SUBPART A. UNIFORM GUIDELINES FOR ALL

CHARTER COMMISSIONS: PARISH, MUNICIPAL, ELECTED,

AND APPOINTED

§1395. Method of proposing home rule charter

            A. Any parish or municipality may draft, adopt, or amend a home rule charter. The method to be used is the charter commission, which can either be appointed by the governing body or elected by the people.

            B. A charter commission must be elected when the clerk of a municipality or parish is presented with a petition for the election of a home rule charter commission as provided in Article VI, Section 5(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana signed by not less than ten percent of the electors or ten thousand electors, whichever is fewer, who live within the boundaries of the affected municipality or parish as certified by the registrar of voters, and the governing authority of the municipality or parish shall call an election to elect a commission to prepare and propose a home rule charter or alternate charter.

            C. A petition presented to a governing authority pursuant to Article VI, Section 5(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana shall comply with the following:

            (1) The secretary of state shall provide a form approved by the attorney general to be used for the petition. Any such petition shall be on an approved form or on a form which contains the same information as required by the approved form, and any petition not on such a form is invalid.

            (2) The petition shall contain the following for each signer: a written signature, the printed first and last name, the printed address at which the signer is registered to vote, and the date of signing.

            (3) The petition shall set forth all of the following with respect to home rule charter commissioners: the number of commissioners to be elected, the number to be elected at large from the municipality or parish, the number to be elected from each single- or multiple-member district, and the precincts that will be included in each commissioner district. The precincts to be used in each district may be specified by reference to other election districts established by law or local ordinance.

            (4) The petition shall be submitted to the parish registrar of voters within one hundred eighty days of the date of the first signature.

            D.(1) The registrar shall certify on the petition, within fifteen working days after it is presented to him for that purpose, the number of names appearing thereon, the number of qualified electors of the municipality or parish whose handwritten signatures appear on the petition, and the total number of electors of the municipality or parish as of the date of the filing of the petition with the municipality or parish. If the final day for the registrar to certify the petition falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, then the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday shall be deemed to be the final day for certifying the petition. The registrar also shall indicate on the petition the names appearing thereon who are not electors of the municipality or parish.

            (2) The registrar's certification of the petition creates a legal presumption that the petition meets the requirements of this Section and contains the requisite number of signatures.

            (3) Any qualified elector of the municipality or parish may challenge the registrar's certification or failure to certify by filing a suit in the district court of the parish in which the registrar of voters serves. Such a suit shall be filed within fifteen days of the registrar's certification or failure to certify within the time limit established by Paragraph (1) of this Subsection. Such a suit shall be tried summarily, without a jury, and in open court beginning no sooner than ten and no later than fourteen days after the suit is filed.

            E. When certification of the petition is definitively established in accordance with Subsection D of this Section, the offices of home rule charter commissioner are at that time established and vacant. The governing authority of the municipality or parish shall call an election to fill the commissioner offices within thirty days. The election shall be held on the next date allowed under the provisions of R.S. 18:402 for a primary or general election, special election, or bond, tax, or other election. Any such election shall otherwise be held pursuant to and in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code.

            Acts 1980, No. 703, §1. Acts 1984, No. 672, §2; Acts 2024, No. 713, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2025.