BATON ROUGE — Despite a major push from Gov. Jeff Landry and other prominent Republican leaders across the state, Louisiana voters rejected four constitutional amendments in Saturday’s election.
The amendments, approved by the Louisiana Legislature last year, would have impacted the state’s criminal justice system, judicial elections, tax code, and even the continuation of a $2,000 teacher stipend.
Complete but unofficial election results show that a majority of voters overwhelmingly opposed the proposed constitutional changes.
“This is not the end for us, and we will continue to fight to make the generational changes for Louisiana to succeed,” Landry said in a statement. “We do not see this as a failure. We realize how hard positive change can be to implement in a State that is conditioned for failure.”
His full statement is below.
ELECTION RESULTS FROM SECRETARY OF STATE
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Amendment 1:
The failure of this amendment means the state will maintain current provisions governing the Louisiana Supreme Court’s oversight of lawyer discipline. It also preserves the Legislature’s limited authority to create specialty courts within parish and judicial district boundaries, according to the independent Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.
Opponents argued there was no clear reason to expand lawmakers’ power to create new courts.
Amendment 2:
By rejecting this amendment, voters opted to keep existing provisions on revenue collection, budgeting procedures, savings accounts, and taxation limits, according to PAR. The amendment sought to restructure one of the 14 constitutional articles governing state taxes and finance.
Opponents contended that the amendment was overly complex and could negatively impact average taxpayers.
Its failure also puts a permanent $2,000 teacher pay raise in jeopardy. For the past two years, the state has provided teachers with a $2,000 stipend to supplement salaries, while support staff received a $1,000 stipend. Gov. Landry warned that without the amendment’s passage, the state would not be able to continue funding these stipends.
“The primary goal of Amendment 2 was to create a better opportunity for our citizens. To work towards inviting people into our State rather than have them leave. Unfortunately, Soros and far left liberals poured millions into Louisiana with propaganda and outright lies about Amendment 2,” said Governor Landry.
Amendment 3:
With this amendment’s defeat, the state will maintain its current list of 16 crimes for which individuals under the age of 17 can be charged as adults. Lawmakers had sought to expand this list to include additional felony offenses, according to PAR.
Amendment 4:
Voters chose to retain existing election rules for filling judicial vacancies or newly created judgeships, which require a special election and the seating of a judge within 12 months of a vacancy.
Lawmakers had proposed aligning these special elections with the regular election calendar to streamline the process, PAR notes. However, voters rejected the change, keeping the current timeline in place.
Full statement from Gov. Landry
“Amendment 2 was a chance to permanently lower the maximum state income tax rate, double the tax deductions for residents over the age of 65, create a government growth limit, provide a permanent pay raise for teachers and school staff, maintain the homestead exemption and protect religious organizations, keep more tax dollars in local communities, allow for the elimination of inventory tax, and protect against special interest tax breaks.
“The primary goal of Amendment 2 was to create a better opportunity for our citizens. To work towards inviting people into our State rather than have them leave. Unfortunately, Soros and far left liberals poured millions into Louisiana with propaganda and outright lies about Amendment 2,” said Governor Landry. “Although we are disappointed in tonight’s results, we do not see this as a failure. We realize how hard positive change can be to implement in a State that is conditioned for failure. We will continue working to give our citizens more opportunities to keep more of their hard-earned money and provide a better future for Louisianians. This is not the end for us, and we will continue to fight to make the generational changes for Louisiana to succeed.”
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