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 former homeowners keep a homestead exemption after donating the house but retaining a lifetime usufruct?
Yes, on the facts described. The AG concluded that two natural-person former owners who reserved a usufruct and continued occupying the home could claim the exemption under La. Const. art. VII, §…
Could a Louisiana city marshal charge separate fees for serving a garnishment and interrogatories together?
Yes. Under the fee schedule discussed in the 2015 opinion, the Shreveport marshal could charge separately for a garnishment under a writ of fieri facias and the attached interrogatories, totaling…
Could a Louisiana town council rehire a police officer without hearing its elected chief's recommendation?
The AG said Newellton's council acted prematurely by rehiring a police officer without giving its elected chief an opportunity to recommend. The council had to consider the chief's recommendation,…
Could Lockport's volunteer fire chief also sit on the Lafourche Parish Council?
The AG said the Lockport Volunteer Fire Company chief could also hold a Lafourche Parish Council seat because, on the facts supplied, the fire-chief role was a volunteer company position rather than…
Could a Cotton Valley alderman take the town’s appointment to the North Webster industrial district board?
No. The AG concluded that a Cotton Valley alderman could not hold the town’s appointed seat on the North Webster Parish Industrial District board because the alderman participated in the town…
Could the Louisiana Housing Corporation raise its low-income housing program fees without a two-thirds legislative vote?
No. The AG concluded that the Louisiana Housing Corporation could not increase the described fee schedule merely by rule. Under La. Const. art. VII, § 2.1, a new or increased state-agency fee…
Who controlled the Welsh police department’s traffic, forfeiture, evidence, and safekeeping accounts?
The AG classified the accounts by the kind of money they held. Traffic-enforcement proceeds belonged in the town’s general fund; drug forfeiture money had to be separate but remained municipal…
Could a Louisiana 911 district buy land solely as an investment?
No. The AG said Tangipahoa Communication District No. 1 could not buy immovable property solely as a future investment when it had no plan to use the property and identified no public purpose for…
Did a Louisiana first-offender pardon alone restore firearm possession or concealed-carry eligibility?
No. The 2015 opinion said a Louisiana first-offender pardon did not by itself end a firearm prohibition under La. R.S. 14:95.1 or make a prohibited person eligible for a concealed-carry permit. It…
Could Louisiana’s health department enforce the new state plumbing code after the 2016 transfer of authority?
The AG concluded that DHH would not enforce the new State Uniform Construction Code plumbing provisions effective January 1, 2016; designated building officials would. DHH retained health inspection…
Could Lafayette Parish collect prior property taxes after correcting an improper homestead exemption?
Yes. The AG concluded that an improper or erroneous homestead exemption could be corrected as an erroneous assessment under La. R.S. 47:1966, requiring collection of back taxes for up to three prior…
Could a board appointee who was not Senate-confirmed be reappointed to the same office during a later legislative recess?
No. The AG concluded that La. R.S. 24:14G barred Rodger Wheaton’s recess reappointment to the same board office after he had not been confirmed in the session following his first appointment, even…
Could St. Charles Parish Council amend its adopted budget without a request from the parish president?
The AG advised that the council could initiate a post-adoption amendment without the parish president only when the operations underlying the adopted budget had changed. It treated the separate…
Could Creola collect traffic fines before court when it had no mayor’s court?
No. Because Creola had no mayor’s court and prosecuted its municipal traffic citations in district court, the AG said advance fine payments had to be received and deposited by the district court,…
Must a Louisiana charter school disclose the name of the admissions test it uses?
Yes. The AG said Lusher Charter School had to disclose the name of its admissions exam under the Public Records Law. It distinguished a request for the exam’s contents, which the school could deny…
Could Cameron Parish give justice of the peace courts jurisdiction over its overgrown-grass ordinance?
No. The AG concluded that only the legislature could confer jurisdiction on justice of the peace courts. Although the parish police jury could enact an overgrown-grass and weeds ordinance, it could…
Could a Louisiana clerk of court buy certificates of deposit through a brokerage firm?
The AG concluded that the Assumption Parish clerk of court could not use a broker or investment firm to buy certificates of deposit indirectly. The clerk could engage an investment adviser to advise…
Could Oakdale pay the employee’s interest on retirement contributions missed because of an enrollment error?
No. The AG concluded that the city could not pay interest on the judge’s employee share of retirement contributions missed because of an administrative enrollment error. Under the cited statute, the…
Could a Terrebonne recreation district name part of a ballpark walkway after a living former board member?
Yes. The AG concluded that naming a section of the district’s ballpark walkway after a living former board member did not violate the statutory bar on naming an entire public park or building for a…
Could Mandeville require contractor qualification forms with every public-works bid?
No. The AG said Mandeville could not require all bidders to submit AIA Document A305 or EJCDC Statement C-451 with their bids because the statute specified the permitted bid-opening materials. It…
Could a volunteer fire company use parish fire-protection money to pay annual bonuses for accident-free driving?
No. The AG concluded that Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1 could not use public funds received under its Jefferson Parish fire-protection contract for the proposed safe-driving bonus. It…
Could a Garyville volunteer firefighter also be vice president of the fire department and work for its parish’s private contractor?
Yes, under the dual officeholding law addressed by the opinion. The AG treated the volunteer firefighter and vice-president roles as outside that law, and the mechanic’s job as employment by a…
May Allen Parish maintain Oakdale's streets and drainage facilities, and who pays for the work?
Yes. The AG said Allen Parish could maintain Oakdale’s municipal roads and drainage facilities on the city's request or through an intergovernmental agreement, subject to the limits the opinion…
Did former cotton-gin properties used for equipment storage qualify for farm tax treatment?
The AG said each tract had to meet the statutory land-use and eligibility criteria for use-value assessment, while a building needed to qualify as a farm structure on land devoted to agriculture for…
Did the petition to recall Washington Police Chief Ronnell Broussard have enough valid signatures for an election?
Yes. The AG said the petition to recall Washington Police Chief Ronnell “Bruce” Broussard had 356 valid signatures, exceeding the 322 needed under the town's 40 percent threshold. It concluded the…
Could Cameron Parish schools use settlement money for bond debt and stop collecting the bond tax?
The AG said the school board could use excess, unrestricted settlement proceeds to help pay or defease its general obligation bonds, subject to the settlement’s terms. That use did not excuse the…
Who had primary responsibility for serving Bunkie city court bench warrants: the marshal or police chief?
The AG said the marshal, as executive officer of the city court, had primary responsibility for serving its bench warrants within the marshal’s territory. The police chief still had a concurrent…
Could Palmetto’s volunteer fire chief also work part time as a village police deputy and gas and water operator?
The AG concluded that Louisiana’s dual officeholding law did not bar the volunteer fire chief from holding the two described part-time village jobs. It treated the volunteer chief role as outside…
Must a Louisiana employee repay crisis leave awarded beyond the pool balance because of an agency error?
The AG said an employee who received too many crisis-leave hours because of an agency administrative error did not have to replace the deficit. The agency should restore the pool through future…
Could a Louisiana drainage district reimburse private landowners for erosion control on their property?
The AG said the drainage district could financially assist erosion work on private land if it had authority for the drainage purpose and received at least equivalent public value. It had to value…
Could Alexandria's economic development authority create a nonprofit to restore blighted property?
The AG said the Greater Alexandria Economic Development Authority could establish a nonprofit cooperative economic development corporation to help restore and develop distressed city property,…
Could a Cajundome Commission employee also serve on the Lafayette City-Parish Council?
No, if the positions were held at the same time. The AG concluded that the council’s review of the Cajundome Commission’s budget and audits, along with city-parish funding of the commission,…
Could Sabine Parish’s tourism director also serve as a police juror?
The AG said Sabine Parish’s full-time tourism commission executive director could not also serve as a police juror. If the director position became part-time, the state dual-officeholding provisions…
Could West Feliciana Parish’s council or president control its tourist commission?
The AG said the West Feliciana Parish Tourist Commission was a separate political subdivision. The parish council appointed its directors but had no general power to remove or control them under the…
Could a Louisiana hospital service district add a nonvoting ex officio member to its board?
The AG said no. State law fixed the district board at five commissioners appointed by the parish governing authority, and the board could not enlarge it by calling an additional person a nonvoting…
Could a Louisiana mayor give an appointed town clerk a raise without the board of aldermen?
No. The AG said Grand Coteau’s mayor could not unilaterally raise its appointed town clerk’s pay. Under the Lawrason Act provision it applied, the board of aldermen was the authority to increase…
Could Opelousas pay for its high school band to travel to a Washington, D.C. parade?
No. The AG said Opelousas could not donate $10,000 in city funds for the high school band’s trip to perform in Washington, D.C. The proposed payment served no city-authorized purpose identified in…
Did Louisiana’s state executive-branch board term limit apply to the Firefighters’ Retirement System trustees?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the Firefighters’ Retirement System board was not a board or commission in the executive branch of state government for purposes of La. R.S. 42:3.2, so that…
Could a Louisiana widow claim the homestead exemption on her late husband’s separate-property mobile home?
Yes. The AG said the surviving spouse could claim the homestead exemption while occupying the mobile home and holding a usufruct, even though it had been her husband’s separate property and she had…
Must a Louisiana assessor provide tax-roll data on a disc when the same information is searchable online?
The AG said yes if the assessor maintained the public data so that a disc copy could easily be made. Posting a searchable website did not replace the duty to provide the electronic copy; a…
Could Bogalusa police exclude sick leave hours from overtime calculations after an officer used 120 hours?
The AG said Bogalusa's order excluding sick leave from contract-overtime calculations after 120 hours of sick leave did not conflict with the cited state rules, because it did not remove paid sick…
Could Concordia Parish abandon the part of Ferguson Road needed to reach land in Tensas Parish?
Only if Concordia Parish could show that its portion of Ferguson Road no longer served a public purpose. The AG considered access to Tensas Parish and seven landowners in that analysis. Even after…
Could a Louisiana fire district use its fire-protection tax to pay for parish-wide air ambulance service?
No. The AG said Concordia Fire Protection District No. 2 could not use the tax dedicated to fire facilities and equipment to help pay for parish-wide helicopter ambulance service. It could use other…
Could a Louisiana city pay police and firefighter recruits a one-time sign-on incentive?
The AG said Natchitoches's proposed one-time sign-on payment to new police officers and firefighters would violate the public-funds rule as described. The city had not tied it to future services or…
Could a Louisiana human services district use support-fund money to reimburse its own clinic for a patient deductible?
Yes, if the payment served the fund’s statutory purpose and the recipient met objective need criteria. The AG said the Capital Area Human Services District could reimburse its own clinic for the…
Could Caddo Parish constables keep multiple deputies appointed before the 2015 law limited them to one?
No. The AG concluded that Act 93 took effect on August 1, 2015, and allowed each Caddo Parish justice-of-the-peace constable only one deputy from that date. The act contained no grandfather clause…
Did Lake Charles have to provide fire protection to the port and airport inside city limits without charging them?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that Lake Charles had to respond to fire emergencies at the port and airport facilities located within city limits without charging those entities. Because that…
Must a Louisiana fire district pay full-time and part-time firefighters the same hourly rate?
No automatic equal rate was required. The AG said La. R.S. 33:1969 required equal compensation for equal performance of duty and responsibility, but full-time and part-time work in the described…
Could a Louisiana justice of the peace also work part-time as a school bus driver?
The AG said Louisiana’s Dual Officeholding Law did not bar a justice of the peace from working part-time as a school board bus driver because the positions belonged to separate political…
Did Blanchard become eligible for alcohol sales when its surrounding Louisiana election district became wet?
The AG said Blanchard remained dry under its separate 1981 local-option vote, even though reorganization made the surrounding unincorporated area wet. Removing a town ordinance could not undo the…
Did a Louisiana fire district have to write a job description for its part-time secretary-treasurer?
The AG found no statute or court opinion requiring Terrebonne Fire District No. 10 to have a job description for its part-time secretary-treasurer. It treated that job as unclassified service but…
Did Louisiana public-records, audit, meeting and bid laws apply to a volunteer fire department receiving public funds?
The AG said the nonprofit volunteer fire department was not a public entity, but its records tied to public funds were subject to the Public Records Law. Audit coverage depended on statutory…
Could a Louisiana parish use a road-lighting tax to move utility poles for a public trail?
The AG said St. James Parish could use its dedicated road-lighting millage to relocate utility poles that carried lights or supported other lighting poles. The move kept public street lighting in…
Could a Louisiana public library bar political groups from meeting rooms or charge for campaign use?
The AG said Rapides Parish Library had likely created a public forum by opening meeting rooms to groups. It could impose reasonable restrictions but could not exclude a group for its political…
Were a Louisiana advocacy nonprofit’s staff job descriptions public records?
Only if they were connected to public money. The AG said the Advocacy Center was subject to Louisiana’s Public Records Law for records tied to its receipt or expenditure of public funds, but its…
Could a Louisiana sewer district reduce a developer's impact fees in exchange for a larger sewer line?
The AG said the district could reduce impact fees to offset a developer's added cost of installing a larger sewer line for its expansion plan, if it received at least equivalent value.
Could Jackson Parish waive sales tax on materials for a new hotel?
No. The AG said Jackson Parish could not waive its sales and use tax for materials bought to build a proposed hotel, because the Uniform Local Sales Tax Code supplied no exemption for that purchase.
Could St. Charles Parish invest its post-employment benefits trust in securities allowed by Louisiana’s trust statute?
Yes. The AG said St. Charles Parish could invest its post-employment benefits trust in the securities listed in La. RS. 33:5162(A), subject to that statute’s restrictions, because the trust was…
Could a full-time Lafourche Parish public works employee also work part time for a drainage district?
The AG said the employee could hold both jobs under the Dual Officeholding Law on the facts supplied. The cited prohibition concerned two full-time posts, while the drainage district job was part time.
Could the French Quarter district raise sales tax or spend its proceeds for a different purpose without another vote?
The AG said the French Quarter Economic Development District could impose an additional sales tax only after district voters approved it. The district had to use the proceeds for the purpose stated…
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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.