a stated legal basis.
Request the obligations from the offices that hold them
One project can generate several separate government files. A parish may hold an agreement or road commitment, LED an incentive proposal, a utility an infrastructure agreement, and a permitting agency the application and approval record. Tailor each request to the custodian’s role. Asking one office for everything about a company can miss records held elsewhere and make the request harder to process.
- Public money: incentive agreements, payment schedules, appropriations, performance requirements, reporting duties, and repayment or clawback terms.
- Water and utilities: executed service or infrastructure agreements, capacity studies, cost allocations, required public approvals, and amendments held by the relevant public body.
- Land and construction: public-property sale or lease documents, road commitments, permit applications, approval conditions, and inspection records.
- Decision history: dated proposals, governing-body agendas, supporting packets, minutes, votes, and notices of confidentiality or renewal.
These are categories to request, not a promise that every project has each document or that every portion is disclosable. Request existing records rather than requiring an official to prepare a new report or answer a lengthy questionnaire. For a building’s separate approval history, our Louisiana fire-safety records guide identifies the documents that distinguish plan review, inspection, and occupancy approval.
What the Ascension Parish litigation illustrates
In Rural Roots Louisiana and Louisiana Bucket Brigade v. Ascension Parish, the petitioners sought NDAs concerning industrial development. According to the case history maintained by plaintiffs’ counsel, they filed suit on December 10, 2025; the district court ordered production within five days and awarded attorney fees on May 18, 2026. The same case history reports that the parish obtained a suspensive appeal, allowing it to withhold the records while that appeal is resolved.
The procedural distinction matters. A trial-court production order and an order suspending its enforcement are separate records. The reported ruling should not be treated as a final appellate decision invalidating all development NDAs. Anyone relying on the litigation should obtain the judgment, appeal order, and any subsequent appellate decision. The lesson for a requester is to preserve the request, denial, and supporting notices so a court can address the particular exemption claimed.
A focused request you can adapt
Send the request to the appropriate public-records custodian, identify the project and a reasonable date range, and keep proof of transmission. The following wording seeks the confidentiality record first; it can be supplemented with specific contracts, utility agreements, or permits.
Suggested request: Under the Louisiana Public Records Law, I request electronic copies of the following existing records concerning [project/company] for [date range]:
- The executed nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement and its amendments.
- The company’s written request for statutory confidentiality and the government’s written determination, including the stated reasons and date.
- Notices published in the official journal and, where required, on the government’s website, including any renewal determination and notice.
- Agendas, proposals, meeting packets, minutes, and votes concerning approval of the agreement or consideration of a proposal affecting the negotiation.
- Government expense records relating to the negotiation, with any lawful identifying redactions.
Please produce reasonably separable public portions. For any withheld or redacted material, please state the applicable legal basis and reasons in writing. If additional time is needed, please provide an estimate of the time reasonably necessary to process the request. Please advise me of the applicable fee schedule and estimated charge before incurring charges exceeding [amount]. If a description is insufficiently specific, please identify the clarification needed.
Replace every bracketed item before sending. Narrowing the company name, project name, custodians, dates, and record types can produce a more useful response than requesting every communication ever mentioning an industry. Keep a dated record of any agreed clarification.
Understand the response rules before alleging a missed deadline
Under R.S. 44:33, an immediately available record must be presented immediately; different procedures address records in active use and the practical work needed to separate public material. Under R.S. 44:32(D), when the custodian questions whether a requested record is public, the written determination and reasons are due within five days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays, and must identify the legal basis for withholding.
That five-day determination rule should not be described as a universal deadline for completing every large production. R.S. 44:35 permits judicial proceedings after a denial or after the specified five-day period passes without a written determination or an estimate of the time reasonably needed for collection, separation, redaction, or review. A vague reference to an NDA is a reason to seek a specific statutory explanation.
The enforcement action ordinarily belongs in the district court for the parish where the custodian’s office is located. The court reviews the issue anew, and the custodian bears the burden of supporting the withholding. Attorney fees and other remedies depend on the statute and the outcome; they should not be promised merely because a request was unanswered. Legal advice is particularly useful when a project vote is imminent or an appeal affects an existing production order.
Read the complete record before drawing conclusions
A confidentiality dispute establishes a question about access. It does not itself establish that a project is unsafe, that an incentive is unlawful, or that an official committed misconduct. Those conclusions require the relevant agreements, approvals, evidence, and governing law.
For projects involving carbon storage, the separate questions of operating responsibility and long-term liability are addressed in our Louisiana carbon-capture liability guide. Additional statutory and records-based guides are collected in Louisiana Legal Research.
This guide describes Louisiana law as available October 18, 2026. It provides general information; a disputed request requires review of the particular records, claimed exemptions, and procedural history.