Local governments will now be able to create property tax exemptions for first responders, and six inactive state funds will be closed out after Louisianans approved another set of changes to the state constitution Saturday.
Voters also passed a measure overhauling the Legislature’s veto override procedures. But they rejected a proposal to limit how and when lawmakers can access one state fund.
Along with four other changes approved in October, Louisiana has tallied up seven constitutional changes this election cycle.
Most of the amendments on the table Saturday received little pushback from legislators, who voted to put them on the ballot.
Amendment 1 adjusts the Legislature’s veto override procedures. Currently, if the governor vetoes a bill while the Legislature is out of session, the constitution automatically triggers a veto override session.
In 2022, lawmakers ran into confusion when the date for the override session overlapped with that of the annual general session. The amendment will allow them to hold an override vote during any ongoing session, rather than forcing them to suspend a session to call a separate session.
The amendment passed with 61% of the vote, according to complete but unofficial returns available on the Secretary of State’s website.
Amendment 2, which closes six state treasury accounts, passed with about 55% of the vote. The accounts are inactive, and most of them are empty, according to a report from the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.
The funds include the Atchafalaya Basin Conservation Fund, the Higher Education Louisiana Partnership Fund and the Millennium Leverage Fund. They also include the Agricultural and Seafood Products Support Fund, the First Use Tax Trust Fund and the Louisiana Investment Fund.
"I'm very glad that the voters saw the need to clean up parts of the constitution that didn't need to be present," said Rep. Polly Thomas, the Metairie Republican who authored the amendment. "I'm a really very excited that it passed."
Amendment 3, which squeaked by with 53% of the vote, will give local governments the option of creating tax exemptions for first responders such as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical service providers.
Sen. Royce Duplessis, the New Orleans Democrat who authored the amendment, envisioned it as a way to help address first responder shortages.
“I’m certainly grateful that it passed, and it’s really just a tool for local governments to try to assist with our first responders, to recruit and retain first responders. We know it’s a great need … especially here in Orleans Parish," Duplessis said.
The amendment does not mandate that local governments offer the tax exemption but allows them to choose to do so, he said.
"Public safety is a top issue from what I hear from constituents every single day, and it’s hard to achieve that without having adequate numbers of first responders," Duplessis said.
Amendment 4 failed to pass, with 56% of Louisianans voting against it. Perhaps the most technical of the amendments, it would have restricted when lawmakers could use money from the state’s Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, which accumulates higher-than-usual corporate tax revenue.
Current law allows legislators to access the fund in cases of emergency, and proponents of Amendment 4 argued that language was too vague.
The amendment would have removed that provision and added language allowing lawmakers to use the money to address budget deficits.
