§142.  Board appointed by governor; removal

A.(1)  The State Board of Architectural Examiners is hereby created within the office of the governor and shall consist of seven members, five of whom shall be architects selected by the governor as provided for in Subsection B, one selected by the governor as provided for in Subsection C, and one selected by the governor as provided for in Subsection D.  All nominees and appointees shall be domiciled in the state of Louisiana.  The five architect members shall be appointed, one each, from the five districts provided for in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection.  The governor has the right to remove any or all members of the board for inefficiency or neglect of duty.

(2)  The districts shall be composed as follows:

(a)  District 1: Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard.

(b)  District 2: Assumption, Jefferson, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Terrebonne, and Washington.

(c)  District 3: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Martin, Tangipahoa, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana.

(d)  District 4: Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Grant, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, Sabine, St. Landry, St. Mary, Vermilion, and Vernon.

(e)  District 5: Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, Concordia, DeSoto, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Red River, Richland, Tensas, Union, Webster, West Carroll, and Winn.

B.(1)  The five architect members shall be and shall remain domiciled in this state and in the district from which he is nominated and appointed.  Each shall be a licensed architect and shall have practiced architecture for at least seven years.  Each architect member shall be appointed by the governor from a list of three nominees elected from each of the five districts.  The board shall not adopt any rule or regulation which imposes further eligibility requirements for membership on the board.

(2)  In order to determine the list of nominees for the architect members, there shall be a statewide election to elect three nominees from each district.  Any licensed architect who wishes to be a candidate and have his name placed on the ballot shall send a letter by certified mail to the director of the board indicating his intent to be a candidate.  The letter shall be accompanied by a curriculum vitae and shall certify that, if elected, the architect will serve.

(3)  The election for nominees shall be by mail ballot, and only one architect shall be a candidate for nomination from the same architectural firm, corporation, agency, partnership, or other entity.  After the election, the three candidates from each district who received the highest numbers of votes shall have their names submitted to the governor as nominees.  All licensed architects residing in this state shall be eligible to vote in the election.

(4)  The initial and subsequent elections shall be to fill vacancies as they occur.  The elections shall be completed by the board within ninety days of the effective vacancy.

C.  The governor shall appoint one member of the board who shall be an architect who for seven years prior to appointment has been employed full time in architectural education, or who for seven years prior to appointment, has been an administrator of building design, construction, or design standards for government at the local, state, or national level.

D.  The governor shall appoint one member of the board who shall be a citizen of the United States who is not actively engaged in or retired from the professions of architecture, engineering, interior design, or landscape architecture, or the occupation of a contractor, or the design or construction of buildings.

Amended by Acts 1970, No. 99, §1; Acts 1972, No. 69, §1; Acts 2001, No. 8, §12, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2001, No. 231, §1.