Could a Louisiana environmental department employee also serve on an elected school board?

Plain-English summary

A Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality assistant secretary asked whether he could keep his full-time state job while serving as an elected school board member. In 2005, the Attorney General said he could not hold both positions at once. The opinion treated school board membership as an elective office in a political subdivision and the department role as employment in state government.

R.S. 42:63(D), as quoted by the AG, prohibited a person holding local elective office from also holding employment in state government. The AG applied that employment clause to the requested combination.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2005. 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.

Common questions

Could the DEQ assistant secretary keep his job after election to a school board?

The AG said no. It concluded that the state-government employment and local elective school board office could not be held simultaneously under the cited dual-officeholding rule.

Was an elected school board seat a local elective office for this rule?

Yes. The AG classified it as an elective office in a political subdivision of Louisiana.

Did the state job count as an appointive office or as employment?

For this request, the AG classified the full-time Department of Environmental Quality role as employment in state government and applied the prohibition on combining that employment with local elective office.

Background and statutory framework

The requester was Assistant Secretary for the Office of Environmental Compliance at the Department of Environmental Quality. The AG cited the definitions in R.S. 42:62 and the simultaneous-service restriction in R.S. 42:63(D). The header and syllabus of the official PDF list a different section number for the restriction, but the body expressly quotes and applies R.S. 42:63(D); that is the section used here.

Citations

• R.S. 42:63(D) (prohibition on state employment alongside local elective office, quoted in the body).
• R.S. 42:62(1), R.S. 42:62(3), and R.S. 42:62(6) (definitions cited by the AG).

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/05-0326

Original opinion text

October 6, 2005
OPINION 05-0326

78 Dual Officeholding
Mr. Harold G. Leggett, Ph.D.
R.S. 42:62(3); R.S. 42:62(6); R.S. 42:66; R.S. 42:62(D)
Assistant Secretary
State employee of Department of Environmental Quality
cannot legally hold elected office of school board Department of Environmental Quality member.
P. O. Box 4312
Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4312

Dear Mr. Leggett:

You have asked this office to advise you whether you may hold the elected office school board member while retaining your full-time position as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Environmental Compliance, Department of Environmental Quality.

R.S. 42:63(D) governs our response and provides, in pertinent part:

D. 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 or in the government of a political subdivision thereof. No such person shall hold at the same time employment in the government of this state, or in the same political subdivision in which he holds an elective office… In addition no sheriff, assessor, or clerk of court shall hold any office …..

The position of elected school board member constitutes an elective office in a political subdivision of the state. See R.S. 42:62(1) and R.S. 42:62 (9). A full-time employee of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality holds employment in the government of this state. See R.S. 42:62(3) and R.S. 42:62(6). As a state employee is prohibited by law from simultaneously holding the elected position of school board member, you may not hold both positions simultaneously.

Very truly yours,

CHARLES C. FOTI, JR.
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: ______ KERRY L. KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

KLK:ams

Page 2

OPINION 05-0326

Syllabus

78 Dual Officeholding

R.S. 42:62(3); R.S. 42:62(6); R.S. 42:66; R.S. 42:62(D)

State employee of Department of Environmental Quality cannot legally hold elected office of school board member.

Mr. Harold G. Leggett, Ph.D.
Assistant Secretary
Department of Environmental Quality
P. O. Box 4312
Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4312

Date Received:
Date Released: October 6, 2005

KERRY L. KILPATRICK
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL