(B) City Civil Service. The city civil service is established and includes all persons holding offices and positions of trust or employment in the employ of each city having over four hundred thousand population and in every instrumentality thereof. However, paid firemen and municipal policemen may be excluded if a majority of the electors in the affected city voting at an election held for that purpose approve their exclusion. The election shall be called by the municipal governing authority within one year after the effective date of this constitution.
Louisiana CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE X
PUBLIC OFFICIALS & EMPLOYEES
Art. X §1 | CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEMS
(B) City Civil Service. The city civil service is established and includes all persons holding offices and positions of trust or employment in the employ of each city having over four hundred thousand population and in every instrumentality thereof. However, paid firemen and municipal policemen may be excluded if a majority of the electors in the affected city voting at an election held for that purpose approve their exclusion. The election shall be called by the municipal governing authority within one year after the effective date of this constitution.
Art. X §2 | CLASSIFIED AND UNCLASSIFIED SERVICE
(B) Unclassified Service. The unclassified service shall include the following officers and employees in the state and city civil service:
(2) the heads of each principal executive department appointed by the governor, the mayor, or the governing authority of a city;
(3) city attorneys;
(4) registrars of voters;
(5) members of state and city boards, authorities, and commissions;
(6) one private secretary to the president of each college or university;
(7) one person holding a confidential position and one principal assistant or deputy to any officer, board, commission, or authority mentioned in (1), (2), (4), or (5) above, except civil service departments;
(8) members of the military or naval forces;
(9) teaching and professional staffs, and administrative officers of schools, colleges, and universities of the state, and bona fide students of those institutions employed by any state, parochial, or municipal agency;
(10) employees, deputies, and officers of the legislature and of the offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, each mayor and city attorney, of police juries, school boards, assessors, and of all offices provided for in Article V of this constitution except the offices of clerk of the municipal and traffic courts in New Orleans;
(11) commissioners of elections, watchers, and custodians and deputy custodians of voting machines;
(12) railroad employees whose working conditions and retirement benefits are regulated by federal agencies in accordance with federal law; and
(13) the director, deputy director, and all employees of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Art. X §3 | STATE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
(B)
(2) No person who has served as a member of the commission for more than two and one-half terms in three consecutive terms shall be appointed to the commission for the succeeding term. This Subparagraph shall not apply to any person appointed to the commission prior to the effective date of this Subparagraph,1 except that it shall apply to any term of service of any such person that begins after such date.
Notes
Art. X §4 | CITY CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
(B) New Orleans; Nomination and Appointment. In New Orleans, the presidents of Dillard University, Loyola University, Tulane University of Louisiana, and Xavier University, after giving consideration to representation of all groups, each shall nominate three persons. In addition, the employees in the classified service of the city of New Orleans shall nominate three persons in the classified service of the city of New Orleans by means of an election called for that purpose. The municipal governing authority shall appoint one member of the commission from the three persons nominated by each nominating authority.
(C) Other Cities; Nomination and Appointment. In each other city subject to this Section, the presidents of any five institutions of higher education in the state, selected by the governing authority of the respective city, each shall nominate three persons, after giving consideration to representation of all groups. The municipal governing authority shall appoint one member of the commission from the three persons nominated by each.
(D) Vacancies. A vacancy shall be filled by appointment in accordance with the procedure for the original appointment and from the same source. Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, in a seat held by a university nominee, the university president concerned shall submit the required nominations. Within sixty days after this amendment is ratified by the electors of the state of Louisiana, and when a vacancy occurs in a seat held by a nominee nominated by employees in the classified service, there shall be held an election at which the employees in the classified service shall nominate three persons in accordance with this Section. Within thirty days thereafter, the municipal governing authority shall make the appointment. If the municipal governing authority fails to make the appointment within the thirty days, the nominee whose name is first on the list of nominees automatically shall become a member of the commission. If one of the nominating authorities fails to submit nominees in the time required, or if one of the named institutions ceases to exist, the municipal governing authority shall make the appointment.
(E) New Orleans; Implementation of Certain Member. The member appointed from nominations by the classified employees of the city of New Orleans shall be the successor to the member nominated by the president of St. Mary's Dominican College and the initial member so appointed shall take office at the expiration of the term of the member who took office on April 30, 1987.
