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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What change did Louisiana's Attorney General require in parish election supervisor training?
The Attorney General said the parish election supervisors' training presentation would comply with Louisiana law after slide 32 was updated. Its quoted text about challenges had not been revised to…
Can someone living in an excluded part of St. Landry Parish serve on its levee district board?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a person living in the St. Landry Parish area expressly excluded from the Red River, Atchafalaya and Bayou Boeuf Levee District does not meet the district…
In a Lawrason Act town, can the board of aldermen tell the elected chief of police where to park patrol cars after shifts, and can they impose line-item limits on the police budget?
No, and no. The elected chief of police controls department property, including where patrol vehicles get parked at the end of a shift. The board of aldermen cannot impose line-item restrictions on…
Must a Louisiana village animal shelter follow state shelter standards, and can the village move it without police approval?
The attorney general said the Village of Elizabeth's shelter was not subject to the parish shelter standards statute unless Allen Parish had adopted a standards ordinance; animal-cruelty protections…
Are sign-in sheets for a Louisiana State Library workshop exempt from public records disclosure?
No. The Attorney General concluded that class rosters and sign-in sheets for a State Library summer reading workshop for librarians are outside the library registration and use-record exemption in…
Can a Louisiana state employee ask the Ethics Board to hide their home address on a public financial disclosure?
Yes. The attorney general said the Board of Ethics should redact a state employee's home address from a financial disclosure when the employee requests confidentiality. It relied on the employee's…
Can a full-time Louisiana fire district employee also serve on a town council?
Yes, under the dual officeholding law considered. The Attorney General concluded that a full-time Schriever Fire Protection District employee may also serve on the Lockport Town Council because the…
Can a full-time Louisiana probation officer work part-time as a sheriff's deputy or municipal police officer?
Yes under the dual-officeholding statute examined. The attorney general said a full-time state probation officer could also serve in the four described part-time deputy or police roles. It treated…
Can a full-time Brusly police officer also serve as a Livingston Parish constable?
Yes, on the schedule described. The attorney general said employment with Brusly and an elected constable seat in a separate political subdivision were compatible under the dual-officeholding law,…
Can a full-time Louisiana sheriff's deputy also work full-time as a village police officer?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Louisiana's dual officeholding and employment law bars a full-time Sabine Parish deputy sheriff from also serving as a full-time police officer for the…
Should ordinary traffic citations issued to Louisiana 17-year-olds be filed in juvenile court?
Yes for traffic offenses within the Children’s Code definition examined. The attorney general said citations to 17-year-olds for those violations belonged in juvenile court. The opinion listed more…
Can a St. Mary Parish council member work full-time as a doctor for the parish hospital district?
Yes under the dual-officeholding law examined. The attorney general said the council seat was elective office and the physician job was employment in a separate hospital service district, so the…
Did Louisiana's Attorney General approve a proposed constitutional amendment statement for printing?
Yes. After the Secretary of State requested expedited review, the Attorney General found the submitted Statement of a Proposed Constitutional Amendment compliant with Louisiana law and approved its…
Can a full-time St. Bernard Parish fire employee also work part-time for the parish coroner?
Yes under the dual-officeholding law examined. The attorney general said full-time parish fire-department employment could be combined with a part-time, as-needed coroner investigator appointment…
Did Louisiana's 2024 judicial stipend law allow a salary increase for sheriffs?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Act 775 of 2024 permits a sheriff salary increase under R.S. 13:5636, tied to the district judge stipend, for sheriffs who satisfy that statute's training…
Can Lake Charles City Court hear the city's nuisance-abatement and property-standards cases?
Yes. The attorney general said the city court could hear enforcement matters under Lake Charles's nuisance and property standards ordinances. Those cases sought abatement and did not decide title to…
Can a DeSoto Parish police juror serve on a fire district board if the Village of Stanley appointed them?
Yes under the dual-officeholding law examined. The attorney general said an elected police juror could hold the separate part-time fire district board office, and the appointment conflict rule did…
Which Louisiana parish pays coroner fees when someone dies after moving, and how long must a person live somewhere to change domicile?
There is no minimum residence period. The attorney general said domicile depends on living in a place with intent to make it home. For a natural-cause death, the domiciliary parish or municipality…
Can a Louisiana school require teachers to report suspected employee child abuse only through supervisors?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a school board policy routing suspected abuse by employees through supervisors and the superintendent conflicts with teachers' direct reporting duties.…
Can a Ville Platte alderman keep a full-time parish job while directing the city housing authority?
The attorney general allowed the three roles together only if the housing-authority director position was part-time. It said a full-time director appointment was prohibited by the dual-officeholding…
Can a Louisiana registrar employee witness more than one absentee ballot when voters come in to cure a defect?
