Louisiana Amendment 2, Senate Confirmation for Appointees to State Civil Service Commission Measure (December 2022)

Louisiana Amendment 2
Election date December 10, 2022
Topic Civil service
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Louisiana Amendment 2, the Senate Confirmation for Appointees to State Civil Service Commission Measure, was on the ballot in Louisiana as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on December 10, 2022. The amendment was approved.

A "yes" vote supported requiring senate confirmation of State Civil Service Commission appointees after they are appointed by the governor.

A "no" vote opposed requiring senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointees to the State Civil Service Commission, thereby retaining current law in which members of the State Civil Service Commission are appointed by the governor without senate confirmation.

Election results

Louisiana Amendment 2
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		300,635	70.92%
No		123,250	29.08%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What did this measure change about appointments to the State Civil Service Commission?

See also: Text of measure

The amendment required senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointees to the State Civil Service Commission. The commission regulates and administrates the state civil service system.

The Louisiana State Constitution defines state civil service members as "all persons holding offices and positions of trust or employment in the employ of the state, or any instrumentality thereof, and any joint state and federal agency, joint state and parochial agency, or joint state and municipal agency, regardless of the source of the funds used to pay for such employment."

Going into the election, six members of the Louisiana State Civil Service Commission were appointed by the governor. The presidents of Centenary College, Dillard University, Loyola University, Tulane University, Xavier University, and Louisiana College each nominated three individuals. The governor selected one member from each of the presidents' nominations. The members needed to each be from one of the state's six congressional districts. The seventh member was an employee representative elected by other state employees. Going into the election, the appointments were not subject to confirmation by the Louisiana State Senate.

Was there a related amendment on the December 2022 ballot in Louisiana?

A constitutional amendment to require Senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointees to the State Police Commission was also on the December ballot in Louisiana.

The Louisiana State Police Commission was created through a constitutional amendment in 1990 that removed the state police from the state civil service system and created a separate state police service. Going into the election, appointments to the Civil Service Commission and State Police Commission were similar.

Text of measure

Ballot question

The ballot question for the amendment was as follows:

“

Do you support an amendment to make appointed members of the State Civil Service Commission subject to confirmation by the Louisiana Senate? (Amends Article X, Section 3(B)(1) and (C)) [ ]Yes [ ] No

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article X, Louisiana Constitution

The measure amended Section 3 of Article X of the state constitution. The following struck-through text was deleted and underlined text was added. Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

State Civil Service Commission

(A) Composition. The State Civil Service Commission is established and shall be domiciled in the state capital. It shall be composed of seven members who are electors of this state, four of whom shall constitute a quorum. At least one appointed member shall be from each congressional district. In order to implement this requirement, every ten years beginning on the day the members of congress from newly reapportioned congressional districts take office, any vacancy that occurs on the commission shall be filled from a congressional district from which there is no commission member. Only when the membership includes a member from each congressional district may a vacancy be filled by an appointment from the state at large.

(B)(1) Appointment. The members shall be appointed by the governor with consent of the Senate, as hereinafter provided, for overlapping terms of six years.

(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, except that it shall apply to any term of service of any such person that begins after such date.

(C) Nominations. The presidents of Centenary College at Shreveport, Dillard University at New Orleans, Louisiana College at Pineville, Loyola University at New Orleans, Tulane University of Louisiana at New Orleans, and Xavier University at New Orleans, after giving consideration to representation of all groups, each shall nominate three persons. The governor shall appoint one member of the commission from the three persons nominated by each president. One member of the commission shall be elected by the classified employees of the state from their number as provided by law. A vacancy for any cause shall be filled by appointment or election in accordance with the procedure or law governing the original appointment or election, and from the same source. Within thirty days after a vacancy occurs, the president concerned shall submit the required nominations. Within thirty days thereafter, the governor shall make his appointment, with consent of the Senate. If the governor fails to appoint within thirty days, the nominee whose name is first on the list of nominees automatically shall become a member of the commission, with consent of the Senate. If any nominating authority fails to submit nominees in the time required, or if one of the named institutions ceases to exist, the governor shall make the appointment to the commission, with consent of the Senate.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2022

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 10, and the FRE is 43. The word count for the ballot title is 29.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• State Sen. Cleo Fields (D)

Arguments

• State Sen. Cleo Fields (D): "I could not come up with one single reason why we did not put confirmation in the constitution when we created it. I just don’t know. There’s just really no good reason why we did not put the confirmation of these members.” Fields also said Louisiana is the only state with a separate oversight commission for state police and that all other boards and commissions in the state constitution require Senate confirmation of gubernatorial appointments.
• State Rep. Barry Ivey (R): "Commission appointments should be subject to legislative oversight (Senate confirmation) because it would give the public some say in the appointments."

Opposition

Opponents

Organizations

• Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police

Arguments

• Rep. Polly Thomas (R): According to the LA Illuminator, Thomas "was reluctant to support the [bills], saying she disapproved of the tradition that allows a single senator to 'blackball' a nominee if the nominee lives in that senator’s district."