Art. X §5 | REMOVAL
Art. X §6 | DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE; DIRECTORS
(B) City Departments. A department of city civil service shall exist in each city having a population exceeding four hundred thousand.
(C) Directors. Each commission shall appoint a director, after competitive examination, who shall be in the classified service. He shall be the administrative head of his department. Each director shall appoint personnel and exercise powers and duties to the extent prescribed by the commission appointing him.
Art. X §7 | APPOINTMENTS; PROMOTIONS
Art. X §8 | APPEALS
(B) Discrimination. No classified employee shall be discriminated against because of his political or religious beliefs, sex, or race. A classified employee so discriminated against shall have the right of appeal to the appropriate commission pursuant to Section 12 of this Part. The burden of proof on appeal, as to the facts, shall be on the employee.
Art. X §9 | PROHIBITIONS AGAINST POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
(B) Contributions. No person shall solicit contributions for political purposes from any classified employee or official or use or attempt to use his position in the state or city service to punish or coerce the political action of a classified employee.
(C) Political Activity Defined. As used in this Part, "political activity" means an effort to support or oppose the election of a candidate for political office or to support a particular political party in an election. The support of issues involving bonded indebtedness, tax referenda, or constitutional amendments shall not be prohibited.
Art. X §10 | RULES; INVESTIGATIONS; WAGES AND HOURS
(b) Nothing herein shall prevent the legislature from supplementing the uniform pay plans for sworn, commissioned law enforcement officers employed by a bona fide police agency of the state or its political subdivisions and for fire protection officers employed by a port authority, from any available funds of the state, the department, the agency, or the political subdivision, provided that such supplement may be made available only for those sworn, commissioned law enforcement officers employed on a full-time basis who serve the welfare of the public in the capacity of a police officer by providing police services to the general public, by effecting arrests, issuing citations, and serving warrants while patrolling waterways and riverfront areas and for those fire protection officers employed on a full-time basis who provide fire protection services to a port authority.
(3) Layoffs; Preference Employees. When a position in the classified service is abolished, or needs to be vacated because of stoppage of work from lack of funds or other causes, preference employees (ex-members of the armed forces and their dependents as described in this Section) whose length of service and efficiency ratings are at least equal to those of other competing employees shall be retained in preference to all other competing employees. However, when any function of a state agency is transferred to, or when a state agency is replaced by, one or more other state agencies, every preference employee in classifications and performing functions transferred, or working in the state agency replaced, shall be transferred to the replacing state agency or agencies for employment in a position for which he is qualified before that state agency or agencies appoint additional employees for such positions from eligible lists. The appointing authority shall give the director written notice of any proposed lay-off within a reasonable length of time before its effective date, and the director shall issue orders relating thereto which he considers necessary to secure compliance with the rules. No rule, regulation, or practice of the commission, of any agency or department, or of any official of the state or any political subdivision shall favor or discriminate against any applicant or employee because of his membership or non-membership in any private organization; but this shall not prohibit any state agency, department, or political subdivision from contracting with an employee organization with respect to wages, hours, grievances, working conditions, or other conditions of employment in a manner not inconsistent with this constitution, a civil service law, or a valid rule or regulation of a commission.
(4) Effect. Rules adopted pursuant hereto shall have the effect of law and be published and made available to the public. Each commission may impose penalties for violation of its rules by demotion in or suspension or discharge from position, with attendant loss of pay.
(C) Wages and Hours. Any rule or determination affecting wages or hours shall have the effect of law and become effective only after approval by the governor or the appropriate governing authority.
Art. X §11 | PENALTIES
Art. X §12 | APPEAL
(B) Cities. Each city commission established by Part I of this Article shall have the exclusive power and authority to hear and decide all removal and disciplinary cases, with subpoena power and power to administer oaths. It may appoint a referee to take testimony, with subpoena power and power to administer oaths to witnesses. The decision of a commission shall be subject to review on any question of law or fact upon appeal to the court of appeal wherein the commission is located, upon application filed with the commission within thirty calendar days after its decision becomes final.
Art. X §13 | APPROPRIATIONS
(B) Cities. Each city subject to this Part shall make adequate annual appropriations to enable its civil service commission and department to implement this Part efficiently and effectively.
