Proposed Amendment No.      
Act 537 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session
To move the convening of the legislature in annual regular session in even numbered years to the second Monday in March and in odd-numbered years to the second Monday in April and to change the effective date of legislation enacted at such sessions to August first. (Effective January 1, 2012.) (Amends Article III, Sections (A)(3)(a) and (4)(a) and 19)

Proposed Amendment No.      
Act 538 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session
To provide that the director, deputy director and all employees of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness shall be in the unclassified service of the state civil service. (Becomes effective 20 days after the governor proclaims its adoption.) (Amends Article X, Sections 2(B)(11) and (12); adds Article X, Section 2 (B)(13))

November 2, 2010
General Elections

Proposed Amendment No.      
Act 540 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session
To provide relative to the bidding process for ad valorem property tax sales by authorizing a bidder at a tax sale to bid down the existing five percent penalty in increments of one-tenth of one percent; to require the payment of penalties by a bidder at ad valorem property tax sales; to require the payment of interest, penalties, and costs by a taxpayer who is delinquent on the payment of taxes on movables. (Becomes effective 20 days after the governor proclaims its adoption.) (Amends Article VII, Section 25(A)(1) and (E))

Proposed Amendment No.      
Act 541 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session
To decrease the amount of taxes retained by the state on the severance of natural resources, other than sulphur, lignite, and timber, and to increase the maximum amount of such revenues which are remitted to the parish governing authority from where the severance occurs, to be implemented in the event that the official forecast of severance tax revenues for any fiscal year includes an estimate for severance tax collections which will exceed that actually collected by the state in Fiscal Year 2008-2009; to change the annual maximum amount to be remitted to a parish governing authority from eight hundred fifty thousand dollars to one million eight hundred fifty thousand dollars for the first fiscal year of implementation, which amount would increase to two million eight hundred fifty thousand dollars for the following and subsequent fiscal years; to provide for annual adjustment of the maximum amounts in accordance with the consumer price index; to require that of the revenues received by a parish governing authority under these provisions, that portion which is in excess of the amount of such revenues received in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 be used within the parish for the same purposes as monies received from the Parish Transportation Fund; to require that of the severance taxes and royalty revenues retained by the state from activity on state lands within the Atchafalaya Basin, up to ten million dollars per year be deposited into a special fund created in the state treasury to be known as the Atchafalaya Basin Conservation Fund; to provide that monies in this fund be used exclusively for conservation, improvement, and management of the Atchafalaya Basin in accordance with formal state and federal plans; to require legislative approval for and specific limitations on the use of monies appropriated from the fund. (Effective April 1, 2012.) (Adds Article VII, Section 4(D)(4))

Proposed Amendment No.      
Act 542 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session
To provide that the power of a taxing authority with a governing authority which is not elected to increase millage rates without voter approval after reappraisal, which is presently limited by the prior year's maximum millage rate, be further limited to annual increases which do not exceed two and one-half percent of the property tax collections for the immediately preceding calendar year; to exclude from such restriction taxing authorities which are special fire protection or fire department districts or ports, port harbor, and terminal districts, and millages levied by certain levee districts under authority granted by the Constitution of Louisiana. (Effective January 1, 2011.) (Amends Article VII, Section 23(C))

Proposed Amendment No.      
Act 539 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session
To provide that any salary increase enacted by law for certain state elected officials, including statewide elected officials, members of the Public Service Commission, and members of the legislature, not be implemented until a subsequent term of office. (Becomes effective 20 days after the governor proclaims its adoption.) (Amends Article IV, Section 4; Adds Article III, Section 4(G) and Article IV, Section 21(F))