Louisiana Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Louisiana, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Could a Louisiana assessor put his name on school report-card covers paid for with campaign funds?
The AG said the assessor’s campaign-funded report-card covers did not violate the state printing law or the cited election-code provision on false ballot endorsements. It warned that school…
Could a Louisiana district court clerk hire an outside collector for unpaid court costs, including on a contingency fee?
Yes. The AG said a district court clerk could contract with a third party to help collect unpaid court costs. The clerk had to judge whether the contract's cost was proportionate to its benefit; the…
Could new southeast Louisiana flood authorities retain levee district police after the reorganization?
The AG said a flood protection authority's board could retain police security personnel on behalf of a levee district within its territory, but the authority could not directly employ them for…
Could Allen Parish reimburse a police juror’s medical bills after he was injured volunteering in Hurricane Rita cleanup?
No on the facts presented. The AG said the police jury had no legal duty to pay the elected juror’s uncovered medical expenses for volunteer road clearing; using public funds for that payment would…
Who could hire a program manager for Baton Rouge public works projects under its Plan of Government?
The AG said the Metropolitan Council retained authority to procure the professional services discussed unless it empowered the Mayor-President to do so. A program manager providing services similar…
Could a Louisiana hospital district add a salary-based penalty when a nursing scholarship recipient did not work in the district?
No. The AG concluded that the Nursing Scholarship Program's statutory repayment rules were the hospital district's exclusive remedy for a recipient's default. Morehouse Parish's district could not…
Could a Bossier Parish police juror keep a job with the parish district attorney’s office?
No on the facts presented. Although the district attorney’s office and parish were separate political subdivisions for the general dual-officeholding rule, the AG found the jobs incompatible because…
Could the Orleans Levee Board reduce office rent after Hurricane Katrina left its building without electricity?
Only if the tenants’ lease agreements gave them a right to reduced or remitted rent under the circumstances. The AG said an abatement without a legal obligation would be a prohibited donation and…
How many nominees were needed to fill one Terrebonne economic-development board vacancy?
Six names. The AG concluded that a single vacancy among board seats nominated by either designated association still had to be filled from a list of six, because the statute required the same…
Could an unpaid volunteer fire chief serve on his fire district board, and could its chair also be secretary?
Yes. On the facts given, the AG said the unpaid volunteer fire chief could serve on the district board because the chief position was neither a public appointive office nor compensated public…
Could Pollock pay employees a raise for months before its lease revenue arrived?
Yes on the facts presented. The AG said Pollock could pay a lump sum for January through September 2005 because its council had approved, authorized, and budgeted the raises before the fiscal year,…
Did new South Bossier firefighters have to join Louisiana’s Firefighters’ Retirement System?
The AG said membership was mandatory for employees covered by the Firefighters’ Retirement System who were hired on or after January 1, 1980, unless the municipality, parish, or fire district had…
Must a Louisiana city check subdivision restrictions before approving a zoning variance?
No. The AG said the city's land-use commission and council were not required to consider subdivision building restrictions when granting a variance or zoning change. Those restrictions would still…
Could a university research-center employee run for and hold a Louisiana school board seat?
Yes for the job described. The AG found that the university employee’s research, biosafety instruction, and technician-training duties placed him in a professional educational capacity, an exception…
Could Amite’s mayor order town crews to collect private demolition and tree debris despite a local ban?
No. The AG said the mayor could not override Amite’s ordinance barring private-property debris collection, and free nonemergency removal would violate the constitutional ban on donating public…
Could Ponchatoula pay to remove a Katrina-felled tree from a private home's roof?
Only if the city had a legal obligation to remove the tree. The AG said that otherwise paying a city contractor to clear the tree from a private home was an unlawful donation of public funds, and…
Would Lake Charles have to keep its city fire department after joining a new parish fire district?
No. The AG said the proposed district arrangement did not require Lake Charles to keep operating a separate municipal fire department. The new fire protection district would need its own…
Could West Feliciana Parish make specific officeholders automatic members of its communications district board?
No. The AG said the police jury could appoint members under R.S. 33:9103 but could not add automatic seats for specified officeholders through a parish ordinance.
Could a West Feliciana school board member also work for the parish tax assessor?
No. The AG applied the explicit statutory bar on a school board member holding any office or employment with an assessor.
Could Lake Charles apply a manufacturing-equipment tax exclusion to part of the city, choose fewer exclusions, or phase them in?
The AG found no law prohibiting a local manufacturing-equipment sales and use tax exclusion within only part of Lake Charles. It also concluded that a political subdivision could adopt fewer than…
Could St. Landry Parish use sheriff sales-tax revenue to pay local police departments for law enforcement work?
