Could an elected Louisiana city council member also sit on Southern University's Board of Supervisors?

Plain-English summary

Myron K. Lawson asked whether an elected city council member could also serve as an appointed member of the Southern University Board of Supervisors. In Opinion 03-0013, the Louisiana Attorney General answered yes. He said R.S. 42:63(D) prohibited a local elected official from holding a full-time appointive state office, while the Southern University board position was part time.

The letter attached Opinion 92-77, which had reached a similar result for an elected police juror on the same university board. The 2003 answer was specific to the described part-time board position. It did not approve a full-time state appointment for a city council member.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What the opinion meant at issuance

Elected city council members

The AG said the council office and the part-time Southern University board seat could be held simultaneously under the cited dual-office-holding provision. His answer depended on the appointed seat being part time.

University boards and appointing officials

The opinion identified the Southern University Board of Supervisors seat as a part-time state appointment. Its footnote quoted R.S. 42:62's definitions: a full-time appointive position involved at least seven hours a day and thirty-five hours a week; part time was less than those hours under that definition.

Common questions

Q: Could a city council member sit on Southern University's board?
A: The AG said yes for the part-time board appointment described in the request.

Q: Would the same answer apply to a full-time state board job?
A: The opinion did not approve that combination. It quoted the statutory bar on a local elected official simultaneously holding a full-time appointive state office.

Q: Did the AG rely on an earlier opinion about the university board?
A: Yes. The letter attached Opinion 92-77, which had said an elected Washington Parish police juror could also hold a part-time Southern University board seat.

Background and statutory framework

The short January 13, 2003 letter applied R.S. 42:63(D) to a local elected office and a part-time state appointment. Its footnotes quoted R.S. 42:62's time-based definitions. The official PDF includes the earlier Opinion 92-77 as an attachment; the original-text section below preserves both documents.

Citations and references

Authorities in the opinion: R.S. 42:63(D) (simultaneous offices); R.S. 42:62 (full-time and part-time definitions); attached Attorney General Opinion 92-77.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/03-0013

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

o[
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
One American Place
301 Mare Street. Suite 600
CIVIL DIVISION
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE
TEL. (225) 342-7013
RICHARD P. IEYOUB 70804-9005 FAX: (22S) 342-2090
ATTORNEY GENERAL

January 13, 2003
OPINION 03-0013

78 Dual Officeholding
Mr. Myron K. Lawson
R.S. 42:63(D)
Post Office Box 13149
A city council member may also serve as a member of the Southern
Alexandria, LA 71315
University Board of Supervisors.

Dear Mr. Lawson:

You have asked this office to determine whether the law prohibits an elected member of a city council from serving simultaneously as an appointed board member of the Southern University Board of Supervisors.

The law does not prohibit this arrangement. R.S. 42:63(D)1 prohibits one from holding local elected office and full-time appointive office. Since the position with the state board is part-time, the prohibition is inapplicable.2 See also attached Attorney General Opinion 92-77, which is in accord with this conclusion. Should you have other questions in which we may provide assistance, please contact this office.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:
KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

KLK:ams

1 R.S. 42:63(D) provides in part:
No person holding an elective office in a political subdivision of this state shall at the same time hold another elective office or full-time appointive office in the government of this state .....
2 R.S. 42:62 provides definitions for part-time and full-time employment and office:
(4) "Full time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment and which is at least seven hours per day of work and at least thirty-five hours per week of work.
(5) "Part time" means the period of time which a person normally works or is expected to work in an appointive office or employment which is less than the number of hours of work defined in this Section as full time.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

RICHARD P. 117YOUB
70804-9005

i0 19~2
. .i,
OPINION NU~ER 92-77

Honorable Jerry Thomas, M.D.
State Representative
District 75
200 Alabama Avenue
Bogalusa, Louisiana 70427
Dear Representative Thomas:
Your opinion request asked the following question:
Can an elected police juror for Washington Parish also serve on the Board of Supervisors for Southern University?
The office of police juror is an elective office in a local political subdivision. The position with the Board of Supervisors of Southern is a part-time appointive office with the State. Louisiana’s dual office holding law, La. R.S. 42:63 does not prohibit this combination of offices. Previous opinions of this office numbered 88-540 and 88-47 deal with a virtually identical situation and hold that there is no prohibition.
Also, it does not appear that the holding of these two offices would be deemed "incompatible offices" under R.S. 42:64.
Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that an elected police juror may also serve in a part-time appointive capacity as a member of the Southern University Board of Supervisors.
Trusting the above answers your question. We remain, Yours very truly,
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Attorney General

BY:
M. ROSS
Assistant Attorney General
JMR/vls-0508e