Art. X §14 | ACCEPTANCE OF ACT; OTHER CITIES, PARISHES, CITY AND PARISH GOVERNED JOINTLY
(B) Acceptance. If a majority of the electors vote to adopt this Part, its provisions shall apply permanently to the city, the parish, or the city-parish, as the case may be, and shall govern it as if this Part had originally applied to it. In such case, all officers and employees of the city, the parish, or the city-parish, as the case may be, who have acquired civil service status under a civil service system established by legislative act, city charter, or otherwise, shall retain that status and thereafter shall be subject to and be governed by this Part and the rules and regulations adopted under it.
(C) Rejection. If a majority of the electors vote against the adoption of this Part, the question of its adoption shall not be resubmitted to the voters of the political subdivision within one year thereafter.
Art. X §15 | CITY, PARISH CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM; CREATION; PROHIBITION
Nothing in this Part shall permit inclusion in the local civil service of officials and employees listed in Section 2 of this Article.
No law enacted after the effective date of this constitution establishing a civil service system applicable to one or more parishes or to one or more municipalities having a population of less than four hundred thousand shall be effective in any parish or in any municipality until approved by ordinance adopted by the governing authority of the parish or municipality.
Art. X §16 | ESTABLISHMENT OF SYSTEM
Art. X §17 | APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS
Art. X §18 | PRIOR PROVISIONS
Art. X §19 | EXCLUSION
Art. X §20 | POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
Art. X §21 | CODE OF ETHICS
Art. X §22 | DUAL EMPLOYMENT AND DUAL OFFICEHOLDING
Art. X §23 | COMPENSATION OF ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS; REDUCTION
Art. X §24 | IMPEACHMENT
(B) Procedure. Impeachment shall be by the House of Representatives and trial by the Senate, with senators under oath or affirmation for the trial. The concurrence of two-thirds of the elected senators shall be necessary to convict. The Senate may try an impeachment whether or not the House is in session and may adjourn when it deems proper. Conviction upon impeachment shall result in immediate removal from office. Nothing herein shall prevent other action, prosecution, or punishment authorized by law.
Art. X §25 | REMOVAL BY SUIT; OFFICIALS SUBJECT
Art. X §25.1 | REMOVAL BY SUIT; STATE, DISTRICT, PAROCHIAL, WARD, OR MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES
Art. X §26 | RECALL
Art. X §27 | FILLING OF VACANCIES
(B) Qualifications. Nothing in this Section shall change the qualifications for any office, and every appointee must be otherwise eligible to hold the office to which appointed.
Art. X §28 | DEFINITION OF VACANCY
Art. X §29 | RETIREMENT AND SURVIVOR'S BENEFITS
(B) Other Officials and Employees. The legislature shall enact laws providing for retirement of officials and employees of the state, its agencies, and its political subdivisions, including persons employed jointly by state and federal agencies other than those in military service, through the establishment of one or more retirement systems. Membership in any retirement system of the state or of a political subdivision thereof shall be a contractual relationship between employee and employer, and the state shall guarantee benefits payable to a member of a state retirement system or retiree or to his lawful beneficiary upon his death.
(C) Retirement Systems; Change; Notice. No proposal to effect any change in existing laws or constitutional provisions relating to any retirement system for public employees shall be introduced in the legislature unless notice of intention to introduce the proposal has been published, without cost to the state, in the official state journal on two separate days. The last day of publication shall be at least sixty days before introduction of the bill. The notice shall state the substance of the contemplated law or proposal, and the bill shall contain a recital that the notice has been given.
(D) Compensation for Survivors of Law Enforcement Officers and Firemen. The legislature shall establish a system, including the expenditure of public funds, for compensating the surviving spouses and dependent children of law enforcement officers, firemen, and personnel, as defined by law, who die, or who died after June 30, 1972, as a result of injury sustained in the performance of official duties or in the protection of life or property while on or off duty.
(E) Actuarial Soundness.
(2) For public retirement systems whose benefits are guaranteed by this constitution as is specified in Paragraphs (A) and (B) of this Section:
(b) The legislature shall, in each fiscal year, by law, provide an amount necessary to fund the employer portion of the normal cost, which shall be determined in accordance with the method of valuation established under (1) above.