The proceeds could be used only for the voter-approved purposes of deputy salaries and law-enforcement operations. The AG said the sheriff could pay local police departments for specified…
Could FEMA place temporary trailers for displaced residents in New Orleans City Park after Katrina?
The AG said the specific 18-month FEMA trailer arrangement did not violate the park’s residential-use restriction or convert its recreational use, provided the affected land was restored. It…
Was equipment leased by a Louisiana church or public agency exempt from property tax?
No under the constitutional exemptions discussed. The AG said Article VII, Section 21(A) and (B)(1)(a) required public or qualifying nonprofit ownership; a public agency’s or church’s lease of…
Could Amite council members each control a district improvement allocation in the town budget?
The mayor prepared the budget and, after adoption, authorized spending from its funds. If a district allocation did not specify projects and amounts, the mayor also chose the improvements; the…
Could Louisiana's Firefighters Retirement System grant COLAs to pre-1986 retirees without meeting the funded-ratio test?
No. The AG concluded that the Firefighters Retirement System could not grant a cost-of-living adjustment to anyone, including members eligible or retired before June 28, 1986, unless its actuary and…
Could a Louisiana town shut off current services to collect open-account balances more than three years old?
The AG said Maringouin could not enforce the described open-account balances after the three-year prescriptive period or shut off current services to collect them, though a debtor could pay…
Could a St. Mary Parish hospital district pay for a chiller its private hospital lessee was obligated to buy?
No. The AG read the hospital lease to make the private operator responsible for equipment purchases and found no district obligation to replace the chiller. Paying for it with public funds would…
Who paid to jail and transport an Abbeville felony suspect when Vermilion Parish's jail was full?
The AG said Vermilion Parish's police jury bore the costs of housing, care, and required transport for a state felony detainee arrested by Abbeville police, even without a city-sheriff housing…
Could federal hurricane cleanup turn a private Louisiana road into a public road through tacit dedication?
No. The AG said the federal agencies' entry for hurricane cleanup did not itself create a public-road interest. The cited tacit-dedication statute applied to roads maintained for three years under…
Did Louisiana's property-control agency oversee statewide firefighter and municipal-police retirement systems?
No. The AG concluded that the Firefighters' Retirement System and Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System were outside the Louisiana Property Assistance Agency's jurisdiction under that…
Did Louisiana firefighters' state supplemental pay count when calculating unused leave at retirement?
Yes. The AG concluded that state supplemental pay had to be included when calculating a firefighter's accrued annual and sick leave upon retirement. It relied on the statute including that pay in…
Did Louisiana public-school background checks cover outsourced cafeteria, bus, janitorial and maintenance workers?
Yes. The AG read the 2005 amendment to cover workers employed by contractors to perform the cafeteria, transportation, janitorial or maintenance services a public school board otherwise could staff…
Could Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers use court-derived funds for legal fees or directors’ insurance?
Court-derived funds under Article 895.4 could pay legal fees or directors’ insurance only if Crime Stoppers determined the costs were directly related to obtaining information on criminal activity.…
Could a Louisiana court reimburse a judge's lawyer fees for fighting a personal subpoena and pursuing contempt proceedings?
No. The AG said the judge's personal-capacity subpoena was unrelated to an act performed as a judge, and his later contempt proceeding was one he initiated rather than a damages claim against him.…
Could Cankton require markings on village vehicles and regulate who drove or rode in them?
Yes. The AG found no conflict between Cankton's Ordinance 01-05 and the state vehicle-identification statute. Village vehicles had to meet both marking rules, while the ordinance's driver and…
Could a Louisiana school board help pay LSU AgCenter 4-H agents working in parish schools?
Potentially. The AG said educating children was a public purpose and a school-board duty, satisfying two requirements for a cooperative funding agreement with the LSU AgCenter. The board still had…
Could an Arcadia housing-authority commissioner also serve as an elected council member or mayor?
Yes. The AG treated the housing-authority commission as a part-time appointive office. The cited dual-officeholding prohibition applied to a full-time appointive office held with a local elective…
Could a Winn Parish police juror run for Winnfield police chief without resigning?
Yes, the police juror could run without first resigning. If elected chief of police, however, he could not hold both elective offices at once and had to resign the police-juror office.
Could a Caddo Parish waterworks employee also serve on the parish commission?
No on the facts presented. Although the parish and waterworks district counted as separate political subdivisions, the AG said the parish commission's power to abolish the district made the two…
Could a Stonewall town council member serve as an unpaid volunteer police officer?
Yes. The AG said a town council member could serve as a volunteer police officer because the unpaid service was not employment under the dual-officeholding law. The opinion distinguished that…
Could a Calcasieu Parish drug task force reimburse the district attorney for an assigned prosecutor?
