Can a full-time Louisiana fire district employee also serve on a town council?

Plain-English summary

A full-time employee of the Schriever Fire Protection District asked whether he could also serve as a member of the Lockport Town Council. The Louisiana Attorney General concluded that the state's Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law does not prohibit this arrangement.

The opinion classified the fire district role as full-time employment and the council seat as an elective office. It treated the fire district and Lockport as separate political subdivisions. La. R.S. 42:63(D) forbids a person holding a local elective office from also holding public employment in the same political subdivision, among other combinations. Since this employment and office were in different subdivisions, the cited prohibition did not apply. The opinion expressly left possible ethics code questions to the Louisiana State Board of Ethics.

What this means for you

Fire protection district employees

For the Schriever and Lockport roles described, the opinion found no prohibition under the dual officeholding statute. It did not give a general answer for employment with the same town whose council seat a person holds.

Lockport officials

The opinion treats the town and the Schriever Fire Protection District as distinct subdivisions. That distinction supplies its answer under La. R.S. 42:63(D); possible ethics rules were outside the opinion.

Common questions

Q: Can a Schriever fire district employee sit on Lockport's town council?
A: The AG said the dual officeholding law does not prohibit the described combination because the two positions are in separate political subdivisions.

Q: Does working full-time for a public fire district make the council seat unlawful?
A: Not by itself under the provision the opinion applied. The fire district job was full-time employment, but the statute's employment restriction depended on whether it was in the same subdivision as the elected office.

Q: Did the Attorney General approve the arrangement under the ethics code?
A: No. The opinion addressed dual officeholding law only and referred ethics code questions to the state Board of Ethics.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion used La. R.S. 42:62's definitions to classify the fire district job, council seat, and two political subdivisions. It then applied La. R.S. 42:63(D), which bars certain simultaneous positions, including public employment in the same subdivision as a local elective office. The employment in Schriever's fire district was separate from the Lockport office.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 42:62(9), defining a political subdivision for the dual officeholding law.
• La. R.S. 42:63(D), the prohibition analyzed.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/24-0104

Original opinion text

STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE,
70804-9005

Liz MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

September 4, 2024
OPINION 24-0104

Mr. Reola Lanegrasse, Jr.
78 Dual Officeholding
102 Pine Street La. R.S. 42:61, etseq. La. R.S. 40:1492, etseq.
Lockport, LA 70374
La. R.S. 33:321, etseq.

The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law do not prohibit a full-time employee of the Schriever Fire Protection District from serving as a member of the Lockport Town Council Dear Mr. Lanegrasse:

Our office received your request for an opinion regarding whether a full-time employee of the Schriever Fire Protection District may serve as a member of the Lockport Town Council.

Pursuant to La. Const. art. X, § 22, the legislature has enacted laws regulating dual employment and defining, regulating, and prohibiting dual office holding in state and local government. The provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law, found at La. R.S. 42:61 et seq., govern questions concerning the ability to hold two or ,

more public offices and/or positions simultaneously. Classifying the correct nature of the positions held is essential for the purposes of applying the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law.

The Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government is a local governmental subdivision operating under a home rule charter pursuant to the authority of La. Const. art. VI, § 51 The Schriever Fire Protection District was created by ordinance pursuant to the provisions of La. R.S. 40:1492, et seq.2 According to the information provided to this office, you are a full-time employee of the District, which is classified as “full time” “employment” for the purposes of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law.3

1Article I, Sec. 1-01, Terrebonne Parish Home Rule Charter.
2 Article II,
Sec. 8-21(1)(d) Terrebonne Parish Code of Ordinances.
“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. La. R.S. 42:62(4). “Employment” means any job compensated on a salary or per diem basis, other than an elective or appointive office, in which a person is an employee of the state government or of a political subdivision. La. R.S. 42:62(3).

Page 2

OPINION 24-0104
Mr. Reota Lanegrasse
Page 2

The Town of Lockport operates under, and is governed by, the provisions of the Lawrason Act.4 A member of the Lockport Town Councfl holds an “elective office” for the purposes of the Dual Officeholdng and Dual Employment Law.5

The Schriever Fire Protection District and the Town of Lockport are separate political subdivisions of the state for the purposes of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law.6

The most relevant provision of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law is La. R.S. 42:63(D) which provides in pertinent 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 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.

The prohibition of La. R.S. 42:63(D) does not apply because the employment and the elective office are in separate political subdivisions.

Based on the applicable provisions of law and the information you provided, it is the opinion of this office that the provisions of the Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment Law do not prohibit an employee of the Schriever Fire Protection District from serving as a member of the Lockport Town Council.

Please note that our expressed opinion does not address the potential applicability of the provisions of the Louisiana Code of Governmental Ethics, La. R.S. 42:1 1 1 1 et seq.
,

Advisory rulings addressing questions under the Ethics Code are within the jurisdiction of the Louisiana State Board of Ethics. The Board may be contacted at the following address: P.O. Box 4368, Baton Rouge, LA 70821 phone: 225-219-5600.
,

We hope that this opinion adequately addresses the legal issues you have raised. If our

4 La. R.S. 33:321, etseq.
5 “Elective office” means any position which is established or authorized by the constitution or laws of this

state or by the charter or ordinances of any political subdivision thereof, which is not a political party office, and which is filled by vote of the citizens for this state or of a political subdivision thereof. La. R.S. 42:62(1). 6 “Political subdivision” means a parish, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a

school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions. In addition for the purposes of this Part, mayor’s courts, justice of peace courts, district attorneys, sheriffs, clerks of court, coroners, tax assessors, registrars of voters, and all other elected parochial officials shall be separate political subdivisions. La. R.S. 42:62(9).

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OPINION 24-0104
Mr. Reola Lanegrasse
Page 3

office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

LIZ MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:_‘
Madeline S. Carbonette
Assistant Attorney General

LM: MSC