Provides for a clerk of court in Orleans Parish. (8/1/26)

SB 256 consolidates the separate offices of clerk of the civil district court and clerk of the criminal district court in Orleans Parish into a single clerk of court position. The bill amends multiple sections of Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 13 (courts and judicial procedure) and Title 18 (elections) to eliminate all references distinguishing between the two separate clerk positions and instead provides for one clerk of the court for Orleans Parish elected by qualified electors. The clerk will have authority over both civil and criminal district court operations and will appoint deputies and minute clerks with removal authority vested in either the clerk or the court en banc to which they are assigned. The legislation also restructures fee distribution and expense fund management, requiring the clerk to deposit no less than forty percent of collected fees in the Clerk's Salary Fund and sixty percent in the judicial expense fund for the Civil District Court.

The consolidation directly affects the administrative structure of Orleans Parish courts and impacts both city and state funding obligations. The City of New Orleans will continue paying minute clerk salaries at July 1, 2026 amounts until the Consolidated Judicial Expense Fund executive committee certifies sufficient funds, at which point salary payment responsibility shifts to the consolidated expense fund. Beginning July 1, 2027, any amounts previously paid by the state general fund for minute clerks will be charged to the Consolidated Judicial Expense Fund for Orleans Parish. The bill protects existing salary levels by requiring the city to continue current payments and prohibiting reduction of appropriations for constitutional officers and their staff without legislative approval through the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's constitutional framework governing judicial administration and court clerk duties established in Title 13 of the Revised Statutes. The consolidation represents a fundamental restructuring of Orleans Parish's court administration while preserving existing compensation commitments and requiring oversight through the Consolidated Judicial Expense Fund structure. The effective date of August 1, 2026 provides implementation time for the transition from dual clerk positions to unified administration under a single elected clerk responsible for all district court functions in Orleans Parish.