Yes. The AG said the district attorney and local task-force participants could make an intergovernmental agreement for an assistant district attorney to advise the team and handle its cases, with…
Could Louisiana homeowners keep the homestead exemption after transferring naked ownership to a revocable trust?
No. The AG concluded that property owned by a revocable trust did not qualify for the Louisiana homestead exemption under the constitutional provisions it analyzed, even when the former owners…
Were profits from employee-owned vending machines in New Iberia city buildings public funds?
No. The AG concluded that profits from machines owned, operated and maintained by New Iberia employees without public money were not public funds. Employees could use those profits for the purposes…
Could a Louisiana town demolish a dangerous school-board building and place a lien on the school property?
The AG said Saint Joseph could use its demolition power on a dangerous school-board building within town limits. A lien for its costs on the board's public property was at least of questionable…
Could Hammond Rural Fire Department offer Louisiana's deferred compensation plan to its paid staff?
Yes. The AG concluded that Hammond Rural Fire Department could offer the Louisiana Deferred Compensation Plan to its employees under the described arrangement with a public fire district. It did not…
Must a Louisiana condominium declaration show how each unit owner’s share of common expenses is calculated?
Yes. The AG said the declaration had to give enough information for an owner to determine the owner's share of common expenses and how it was calculated. A formula was one permissible format; a…
Could parties waive a Louisiana notary's duty to record a mortgage?
The AG said parties could agree among themselves not to record a mortgage, but that agreement did not waive the notary's statutory duty or make the unrecorded act effective against third parties. It…
Was an Arcadia council special meeting valid when the public saw notice but some officials did not?
The AG said the posted notice met the public-notice rule and treated the particular meeting as a legal public meeting. Arcadia still needed an ordinance specifying notice to council members and the…
Could Morgan City’s port district give its executive director a fixed two-year contract with removal only for cause?
No. The AG said the proposed two-year contract improperly limited the board’s ability to remove the executive director at will and gave him a term longer than some appointing commissioners’ terms,…
Could East Feliciana Parish use public funds to install a drainage culvert on private property?
Yes, if the work served a public drainage purpose. The AG said East Feliciana's police jury could install or replace culverts on public property and could work on private property to improve the…
Could Webster Parish tourism funds pay for a regional promotional film and a film task force’s office expenses?
The AG said the tourism commission could fund a film promoting tourism in Webster Parish through a cooperative endeavor if the public benefit was proportionate to the cost. It said paying task-force…
Could Louisiana's health department change a local human services district's financing without its consent?
The AG did not decide whether the Department of Health and Hospitals could change the district's financing without consent. It said the answer depended on the parties' memorandum of understanding…
Could a West Baton Rouge deputy assessor also own a private accounting practice?
The AG said deputy-assessor employment and ownership of a private accounting firm did not constitute dual officeholding. It could not decide whether the firm's particular work created an ethics…
Could Baldwin's five-member board amend an ordinance with only two yes votes?
No. The AG said a majority of Baldwin's five aldermen, meaning three affirmative votes, was required to adopt an ordinance amendment. Two votes did not pass the amendment, leaving it invalid and…
Did the federal Hatch Act restrict political activity by Acadiana ASSIST Agency employees?
Yes. The AG said the private nonprofit ASSIST Agency and its employees were covered because it received Community Services Block Grant funds under a federal provision treating recipients as state or…
Could a new Louisiana town council reconsider a land lease approved but never signed by its predecessor?
Yes. The AG said no lease existed because the prior council's approval had never been put into a written, signed lease as Louisiana law required. The new council could therefore decide whether to…
Who had to notify a Louisiana property owner of a parish tax sale, and who paid the costs if the sale was annulled?
For state and parish property taxes, the AG identified the sheriff as the collector responsible for notifying the owner of the impending tax sale. If the sale was later annulled under the…
Could East Ascension's hospital district lease its hospital to a private operator without a public vote?
Yes, subject to the special-services lease requirements and Attorney General review and approval of the proposed hospital acquisition. The AG said the East Ascension district could use that…
Could Sterlington voters repeal or redirect their portion of Ouachita Parish's road sales tax?
No. The AG said Sterlington could not use a town-only election to repeal or rededicate any portion of a road sales tax approved by Ouachita Parish voters. Any repeal or change in purpose had to go…
If Interstate 55 was built outside the land Louisiana expropriated for it, can DOTD return the unused strip by a boundary agreement?
Assuming the alleged route error was real, the AG said the state owned the land actually expropriated in 1958 and had acquired the road corridor by 30-year prescription, or alternatively held a…
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Attorney general opinions in Louisiana are written by the Louisiana Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.