Charter

LOUISIANA REVISED STATUTES OF 1950
TITLE 24
CHAPTER 4. LOUISIANA STATE LAW INSTITUTE

R.S. 24:201. Creation and functions

The Louisiana State Law Institute, organized under authority of the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, domiciled at the Law School of the Louisiana State University, is chartered, created and organized as an official advisory law revision commission, law reform agency and legal research agency of the state of Louisiana.

R.S. 24:202. Council; membership; terms; vacancies

A.  The governing body of the Louisiana State Law Institute shall be a council composed of ex officio members and elected members.  The ex officio members shall be:

(1)  One justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana selected by the justices thereof.

(2)  One judge of the intermediate Louisiana courts of appeal selected by the judges thereof.

(3)  Two judges of the Louisiana district courts selected by the District Judges Association.

(4)  One federal judge residing in Louisiana selected by the federal judges residing in Louisiana.

(5)  The attorney general of the state of Louisiana.

(6)  The executive counsel to the governor.

(7)  The chairman of each judiciary committee of the Senate, the chairman of the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee, the chairman of the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee, and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, or an attorney appointed by any of the above named chairmen who is a member of any of the foregoing committees, one additional member of the House of Representatives appointed by the speaker, and one additional member of the Senate appointed by the president of the Senate.

(8)  The president of the Louisiana State Bar Association.

(9) The chairman of the Young Lawyers Section of the Louisiana State Bar Association.

(10)  The dean of the Louisiana State University Law School.

(11)  The dean of the Loyola University School of Law.

(12)  The dean of the Southern University Law School.

(13)  The dean of the Tulane University School of Law.

(14)  The officers of the Louisiana State Law Institute.

(15)  Any Louisiana members on the Council of the American Law Institute.

(16)  Any Louisiana members of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association.

(17)  Any Louisiana members of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.

(18)  Any Louisiana members of the Board of Governors of the National Bar Association.

(19)  A Louisiana member of the National Bar Association  to be appointed by the president of the organization.

(20)  Two Louisiana members of the National Bar Association to be appointed by the president of the Louisiana Judicial Council of the National Bar Association.

(21)  The president of the state chapter of the Louis A. Martinet Society or his designee.

(22)  The state public defender or his designee.

(23)  Two judges who are members of the Louisiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges appointed by the president of the Louisiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges or their designees.  One of the judges shall be a judge of a court having exclusive family or family and juvenile jurisdiction, and the other shall be a judge of a court having exclusive juvenile or family and juvenile jurisdiction.

(24) The executive director of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association.

(25) The president of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association or a district attorney designated by the president.

(26) One judge who is a member of the Louisiana City Court Judges Association appointed by the president of the Louisiana City Court Judges Association or his designee.

B.  The elected membership shall consist of thirty-one members, as follows: three shall be elected from the members of the faculty of the Louisiana State University Law School; three from the members of the faculty of the Loyola University School of Law; three from the members of the faculty of the Southern University Law School; three from the members of the faculty of the Tulane University School of Law; and nineteen from among the practicing attorneys of the state of Louisiana.

C.  The terms of office of the members of the judiciary who are ex-officio members of the Council shall be four years.  The other ex-officio members shall hold their positions during their respective terms of office.

D.  The terms of office of the elected members of the Council shall be four years.  The terms of office of the first elected members having been fixed and determined under Acts 166 of 1938 and 195 of 1942, their successors shall continue to be elected for terms of four years under such rules as the Council may adopt.  The elected members of the Council shall be eligible for re-election.

E.  Vacancies in the elected membership created by death, resignation or otherwise than by the expiration of the terms of office shall be filled by the Council under such rules as it may adopt.  Vacancies occurring through the expiration of the terms of office shall be filled by election by the Council under such rules as it may adopt.

F. (1) All meetings of the Council shall be held at a meeting space located in a public building and open to the public for purposes of the meeting. The institute shall select meeting space that is available without charge or at a reduced cost. At least half of the Council meetings held each year shall be in Baton Rouge.

(2) Public entities are authorized and encouraged to make meeting space available to the institute without charge or at a reduced cost.

(3) For meetings held in Baton Rouge, preference shall be given to meeting at Louisiana State University unless, after reasonable inquiry by the institute, another meeting space at a public building elsewhere in Baton Rouge is available at a lower cost.

G. (1) Meetings of the institute shall be subject to the Open Meetings Law and the Public Records Law.

(2)(a) Notwithstanding Paragraph (1) of this Subsection or provisions of the Open Meetings Law to the contrary, committees and subcommittees of the institute may conduct periodic meetings via electronic means provided that all of the following requirements are met:

(i) No later than twenty-four hours prior to the meeting, the institute shall provide the notice and agenda for the meeting, which shall include information regarding how members of the public may participate in the meeting and submit comments regarding matters on the agenda. The notice and agenda shall be posted on the website of the institute and emailed to any member of the public or the news media who requests notice of the committee or subcommittee's meetings.

