Sponsor agrees to limit civil-service constitutional change to state employees after New Orleans officials raise concern

The House Civil Law and Procedure Committee advanced Senate Bill 8 after the bill’s sponsor agreed to clarify that the proposed constitutional change would apply only to state civil service positions, not municipal or city civil-service systems.

What the bill would do: SB 8 proposes an amendment to Article X, Section 2 of the Louisiana Constitution to allow the legislature to add certain officers, positions, and employees to the unclassified civil service by law. The author's stated intent at the hearing was to enable legislative action regarding state civil-service positions only; he said he would accept an amendment to make that limitation explicit so municipal systems would not be affected.

Why this matters: Several witnesses from New Orleans — including a member of the New Orleans Civil Service Commission and a local firefighter representative — urged the committee to ensure the amendment would not sweep in city-level civil-service systems, including New Orleans’ consolidated city system, and in particular not affect police and fire classification. They cited past experience where classification changes in critical public-safety or emergency functions had produced disruptive contract and personnel results. Andrew Monteverdi, a New Orleans civil-service commissioner, asked the committee to “make it plain in the ballot language” that city civil service is not affected.

Committee action: The sponsor (Senator Morris) acknowledged that the text as drafted could be read to include both state and city civil service and said his intent was only to affect state employees; he offered to add clarifying language either in committee or on the floor. The chair then moved to report SB 8 as amended (to include clarifying language limiting effect to state civil service), and the committee adopted the motion without objection. Committee staff confirmed an amended 6.8(a) report was adopted.

Next steps and context: The author said he will file or accept an amendment to make the ballot language and statutory text explicit that the change applies to state civil service only; the committee recorded the bill as reported with that understanding. Witnesses urged careful ballot wording so voters understand the measure will not alter municipal or New Orleans civil-service protections.

Ending: The sponsor’s agreement to clarify scope addressed the core stakeholder concern and allowed the committee to advance the measure; New Orleans officials asked for follow-through to ensure ballot language and final statutory text remove ambiguity and protect local civil-service arrangements.