Louisiana

Louisiana has a large plural executive of seven statewide elected officials, each chosen independently: the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Commissioner of Insurance. Because the Lieutenant Governor runs separately rather than on a ticket with the Governor, the two can be from different parties.

Despite that crowded field, Louisiana’s governor is traditionally regarded as one of the strongest in the South, with extensive appointment power over boards and commissions and a dominant role in the budget. The Governor appoints the heads of the executive departments not led by the separately elected officers.

The Louisiana State Legislature is bicameral: a 39-seat State Senate and a 105-seat House of Representatives, with members of both chambers serving four-year terms and limited to three consecutive terms (twelve years) in a chamber. It is a part-time, citizen legislature, with base pay of $16,800 a year plus a $6,000 expense allowance and a $178-a-day per diem when in session.

The session calendar alternates by purpose: in some years the Legislature holds a "general" session in which any subject may be taken up, and in others a "fiscal" session focused on the budget and tax matters, each convening in spring and capped at roughly 45 to 60 days. Uniquely, Louisiana’s statutes are organized around its civil-law heritage, so its laws and legal vocabulary differ from those of every other state.

A bill is introduced, referred to committee, and — if it advances — voted on the floor of each chamber, with differences reconciled before final passage. The Governor can sign a bill, veto it, or let it become law, and holds a line-item veto over appropriations; a veto override takes two-thirds of each chamber. Louisiana is notable for occasionally holding a dedicated "veto session" after the regular session to consider overrides, a step most legislatures fold into normal business.

Louisiana has no broad citizen statutory initiative, but constitutional amendments are referred to voters frequently — Louisiana’s constitution is one of the most amended in the country, so ballots regularly carry multiple amendment questions. The deeper distinction is the legal system itself: because Louisiana follows civil law, its courts interpret statutes and a comprehensive civil code rather than building law primarily from judicial precedent the way common-law states do.

The Louisiana governorship is a strong office: the Governor appoints a wide array of agency heads, board members, and commissioners, dominates the budget process, can call special sessions, holds emergency powers, wields a line-item veto, and holds the clemency power (acting on recommendations from a pardon board). Few governors in the region command as much appointment power.

The principal checks are the six other independently elected statewide officials, the two-thirds legislative override, and the frequent constitutional amendments that voters approve — which, in a heavily amended constitution, lock many policy choices beyond the reach of ordinary legislation.

Louisiana elects its judges in partisan-style elections at every level, including the state Supreme Court, whose justices are chosen from districts. But the courts operate within the civil-law tradition: judges apply the Louisiana Civil Code and statutes as the primary source of law, giving prior decisions less binding force than the precedent-driven common-law courts of other states. The Supreme Court of Louisiana sits at the top, above the Courts of Appeal and the trial-level District Courts.