Louisiana’s House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a measure to convene a constitutional convention in August to overhaul the state’s governing principles and give lawmakers the tools to make major reforms.
The lower house voted 75 to 27 in favor of House Bill 800, surpassing the two-thirds majority requirement for holding such conventions. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Gerald “Beau” Beaullieu (R-New Iberia) and had the support of Gov. Jeff Landry.
The current constitution, containing 250,000 words, has been cluttered with special-interest additions since it was drawn up in the 1970s, Landry said during a recent press conference. It now contains more than 200 amendments and limits state lawmakers from implementing key reforms and changes in fiscal policies, according to the governor.
“The tools we're trying to give the Legislature are those they have never had …” he said. “This is not a rewrite of the constitution. This is a reorganization of the constitution. It's like cleaning up your yard. It's springtime."
The overall goal is for Louisiana to attract people who are moving out of states with excessive taxation, according to Landry. That will entail giving state lawmakers the flexibility they need to make Louisiana more competitive with other Southern states, he said.
Among those who advised Landry about policy issues during the transition period was Daniel Erspamer, the CEO of the New Orleans-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy. Two years ago, the Pelican Institute published a report containing recommendations on how to effectively carry out a constitutional revision.
“This last election cycle really was a debate around transformational change,” Erspamer told the Louisiana Record. “... Our read of polls and what mandate lawmakers have coming out of this election is the need for big, sweeping changes.”
Being on the transition council with about 20 others was not “some secret backroom thing,” he said. Instead, the council worked hard to identify ways to get the state out from under decades of challenges and setbacks.
“A constitution exists to set the framework of governments and … sets out a philosophy for how a state should be governed,” Erspamer said.
But Louisiana’s crowning legal document has gotten overloaded with policy directives that would be better left to statutes, he said. Under a streamlined constitution, lawmakers would have more flexibility to make key course corrections without going through the protracted process of amending the constitution, according to Erspamer.
Supporters of reforming the constitution point out that constitutional amendments constrain lawmakers’ options with respect to fiscal and tax policies. But a constitutional convention may also affect the state’s courts and overall judicial system as well.
“The governor has talked a lot about the constitution currently limiting the Legislature’s ability to create specialty courts,” Erspamer said, indicating that Landry has expressed an interest in expanding drug courts and other specialty panels.
As proposed by HB 800, the constitutional convention would not affect Articles I, II, III or IV, which outline citizens’ personal rights and protections. In addition, delegates at the convention could choose to transfer provisions currently in the constitution over to statutes, Erspamer said, and a two-thirds requirement can be imposed to modify them.
“This is a critical and necessary step to writing Louisiana’s comeback story and turning that ship around,” he said.