BATON ROUGE (AP) — A state Senate committee is recommending a former New Orleans lawmaker who spent more than three decades in the Legislature to fill an open seat on the Louisiana Board of Ethics.

The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday backed former state Rep. Emile “Peppi” Bruneau for the position. The full Senate will vote on the appointment to the 11-member board later in the day.

The committee chose from a half-dozen candidates recommended by the presidents of the state’s private colleges who are assigned the task by law.

Bruneau, a Republican attorney, was a member of the state House from 1976 to 2007, serving in the chamber’s number two job for eight years. He also spent years on the House committee that oversees state ethics laws.