(Constitutional Amendment) Creates a compensation commission to provide for the salary and other compensation of elected officials and provides for an automatic adjustment at the beginning of each new term of office based upon increase in the consumer price index (OR SEE FISC NOTE GF EX)

HB 249 proposes a constitutional amendment that would establish an independent compensation commission within the office of the legislative auditor to set salaries and compensation for elected officials whose pay is established by statute. The commission would be composed of no more than fifteen members serving a single ten-year term, after which it would cease to exist. The commission would conduct a comprehensive review and evaluation of compensation for each office or class of offices within its jurisdiction at least once, and publish its salary determinations no later than January fifteenth of the last full calendar year of the term of office in question. The amendment modifies existing constitutional provisions in Article III Section 4(G), Article IV Sections 4 and 21(F), and adds the new Article X Section 23.1, replacing language regarding "adoption or enactment of the increase" with references to the compensation commission process established in the new constitutional section.

The practical effect of this amendment would extend to all elected officials whose salaries are set by statute, including members of the legislature, statewide elected officials, and members of the Public Service Commission. Once the commission establishes initial compensation amounts, the legislative auditor would automatically adjust those amounts at the beginning of each subsequent term of office to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers as calculated by the United States Department of Labor. This automatic adjustment mechanism would replace the current legislative process of voting on compensation increases, and any changes would become effective at the start of the subsequent term following either the commission's establishment of the salary or the legislative auditor's computation of the adjustment. The legislature would be required to make adequate annual appropriations to fund the commission's operations through the end of its ten-year term.

Under present Louisiana constitutional law, salary increases for legislators and statewide elected officials may not take effect until the commencement of the subsequent term following adoption or enactment of the increase, and compensation cannot be decreased during an elected official's term. This amendment preserves the protection against salary decreases during a term and maintains the requirement that increases take effect only in subsequent terms, but shifts the authority to set and adjust compensation from the legislature acting through statute to the commission and legislative auditor acting through a constitutional mechanism. The amendment would require voter approval at the November 3, 2026 statewide election before taking effect. The framework operates within the existing constitutional structure governing elected official compensation while creating a new independent body insulated from legislative discretion to modify pay on a case-by-case basis.