Could a Louisiana planning commission executive director also serve on a parish school board?

Plain-English summary

A person serving on the Terrebonne Parish School Board asked whether he could also work full time as executive director of the South Central Planning and Development Commission. The 1998 attorney general opinion said he could hold both positions under the dual officeholding and employment law.

The office gave two reasons. The executive director was an employee, not the holder of a full-time appointive office, so the ban on combining an elective office with a full-time appointive office did not apply. Nor did the ban on elective office and employment in the same political subdivision apply: the school board and regional planning commission were separate political subdivisions. The opinion drew a further line between working for the commission and being a commission member. A commission member faced a separate restriction on holding another public office.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1998. 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.

School board members at the time

The opinion allowed the described school board member to continue serving while employed as the planning commission's executive director. Its analysis depended on the director's classification as an employee and on the two positions being in separate political subdivisions.

Planning commission staff at the time

The office distinguished a staff executive director from a commission member. It said the separate statutory limit on commission members did not apply to the director because he was not a board member.

Common questions

Q: Could the planning commission's executive director keep his school board seat?
A: The attorney general's office said yes for the positions described in the request.

Q: Was the executive director considered a full-time appointed officer?
A: No. The opinion said the position counted as employment under the dual officeholding definitions, even though the commission appointed its employees.

Q: Why did employment with the commission not count as school board employment?
A: The opinion treated the regional planning commission and the school board as separate political subdivisions, so the same-subdivision restriction did not apply.

Q: Would the answer have been the same for a planning commission member?
A: No. The opinion quoted a separate statute saying commission members could hold no other public office, subject to the regional-commission exception in that provision. It said this limit did not apply to the executive director.

Background and statutory framework

The request revisited a question addressed in Attorney General Opinion 96-473. The 1998 opinion applied LSA-R.S. 42:63(D), which restricted combining a local elective office with a full-time appointive office or with public employment in the same political subdivision. It used LSA-R.S. 42:62(3)'s employment definition and the statutory definition of an appointive office to classify the executive director's position. It also quoted LSA-R.S. 33:103(C)'s separate rule for commission members.

Citations and references

• LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) (dual officeholding and employment restrictions)
• LSA-R.S. 42:62(3) (employment definition)
• LSA-R.S. 33:103(C) (planning commission member restriction)
• Attorney General Opinion 96-473 (prior opinion on the same positions, referenced in the source)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/98-0151

Original opinion text

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

DEPARTMENT OF ,IUSTICE

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
P.O. Box 94005
A’I’rORNEY G EN E P-~,L 70804-9005 TEL: (504) 342-7013
FAX: (504) 342-7335

June 18, 1998
OPINION 98-151

Mr. Todd Pelligrin 78 DUAL OFFICEHOLDING
3004 Broadmoor Avenue
LSA-R.S. 42:63(D); LSA-R.S 42:62(9)
Executive Director of the South Central Planning and Development Houma, LA 70364
Commission of Thibodaux may also serve as elected school board member.
Dear Mr. Pelligrin:

You may continue to serve as an elected school board member with the Terrebonne Parish School Board while holding the position of Executive Director/CEO of the South Central Planning and Development Commission (hereafter the SCPDC) located in Thibodaux, Louisiana. This office has previously concluded same in response to this very issue in Attorney General Opinion 96-473, also authored by this writer. However, we will address other tangential issues which may have prompted this identical request.

An individual serving as school board member holds local elective office. The Executive Director of the SCPDC holds full-time local employment, as contemplated by LSA-R.S. 42:62(3), providing:

(3) "Employment" means any job compensated on a salary or a 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 thereof.

LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) of the Louisiana Dual Officeholding and Dual Employment laws pertinently provide:

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 ..... (Emphasis added).

The prohibitions of LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) which might be of interest are two-fold. First, no person holding elective office may hold a full-time appointive office in the government of a political subdivision. Relevant to the appropriate characterization of the position of Executive Director is LSA-R.S. 33:134 which provides:

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Mr. Todd Pellegrin
OPINION 98-151
Page 2

§ 134. Staff and finances.

A commission may appoint such employees as it may deem necessary for its work, whose appointment, promotion, demotion, and removal shall be subject to the same general provisions as govern other corresponding civil employees of the parishes and municipalities cooperating to en~aee in regional planning. A commission may also contract with planning experts, engineers, architects, and other consultants for such services as it may require. The expenditures of a commission, exclusive of those made from funds received by gift, or grants of federal, state and other such agencies, shall be within the amounts appropriated for the purpose by the cooperating local legislative bodies which shall provide the funds, equipment, and accommodations necessary for a commission’s work.
(Emphasis added).

While LSA-R.S. 33:134 at first blush might lead one to believe that your position constitutes appointive office because of the phraseology "a commission may appoint such employees", the position of executive director is not one that is statutorily defined as an appointive office. An appointive office "is specifically established or specifically authorized by the constitution or laws of this state or by the charter or ordinances of any political subdivision thereof and which is filled by appointment... " See LSA-R.S. 42:62(2). The office, while filled by appointment, nonetheless does not meet the other defined requirements, i.e., it is not established or authorized by the constitution or laws of this state. We determine that the office is one of employment as defined in LSA-R.S. 42:62(3), quoted above. As the Executive Director holds full-time employment rather than full-time appointive office, the first prohibition of LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) is inapplicable.

The second prohibition of LSA-R.S. 42:63(D) restricts an individual from holding elective office and any employment in the same political subdivision in which he holds an elective office. This prohibition is also inapplicable in the instant matter as the two positions fall within separate political subdivisions, i.e., the school board and the planning commission. The planning commission is a special regional district under LSA-R.S. 42:63(9) which defines "political subdivision" as follows:

(9) "Political subdivision" means a padsh, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school board and a special district, authorized by law to perform .qovernmental functions. In addition, for the purposes of this part, mayor’s courts, justice of the 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. (Emphasis added).

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Mr. Todd Pellegrin
OPINION 98-151
Page 3

Note further that there is a distinction to be made between your employment as Executive Director and holding membership on the planning commission. Were you to hold membership on the planning commission, you could legally hold no other elective office, as LSA-R.S. 33:103(C) provides:

Sec. 103. Planning commission; membership; appointment

C. (1) All members of a commission, whether a parish or a municipal planning commission, shall serve without compensation and shall hold no other public office, except they may also serve as members of any duly constituted regional commission of which their parish or municipality forms a part. (Emphasis added).

This restriction is inapplicable because you are not a board member.

Having dispensed with those additional questions which may have caused you concern, we again address the legality of your holding full-time employment as Executive Director of the South Central Planning Development Commission of Thibodaux while holding the local elective office of school board member. It remains the opinion of this office that you may continue to serve in both positions without violating the law.

Very truly yours,

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL

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