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LouisianaHB 8472026 Regular SessionHouse

DISTRICTS/WATER CONSERVN: Provides for the election, duties, and requirements of district supervisors of the soil and water conservation commission (EN DECREASE LF EX See Note)

Sponsored By: Rhonda Gaye Butler (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.

Conservation supervisors face meeting attendance requirements

Louisiana soil and water conservation district supervisors must attend at least two-thirds (66⅔%) of scheduled meetings over 12 months. Supervisors who fall short cannot be reappointed or reelected unless the state commission waives the requirement for good cause. A waiver requires a formally adopted commission resolution. The commission can remove a supervisor only for neglect of duty or misconduct in office, after notice and a hearing.

New election rules for conservation districts

Louisiana's secretary of state runs soil and water conservation district supervisor elections as private elections. Nomination petitions may be filed with the state commission within 30 days after a district receives its organization certificate. The commission can extend that period, and qualified voters can sign petitions for more than one candidate. Each petition needs at least 25 qualified district voters' signatures, certified by the parish registrar where the signers live. Petition nominees go to the secretary of state, and the three candidates with the most votes become elected supervisors. Afterward, one supervisor is elected each year, with terms starting July 1 after the election. The law removes the fixed second-Saturday-in-June election date and the commission's duties to fund, supervise, and publish election results. The secretary of state and agriculture and forestry commissioner can adopt rules to carry out this process.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Rhonda Gaye Butler

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 142 • No: 0

Senate vote • 5/12/2026

Rules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 33 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

Yes: 33 • No: 0

House vote • 4/1/2026

Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 95, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

Yes: 95 • No: 0

House vote • 3/26/2026

Reported with amendments

Yes: 14 • No: 0

Actions Timeline

  1. Signed by the Governor. Becomes Act No. 180.

    5/15/2026House

  2. Effective date: 08/01/2026.

    5/15/2026House

  3. Signed by the President of the Senate.

    5/14/2026Senate

  4. Sent to the Governor for executive approval.

    5/14/2026House

  5. Received from the Senate without amendments.

    5/13/2026House

  6. Enrolled and signed by the Speaker of the House.

    5/13/2026House

  7. Rules suspended. Read by title, passed by a vote of 33 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

    5/12/2026Senate

  8. Reported without Legislative Bureau amendments. Read by title and passed to third reading and final passage.

    5/4/2026Senate

  9. Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

    4/29/2026Senate

  10. Reported favorably.

    4/28/2026Senate

  11. Read second time by title and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development.

    4/8/2026Senate

  12. Received in the Senate. Read first time by title and placed on the Calendar for a second reading.

    4/7/2026Senate

  13. Read third time by title, amended, roll called on final passage, yeas 95, nays 0. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

    4/1/2026House

  14. Scheduled for floor debate on 04/01/2026.

    3/31/2026House

  15. Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, passed to 3rd reading.

    3/30/2026House

  16. Reported with amendments (14-0).

    3/26/2026House

  17. Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development.

    3/9/2026House

  18. Prefiled.

    2/27/2026House

  19. Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development.

    2/27/2026House

  20. First appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.

    2/27/2026House

Bill Text

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