(c) The legislature shall, in each fiscal year, by law, provide for the amortization of the unfunded accrued liability existing as of June 30, 1988, which shall be determined in accordance with the method of valuation selected in (1) above, by the year 2029, commencing with Fiscal Year 1989-1990.
(d) Amounts provided for under (b) and (c) above are hereby guaranteed payable, each fiscal year, to each retirement system covered herein. If, for any fiscal year, the legislature fails to provide these guaranteed payments, upon warrant of the governing authority of the retirement system, following the close of said fiscal year, the state treasurer shall pay the amount guaranteed directly from the state general fund.
(4) For all state and statewide public retirement systems, neither the state nor the governing authority of such system shall take any action that shall cause the actuarial present value of expected future expenditures of the retirement system to exceed or further exceed the sum of the current actuarial value of assets and the actuarial present value of expected future receipts of the retirement system, except with respect to the following:
(b) Capital outlay expenditures of the retirement system.
(c) Management of investments of the retirement system.
(d) Cost-of-living increases to retirees, as provided by law, provided the retirement system is approaching actuarial soundness as provided by law, and the granting of such increase does not cause an increase in the actuarially required contribution rate.
(G) Forfeiture of Retirement Benefits; Felony Convictions. The receipt of a public retirement benefit shall be expressly conditioned upon the rendition of honorable service by the public official or employee. Notwithstanding any provision of this constitution or of any home rule charter to the contrary, the legislature may provide for the forfeiture of all or part of the benefits from a public retirement system, plan, or fund in this state by any person who holds or held any public office or employment and who is convicted of a felony associated with and committed during his service in such public office or employment. The legislature may provide for the application of all or part of any forfeited benefits to the unfunded accrued liability of the system, plan, or fund. The provisions of this Paragraph shall be applied only to persons employed, re-employed, or elected on or after January 1, 2013. The provisions of this Paragraph shall be applied only to benefits earned on or after January 1, 2013.
Art. X §29.1 | PART-TIME PUBLIC OFFICIALS
(2) Any member of a city council, city-parish council, or town council or any alderman or any constable.
(3) Any member of a board or commission established by the state of Louisiana or any instrumentality or political subdivision thereof unless authorized by law enacted by two-thirds of the elected members of each house.
(4) Any person holding or serving in any other elected or appointed position or office defined to be part-time public service by law enacted by two-thirds of the elected members of each house.
(C) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to participation in the Louisiana Public Employees Deferred Compensation Plan, or its successor.
(D) This Section shall become effective on January 1, 1997.
Art. X §30 | OATH OF OFFICE
"I, . . ., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution and laws of the United States and the constitution and laws of this state and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as . . ., according to the best of my ability and understanding, so help me God."
Art. X §41 | STATE POLICE SERVICE
(B) Implementation. The provisions of this Part IV shall become effective on January 1, 1991; however, prior to that date members of the State Police Commission shall be selected and take office and shall adopt rules and take actions necessary to implement this Part on January 1, 1991.
Art. X §42 | CLASSIFIED AND UNCLASSIFIED SERVICE
(B) Unclassified Service. The State Police Commission shall determine those positions which shall be in the unclassified service and may provide that any such position shall become classified.
Art. X §43 | STATE POLICE COMMISSION
(B)
(2) No person who has served as a member of the commission for more than two and one-half terms in three consecutive terms shall be appointed or elected to the commission for the succeeding term. This Subparagraph shall not apply to any person appointed or elected to the commission prior to the effective date of this Subparagraph,1 except that it shall apply to any term of service of any such person that begins after such date.
(D) Removal. An appointed member of the commission may be removed by the governor for cause after being served with written specifications of the charges against him and being afforded an opportunity for a public hearing thereon by the governor.
Notes
Art. X §44 | DIRECTOR
Art. X §45 | APPOINTMENTS; PROMOTIONS
Art. X §46 | APPEALS
(B) Discrimination. No classified state police officer shall be discriminated against because of his political or religious beliefs, sex, or race. A classified state police officer so discriminated against shall have the right of appeal to the commission. The burden of proof on appeal, as to the facts, shall be on the state police officer.
Art. X §47 | PROHIBITIONS AGAINST POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
(B) Contributions. No person shall solicit contributions for political purposes from any classified state police officer or use or attempt to use his position to punish or coerce the political action of a classified state police officer.
(C) Political Activity Defined. As used in this Part, "political activity" means an effort to support or oppose the election of a candidate for political office or to support a particular political party in an election. The support or opposition of a candidate seeking election as the classified state police officer member of the State Police Commission, issues involving bonded indebtedness, tax referenda, or constitutional amendments shall not be prohibited.
Art. X §48 | RULES; INVESTIGATIONS; WAGES AND HOURS
(2) Veterans. The director shall accord a five-point preference in original appointment to each person honorably discharged, or discharged under honorable conditions from the armed forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam Era from July 1, 1958 through May 7, 1975, except the period of July 1, 1958 through August 4, 1964, shall apply only to those who served within the area known as the Vietnam Theater; or during a war declared by the United States Congress; or in a peacetime campaign or expedition for which campaign badges are authorized; or for at least ninety days after September 11, 2001, for reasons other than training; or during war period dates or dates of armed conflicts as provided by state law enacted by two-thirds of the elected members of each house of the legislature. The director shall accord a ten-point preference in original appointment to each honorably discharged veteran who served either in peace or in war and who has one or more disabilities recognized as service-connected by the Veterans Administration; to the spouse of each veteran whose physical condition precludes his or her appointment to the state police service; to the unremarried widow of each deceased veteran who served in a war period, as defined above, or in a peacetime campaign or expedition; or to the unremarried widowed parent of any person who died in active wartime or peacetime service or who suffered total and permanent disability in active wartime or peacetime service; or the divorced or separated parents of any person who died in wartime or peacetime service or who became totally and permanently disabled in wartime or peacetime service. However, only one ten-point preference shall be allowed in the original appointment to any person enumerated above. If the ten-point preference is not used by the veteran, either because of the veteran's physical or mental incapacity which precludes his appointment to the classified state police service or because of his death, the preference shall be available to his spouse, unremarried widow, or eligible parents as defined above, in the order specified. However, any such preference may be given only to a person who has attained at least the minimum score required on each test and who has received at least the minimum rating required for eligibility.
(3) Layoffs; Preference Employees. When a position in the classified state police service is abolished, or must be vacated because of stoppage of work from lack of funds or other causes, preference employees (ex-members of the armed forces and their dependents as described in this Section) whose length of service and efficiency ratings are at least equal to those of other competing employees shall be retained in preference to all other competing employees. However, when any function of the state police is transferred to, or when the state police is replaced by, one or more other state agencies, every preference employee in classifications and performing functions transferred, or working in the state police, shall be transferred to the replacing state agency or agencies for employment in a position for which he is qualified before that state agency or agencies appoint additional employees for such positions from eligible lists. The appointing authority shall give the commission written notice of any proposed lay-off within a reasonable length of time before its effective date, and the commission shall issue orders relating thereto which it considers necessary to secure compliance with the rules. No rule, regulation, or practice of the commission, of any agency or department, or of any official of the state shall favor or discriminate against any applicant or employee because of his membership or nonmembership in any private organization; but this shall not prohibit the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of state police, or its successor, from contracting with an employee organization with respect to wages, hours, grievances, working conditions, or other conditions of employment in a manner not inconsistent with this constitution, law, or a valid rule or regulation of the commission.
(4) Effect. Rules adopted pursuant hereto shall have the effect of law and be published and made available to the public. The commission may impose penalties for violation of its rules by demotion in or suspension or discharge from position, with attendant loss of pay.
(C) Wages and Hours. Any rule or determination affecting wages or hours shall have the effect of law and become effective only after approval by the governor and subject to appropriation of sufficient funds by the legislature.
Art. X §49 | PENALTIES
Art. X §50 | APPEAL
Art. X §51 | APPROPRIATIONS
This material might help you recover from the damages that lawbreaking judges/lawyers/agencies/organizations have inflicted upon you [and/or the public] (see this example of a Florida judge who outright committed perjury).
Perhaps it'll [even] help you navigate through your state's administrative gauntlet. A gauntlet which might include – but not be limited to:
- State Agency Bribery;
- State Agency Corruption;
- State Agency Obstruction; and
- State Agency Self-Discrimination
Sincerely,
www.TextBookDiscrimination.com
