HLS 24RS-406 ORIGINAL
2024 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 666
BY REPRESENTATIVE JORDAN
CIVIL SERVICE/FIRE & POL: Removes the Baton Rouge Police Department from the
municipal fire and police civil service system
1 AN ACT
2To amend and reenact Paragraph (1) of Article XIV, Section 15.1 of the 1921 Constitution
3 of Louisiana, as amended, continued as a statute pursuant to Article X, Section 18
4 of the 1974 Constitution of Louisiana, and R.S. 33:2471(A) and 2476.8, to enact R.S.
5 33:2476(C)(5), and to repeal R.S. 33:2476(B)(1)(e) and 2494(C)(4), relative to
6 relative to the municipal fire and police civil service system; to remove the Baton
7 Rouge police department from the system; and to provide for related matters.
8Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. Paragraph (1) of Article XIV, Section 15.1 of the 1921 Constitution of
10Louisiana, as amended, continued as a statute pursuant to Article X, Section 18 of the 1974
11Constitution of Louisiana, is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
12 §15.1. Fire and police civil service; municipalities of 13,000 to 250,000
13 1. Applicability. (a) This Section applies to any municipality which
14 operates a regularly paid fire and police department and which has a population of
15 not less than thirteen thousand nor more than two hundred fifty thousand according
16 to the latest regular federal census for which the official figures have been made
17 public.
18 (b) Notwithstanding Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, this Section does
19 not apply to the Baton Rouge police department.
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HB NO. 666
1 Section 2. R.S. 33:2471(A) and 2476.8 are hereby amended and reenacted and R.S.
233:2476(C)(5) is hereby enacted to read as follows:
3 §2471. Applicability
4 A.(1) This Part applies to any municipality which operates a regularly paid
5 fire and police department and which has a population of not less than thirteen
6 thousand nor more than two hundred fifty thousand according to the latest regular
7 federal decennial census for which the official figures have been made public.
8 (2) Notwithstanding Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, this Part does not
9 apply to the Baton Rouge police department.
10 * * *
11 §2476. Municipal fire and police civil service boards
12 * * *
13 C.
14 * * *
15 (5) Notwithstanding Paragraph (3) of this Subsection, both members of the
16 board appointed pursuant to that Paragraph in the city of Baton Rouge shall be
17 elected and appointed from the fire department, and the board shall be knows as the
18 municipal fire civil service board.
19 * * *
20 §2476.8. City of Baton Rouge municipal fire and police civil service board; board
21 secretary
22 Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S. 33:2476(L)(1), the Baton Rouge
23 municipal fire and police civil service board may fill the office of secretary by
24 employing unclassified personnel whom the board deems qualified. The secretary
25 shall receive compensation and benefits comparable to that of other full-time
26 classified or unclassified personnel employed in similar positions or performing
27 similar job functions. The secretary is solely accountable to the board and serves at
28 the pleasure of the board.
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions. HLS 24RS-406 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 666
1 Section 3. R.S. 33:2476(B)(1)(e) and 2494(C)(4) are hereby repealed in their
2entirety.
3 Section 4. This Act shall take effect and become operative if and when the proposed
4amendment of Article X of the Constitution of Louisiana contained in the Act which
5originated as House Bill No. of this 2024 Regular Session of the Legislature is adopted
6at a statewide election and becomes effective.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 666 Original 2024 Regular Session Jordan
Abstract: Removes the Baton Rouge police department from the municipal fire and police
civil service system.
Present constitution creates a system of classified fire and police civil service for all
municipalities having a population exceeding 13,000 and operating a regularly paid fire and
municipal police department and to all parishes and fire protection districts operating a
regularly paid fire department.
Present constitution retains as statutes provisions of the 1921 Constitution of La. applicable
to the municipal fire and police civil service. Authorizes the legislature, by law enacted by
two-thirds of the elected members of each house, to amend those provisions but prohibits
the legislature from abolishing the system or making the system inapplicable to any
municipality having a population exceeding 13,000 or to any parish or fire protection district
operating a regularly paid fire department.
Proposed law, pursuant to proposed constitutional amendment in House Bill No. ,
removes the Baton Rouge police department from the municipal fire and police civil service
system.
Effective if and when the proposed amendment of Article X of the Constitution of La.
contained in the Act which originated as House Bill No. of this 2024 R.S. of the
Legislature is adopted at a statewide election and becomes effective.
(Amends Const. 1921, Art. XIV, Sec. 15.1(1) and R.S. 33:2471(A) and 2476.8; Adds R.S.
33:2476(C)(5); Repeals R.S. 33:2476(B)(1)(e) and 2494(C)(4))
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.