Yes. The attorney general approved DeSoto Parish's procedure for staff to witness a voter's in-person absentee-ballot cure, even if the employee witnesses multiple cures. The one-ballot witness…
Can the remaining recreation-district tax money pay for work at a Livingston park after the district split?
Potentially, if the particular project fits the original tax proposition and the recreation-district statutes. The attorney general said Circle Drive Park's lack of a park label in its property…
Can a Louisiana optometry board's secretary-treasurer hire assistants directly?
Yes. The Louisiana Attorney General concluded that either the optometry board or its secretary-treasurer may hire people directly to assist the secretary-treasurer. The statute allows board hiring…
Can Louisiana's CPA board sue to enforce a restitution order against a licensee?
No. The Attorney General concluded that Louisiana's CPA board lacks authority to go to court to enforce restitution. It may, however, require proof of payment as part of a disciplinary remedy and…
Can a Louisiana parish president's office take over occupational license tax collection from the sheriff?
No, if the sheriff chooses to collect the parish's occupational license taxes. The attorney general said Livingston Parish lacked specific legislative authority to replace the sheriff with its…
Can a Louisiana fire district call a full-time firefighter a contractor and give only some civil-service benefits?
No. The attorney general said Brownsfield's proposed full-time firefighter/operator position was classified civil service despite the contract label. Giving the worker some full-time benefits while…
Can a Louisiana town require stores to hide displays of items that could become drug paraphernalia?
The Louisiana Attorney General found no law authorizing Greenwood to regulate the display of items such as bongs and grinders that could become drug paraphernalia if used with drugs. The opinion…
Can a Louisiana town refund years of sewer fees when a customer's property was connected to a private septic tank?
The attorney general said Jena could not refund the fees without evidence that the town caused the mistaken charges. If a record showed the customer requested disconnection or gave notice and the…
Can a full-time Tangipahoa Parish deputy sheriff also serve as an elected constable?
No. The attorney general classified the full-time deputy sheriff job as an appointive office and the constable role as an elective office. The dual-officeholding statute barred that combination even…
Do Bogalusa police employees keep twelve months of sick leave after the city's population falls below the statutory threshold?
Yes, under Bogalusa's continuing civil-service rules. The attorney general said the city's old police and fire civil-service rules still gave police employees twelve months of sick leave despite its…
Can a Louisiana parish coroner's office issue bonds to advance future opioid settlement payments?
Yes, with State Bond Commission approval. Louisiana coroners are 'political subdivisions' for purposes of the Local Government Budget Act and the bond statutes, so a coroner's office can issue bonds…
Does a Louisiana village automatically become a town after its population passes 1,000, and can it restrict who runs for police chief?
No automatic reclassification. The attorney general said French Settlement could remain a village after modest population growth, but its council had to adopt a resolution and its mayor had to send…
Could Marksville's mayor promote a patrol officer to detective after a tied council vote?
Yes, the promotion could stand, but the tie vote was not the reason. The attorney general said the mayor could appoint an existing police officer to the detective position without a board vote on…
Can a full-time St. Tammany Parish employee also serve on the Slidell City Council?
Yes under the dual-officeholding law the attorney general examined. Slidell and St. Tammany Parish are separate political subdivisions, so the office said a full-time parish employee could hold a…
Can Louisiana DOTD require local governments to get its permit and follow its extra rules for mobile speed cameras?
The attorney general said no under the statutes it examined. It found DOTD's Policy for Traffic Enforcement Systems on State Highway Rights-of-Way exceeded the agency's authority and was…
Must Louisiana's massage therapy board report license denials and discipline to the National Practitioner Data Bank?
No, according to the attorney general. It said the board regulated Louisiana massage therapy outside the health-care services covered by the Data Bank's reporting rule, so denials of initial or…
Can Oberlin hire a code enforcement officer to operate a handheld speed camera, and who supervises that officer?
Yes, if the person hired is a law enforcement officer. The attorney general said Oberlin could hire such an officer to enforce its speed-device ordinance, but the elected police chief, rather than…
Can someone run for Youngsville police chief if they moved into the city less than a year before candidate qualifying?
No. The attorney general said the potential candidate had to be domiciled in Youngsville for the full year immediately before qualifying. Moving there in August 2023 was too late for July 2024…
Can a Louisiana parish police jury legally own and operate a pug mill to produce road-paving material for its own roads?
Yes. Sabine Parish Police Jury may purchase and operate a pug mill for producing oil sand used on parish roads. La. R.S. 38:2212(R) prohibits public entities from owning or operating manufacturing…
Can a Louisiana professional law corporation become a business LLC and keep practicing law?
No. The attorney general said a professional law corporation could not amend its articles to become a general business LLC while continuing to practice law. The opinion treated that change as…
Can Louisiana's Nineteenth Judicial District Court use a one-time court-cost appropriation for temporary employee pay supplements?
