The Louisiana State Legislature adjourned its 2022 legislative session on June 6, referring six constitutional amendments to this year’s ballots. These amendments join five other constitutional amendments that the Legislature referred during its 2021 session.
Eight measures will appear on the November 8 ballot and three will appear on the December 10 ballot.
On November 8, voters will decide measures that would do the following:
- provide for the adjustment of property tax rates by a taxing authority up to the maximum rate approved by the constitution until the authorized rate expires;
- allow local governments to waive water charges for customers if damages are not caused by the customer;
- limit the increase in assessed value of residential property in Orleans Parish to 10% of the property’s assessed value from the prior year;
- increase the maximum amount of certain state funds authorized to be invested in equities to 65%;
- allow classified service/civil service employees to publicly support the election campaigns of individuals in their immediate family when off duty;
- remove language in the state constitution that allows slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, thereby prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude except as it may be applied legally in the administration of criminal justice;
- remove the annual income recertification requirement to receive special assessment property tax rates for homeowners that are permanently and totally disabled; and
- exempt property owned by veterans with a 100% disability rating from property taxes entirely, expand property tax exemptions for certain disabled veterans with disability ratings less than 100%, and extend the exemptions to the spouse of a deceased veteran with disabilities.
The three measures on the December 10 ballot would do the following:
- require senate confirmation of the governor’s State Police Commission appointees;
- require senate confirmation of the governor’s State Civil Service Commission gubernatorial appointees; and
- add a section to the Louisiana Constitution that says, “No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to register and vote in this state.”
The Legislature also referred a measure to the November 18, 2023, ballot, which would provide that the legislature may consider vetoed bills during a regular or extraordinary session rather than convening a separate veto session and state that the governor’s deadline to act on a bill is based on the legislative session in which the bill was passed.
During the 20-year period between 2000 and 2020, the statewide ballot in Louisiana featured 104 constitutional amendments. An average of 10 amendments appeared on the ballot, and the number of amendments on the ballot ranged from 4 to 21. Voters approved 71.15% (74 of 104) and rejected 28.85% percent (30 of 104) of the constitutional amendments.
Additional reading: