A Breakdown of Louisiana Constitutional Amendments

There are nine amendment proposals on the ballot for voters in Louisiana. Here's a break down of the eight amendments pertaining to the ArkLaMiss: The first amendment involves the medicaid trust fund for the elderly. If passed, the legislature or governor would be prohibited from taking money from the fund to help balance the state operating budget. The second amendment would affirm the right to keep and bear arms as a fundemental right in the state. It would delete a line in the constitution that says the right to keep and bear arms doesn't prevent the passage of laws to prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons. If it doesn't pass, the existing language in the constitution would stay, which affirms that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged but does not require strict scrutiny of arms laws and allows the legislature to regulate concealed weapons. The third amendment gives earlier notice of public retirement system bills. This means bills affecting the state's public retirement systems would be required to be filed a month earlier than other types of legislation submitted before a legislative session. The fourth amendment gives property tax exemption for spouses of certain disabled veterans. The spouse of a deceased veteran who had a 100 percent service related disability would be allowed to claim a higher homestead exemption. The fifth amendment would strip elected and public officials convicted of a felony of their public retirement benefits. It would strip some or all of the benefits and it would be up to the courts to decide. Only the publicly funded portion of a person's retirement benefit would be affected. In amendment seven, the membership selection process would be adjusted for constitutionally created boards and commissions that have members selected based on the state's congressional districts. It would ensures that each congressional district is represented equally. In amendment eight, the property tax exemption for competitive projects would enable Louisiana Economic Development or local governments to extend a 10-year property tax exemption to highly competitive projects in targeted sectors. The proposed amendment would create a limited exemption from local property taxes for certain targeted non-manufacturing businesses in parishes and towns that decide to take part in the program. The first $10 million of assessed value or 10% of the fair market value (whatever is greater) would be taxed. Any value above that would be exempt. In addition, at least 50% of the business's sales would have to be out-of-state customers, or in-state customers who resell the product out of state, or to federal government, or some combination thereof. And finally, amendment nine would increase the number of times that bills to create crime prevention and security districts must be advertised and require that the notices of intent state whether a parcel fee would be imposed and collected, whether the fee could be imposed or increased without an election, and what the maximum amount of the fee would be. Additionally, voters will decide if they want to limit the amount of time a person can serve on a school board. The vote will be made on a district basis and would limit school board members to three consecutive terms, a maximum of 12 years. The limits would begin with the next election and the amount of time already served on the school would not apply. Right now, there is no term limit.

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A Breakdown of Louisiana Constitutional Amendments