Yes, according to the attorney general. It treated court employee compensation as an operational court cost and said the court could use the one-time appropriation in Act 397 of 2023 for the…
Did Louisiana's attorney general approve the Absentee Certificate Instructions form for distribution?
Yes, after one spelling correction. The attorney general found the submitted Absentee Certificate Instructions compliant with Louisiana law and approved printing and distribution once 'example' was…
Can a Louisiana police officer use in-car video to issue a traffic ticket at the scene or mail one later?
An officer may use video equipment in a law enforcement vehicle to issue a citation at the time of an offense. The attorney general said the same statute does not allow officers to record a…
If a Louisiana waterworks district commissioner loses his seat after missing four straight meetings, can the police jury just reappoint him to the same seat?
Yes. Louisiana law treats four consecutive missed meetings as creating a vacancy on a waterworks district board, but nothing in the statute or the parish code prevents the police jury from filling…
Can a St. John the Baptist Parish housing authority commissioner serve on the parish Democratic executive committee?
Yes under the dual-officeholding law the attorney general examined. Although the party committee members are elected, Louisiana's definition of elective office excludes a political party office, so…
Can Alexandria's development authority grant money to help a company lease a facility outside the city?
Not on the facts presented. The attorney general said the Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority could not grant $360,000 toward a company's lease outside its boundaries when the proposed…
Can a full-time Lafayette Parish sheriff's employee serve on the Lafayette City Council?
Yes, under the Louisiana dual-officeholding law the attorney general considered. The sheriff's office and city council were separate political subdivisions, and the City Council was not the parish…
Do Louisiana's municipal police pay and hour rules apply to French Settlement, and what if its overtime ordinance is more generous?
The AG said the state police pay-and-hours provisions it examined did not apply to French Settlement because its population was about 1,100, below the statutory threshold. The AG declined to opine…
Must Louisiana's LaSalle Economic Development District use a fiscal agent and secure its bank deposits?
Yes. The attorney general said the district was a public entity whose funds had to be held with a fiscal agent, and that the agent had to secure the deposits using an instrument listed in La. R.S.…
Can St. Helena Parish's emergency-preparedness director also serve in the Louisiana House?
No. The attorney general classified the full-time parish emergency-preparedness director as holding an appointive office and a state representative as holding elective state office. La. R.S.…
Can a Louisiana state representative also sit on Washington Parish's library and fire district boards?
Yes under the dual officeholding law as applied here. The AG classified both parish board seats as part-time appointive offices, which the cited prohibition did not bar alongside a state…
Is Homer's police chief owed marshal fees for earlier work if the town never set the fee amounts?
No. Homer's charter makes the chief and marshal one office, but the AG found no additional marshal compensation due because the mayor and council had not fixed the amounts. Setting amounts later…
What share of retiree insurance did Webster Parish owe a deputy hired there in 2018 who planned to retire in 2024?
On the facts given, the Louisiana AG said Webster Parish would pay 50% of this deputy's retiree insurance premiums if he retired directly from its sheriff's office in 2024. The Webster-specific rule…
Must New Orleans wait out every review period before approving a payment-in-lieu-of-tax proposal?
No. The Louisiana AG said the Office of Economic Development may send a PILOT recommendation before its 45-day period ends, and the City Council may proceed to its legislative period before using…
Can Livingston Parish exempt diapers and feminine hygiene products from its dedicated roads and jail sales tax?
Yes. The Louisiana AG said the parish may exempt those purchases from all or part of its sales and use tax under La. R.S. 47:337.10.2. Exempting items from the tax is different from using collected…
Must Lafourche Parish's coroner repay past autopsy fees, and which parish pay ordinance controls?
The attorney general said no reimbursement was due if the parish found that past payments were for work earned, but the office could not make that factual finding itself. State law controlled…
Can someone convicted of a felony in Georgia become a Louisiana notary without a pardon?
No, on the facts the AG assumed: the Georgia offense would be a felony in Louisiana and the conviction had not been pardoned. The AG said a pardon from Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles would…
Can New Orleans' City Council require the city attorney to brief it before police consent-decree filings?
The Louisiana AG said the City of New Orleans is the law department's primary client and the council generally cannot direct it in matters outside the council's own role. For litigation in which the…
Could Livingston Parish's sheriff buy land for an emergency center near the 2023 governor's election despite payroll-padding limits?
Yes, under the facts the Louisiana AG reviewed. The land purchase and ongoing construction were capital-project costs, not the operating expenses restricted by the political payroll-padding statutes.
Can a Louisiana parish amend a budget after the fiscal year has ended to handle adjustments that came in late?
No. St. John the Baptist Parish cannot amend an adopted budget for a prior fiscal year. Amendments must occur in the current fiscal year. The opinion explains how borrowing to remedy a deficit…
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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.