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Committee approves resolution directing law institute to collect Justice of the Peace data, amends language to 'report' not 'recommend'
Summary
The committee voted 7–6 to advance HR 149, amended to replace 'study' with 'data collection' and 'recommendations' with 'report,' authorizing the Louisiana State Law Institute to assemble statistics on Justice of the Peace courts for a legislative report due Feb. 1, 2026.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to move HR 149 favorably after amending it to clarify that the Louisiana State Law Institute should conduct data collection on Justice of the Peace (JP) courts and provide a report to the legislature rather than making statutory recommendations.
Representative McMakin, sponsor of the resolution, said the instrument is intended to gather current operational data—case counts, funding methods, and expenditure information—rather than immediately propose abolition or statutory changes. Committee amendments removed language that some JP stakeholders read as proposing abolition and changed several occurrences of “study” to “conduct data collection.” Representative LaFleur offered and the committee adopted an amendment replacing the word “recommendations” with “report” and required submission no later than Feb. 1, 2026.
Multiple JPs and constables appeared to express support for data collection but asked to be included in consultations; Justice of the Peace Connie Moore described JP courts as the “people’s court” handling small claims, evictions and other matters informally and said previous Supreme Court-directed reporting (circa 2011–2016) had been conducted quarterly but later suspended. Witnesses said some financial and case-count reporting already exists—many JPs submit financial reports to the legislative auditor and other filings to the Supreme Court—and the resolution’s purpose is to compile those existing data points into a legislative report.
During floor-style questioning some members asked for assurances that data collection would not impose new workloads or require additional unpaid tasks on part-time JPs; the sponsor stated the resolution would not require extra work beyond existing reports and that the State Law Institute and other agencies (ethics, legislative auditor) would be asked to aggregate data already held by those bodies.
Committee vote: Representative Sarang moved favorably as amended. The roll call recorded 7 yeas and 6 nays; the resolution was reported favorably as amended.
Ending: The resolution was advanced with amended language that emphasizes data collection and reporting; members and witnesses asked the law institute and other agencies to coordinate so the effort uses already-submitted information and minimizes new burdens on part-time JPs.