Media editorials

See also: 2022 ballot measure media endorsements

Ballotpedia lists the positions of media editorial boards that support or oppose ballot measures. This does not include opinion pieces from individuals or groups that do not represent the official position of a newspaper or media outlet. Ballotpedia includes editorials from newspapers and outlets based on circulation and readership, political coverage within a state, and length of publication. You can share media editorial board endorsements with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Support

• The New Orleans Advocate Editorial Board: "Because Civil Service is such an important function of government, we see no grave harms in confirmation — so long, as CABL helpfully points out, that the Senate polices its processes to avoid politicizing these decisions."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Louisiana ballot measures

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Ballotpedia has not identified political action committees registered to support or oppose this measure. If you are aware of one, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

Louisiana civil service

The Louisiana State Constitution defines the state civil service as "all persons holding offices and positions of trust or employment in the employ of the state, or any instrumentality thereof, and any joint state and federal agency, joint state and parochial agency, or joint state and municipal agency, regardless of the source of the funds used to pay for such employment." The constitution divides civil service employees as classified and unclassified and provides that all positions not listed under unclassified are classified positions. Unclassified civil service employees include:

• 1: elected officials and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices;
• 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;
• 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;
• 7: members of the military or naval forces;
• 8: 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;
• 9: 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;
• 10: commissioners of elections, watchers, and custodians and deputy custodians of voting machines; and
• 11: railroad employees whose working conditions and retirement benefits are regulated by federal agencies in accordance with federal law.

The State Civil Service Commission regulates and administrates the state civil service system. Going into the election, six members of the Louisiana State Civil Service Commission were appointed by the governor. The presidents of Centenary College, Dillard University, Loyola University, Tulane University, Xavier University, and Louisiana College each nominated three individuals. The governor selected one member from each of the presidents' nominations. The members needed to each be from one of the state's six congressional districts. The seventh member is an employee representative that is elected by other state employees. Going into the election, the appointments were not subject to confirmation by the Louisiana State Senate.

Related amendments on the 2022 ballot in Louisiana

November 8

An amendment to allow classified service/civil service employees to publicly support the election campaigns of individuals in their immediate family when off duty was on the November ballot in Louisiana.

December 10

A constitutional amendment to require Senate confirmation of State Police Commission appointees after they are appointed by the governor was also on the December ballot in Louisiana.

Constitutional amendments on the ballot, 2000-2020

See also: List of Louisiana ballot measures

The following statistics are based on legislatively referred constitutional amendments on the even-year ballot in Louisiana between 2000 and 2020:

• During the 20-year period between 2000 and 2020, the statewide ballot in Louisiana featured 104 constitutional amendments.
• An average of 10 amendments appeared on the ballot.
• The number of amendments on the ballot ranged from four to 21.
• Voters approved 71.15% (74 of 104) and rejected 28.85% percent (30 of 104) of the constitutional amendments.

Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments in even-years, 2000-2020
Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Even-year average	Even-year median	Even-year minimum	Even-year maximum
104	74	71.15%	30	28.85%	9.45	8.0	4	21

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Louisiana Constitution

In Louisiana, a two-thirds vote is needed in each chamber of the Louisiana State Legislature to refer a legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the ballot for voter consideration.

This amendment was introduced as Senate Bill 160 on March 2, 2022. On April 18, 2022, the state Senate passed SB 160 in a vote of 36-0 with two members absent. The House passed the bill with amendments on June 3, 2022, by a vote of 95-0 with 10 members absent. The Senate concurred with the House's amendments and passed the bill on June 5, 2022, by a vote of 32-0 with six members absent.

Vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives June 3, 2022
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 70  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	95	0	10
Total percent	96.15%	0.00%	3.84%
Democrat	29	0	5
Republican	63	0	5
Independent	3	0	0

Vote in the Louisiana State Senate June 5, 2022
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 26  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	32	0	6
Total percent	84.21%	0.00%	15.79%
Democrat	7	0	4
Republican	25	0	2

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Louisiana

Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Louisiana.

How to cast a vote in Louisiana

Poll times In Louisiana, polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central time for Tuesday elections. For Saturday elections, polls open at 7:00 a.m. If the polls close while a voter is in line, he or she will still be permitted to vote. Registration requirements Check your voter registration status here. To vote in Louisiana, one must provide documentary proof of United States citizenship and be a resident of the state and parish in which they register. A voter must be at least 18 years old by Election Day. Registration completed via mail or in person must occur at least 30 days before Election Day. Registration completed online must occur at least 20 days before Election Day. Registrants must present a valid form of identification to register. Pre-registration is available beginning at age 16. Voters may register in person at any Registrar of Voters office or any of the following places: Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles Louisiana Department of Social Services WIC offices Food stamp offices Medicaid offices Offices and agencies serving people with disabilities Military recruitment offices Automatic registration Louisiana does not practice automatic voter registration. Online registration See also: Online voter registration Louisiana has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registration Louisiana does not allow same-day voter registration. Residency requirements Louisiana law requires 20 days of residency in the state before a person may vote. Verification of citizenship See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States Louisiana state law requires a voter registration applicant to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. As of June 2025, the state had not implemented the requirement. All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters. Verifying your registration The site Geaux Vote, run by the Louisiana Secretary of State office, allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirements Louisiana requires voters to present photo identification while voting. Voters can present the following forms of identification. This list was current as of August 14, 2024. Click here to ensure you have the most current information. Louisiana driver's license Louisiana special identification card LA Wallet digital driver's license Military ID or other generally recognized picture identification card that contains the name and signature of the voter Voters who do not have accepted ID may vote by completing a voter identification affidavit. By law, voters who sign an affidavit may be challenged. Registered voters can bring their voter information card to the Office of Motor Vehicles to receive a free Louisiana special identification card.

See also

2022 measures

• 2022 ballot measures
• Civil service on the ballot

Louisiana

• Louisiana ballot measures
• Louisiana ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Louisiana Senate Bill 160 information
• Louisiana Senate Bill 160 full text