(ii) The institute shall provide a mechanism to receive public comment electronically both prior to and during the meeting. The institute shall properly identify and acknowledge all public comments during the meeting and shall maintain those comments in its record of the meeting.

(iii) The institute shall ensure that each person participating in the meeting is properly identified and that all parts of the meeting, excluding any matter discussed in executive session, are clear and audible to all participants in the meeting, including the public.

(iv) A committee or subcommittee shall not conduct successive meetings via electronic means.

(b) The provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph shall not limit the conduct of meetings via electronic means during a gubernatorially proclaimed or declared disaster or emergency in the manner provided by R.S. 42:17.1.

(c) The institute may adopt rules, regulations, and procedures to allow the public to participate in a meeting via electronic means.

(d) For purposes of this Paragraph, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

(i) "Meeting via electronic means" shall mean a meeting occurring via teleconference or video conference.

(ii) "Teleconference" shall mean a method of communication that enables persons in different locations to participate in a meeting and to hear and otherwise communicate with each other.

Amended by Acts 1952, No. 126, §1; Acts 1954, No. 53, §1; Acts 1971, No. 161, §1; Acts 1976, No. 673, §1; Acts 1999, No. 238, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1318, §1; Acts 2010, No. 620, §1; Acts 2012, No. 188, §1; Acts 2016, No. 428, §1; Acts 2016, No. 536, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; Acts 2018, No. 220, §1, eff. May 15, 2018; Acts 2022, No. 613, §1, eff. June 18, 2022.

R.S. 24:203. Plans of membership; compensation of members of council

The council and other persons of the Louisiana State Law Institute are empowered to adopt a plan or plans of membership so designed as to encourage and invite the cooperation of all members of the legal profession in the work of the Institute. The members of the Council shall serve without any compensation for services as such. However, the Council may fix and pay reasonable compensation to the director of the Institute, and honoraria to members of the Council who perform professional service for the Institute, authorized by the Council or the Institute. Such employment or payment shall not be deemed a violation of any criminal law punishing the holding of more than one public office or employment in Louisiana.

R.S. 24:204. General purpose; duties

A.  The general purposes for which the Louisiana State Law Institute is formed are to promote and encourage the clarification and simplification of the law of Louisiana and its better adaptation to present social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to carry on scholarly legal research and scientific legal work.  To that end it shall be the duty of the Louisiana State Law Institute:

(1)  To consider needed improvements in both substantive and adjective law and to make recommendations concerning the same to the legislature.

(2)  To examine and study the civil law of Louisiana and the Louisiana jurisprudence and statutes of the state with a view of discovering defects and inequities and of recommending needed reforms.

(3)  To cooperate with the American Law Institute, the Uniform Law Commission, bar associations, and other learned societies and bodies by receiving, considering, and making reports on proposed changes in the law recommended by any such body.

(4)  To receive and consider suggestions from judges, justices, public officials, lawyers, and the public generally as to defects and anachronisms in the law.

(5)  To recommend from time to time such changes in the law as it deems necessary to modify or eliminate antiquated and inequitable rules of law, and to bring the law of the state, both civil and criminal, into harmony with modern conditions.

(6)  To render biennial reports to the legislature, and if it deems advisable to accompany its reports with proposed bills to carry out any of its recommendations.

(7)  To make available translations of civil law materials and commentaries and to provide by studies and other doctrinal writings, materials for the better understanding of the civil law of Louisiana and the philosophy upon which it is based.

(8)  To recommend the repeal of obsolete articles in the Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure and to suggest needed amendments, additions, and repeals.

(9)  To organize and conduct an annual meeting within the state for scholarly discussions of current problems in Louisiana law, bringing together representatives of the legislature, practicing attorneys, members of the bench and bar, and representatives of the law teaching profession.

(10)  To make recommendations to the legislature on a biennial basis for the repeal, removal or revision of provisions of law that have been declared unconstitutional by final and definitive court judgment.

B.  Legislation submitted on recommendation of the Louisiana State Law Institute shall have affixed to it a digest of the legislation.  The digest shall be prepared by the Louisiana State Law Institute.  The form and contents of the digest shall be as prescribed by the rules or practice of the legislature for digests of legislative instruments, but shall include a summary of each minority report authored by a member of the law institute.  The digest shall not constitute a part of the legislation.

C.  Any member of the Louisiana State Law Institute may author a minority report regarding any legislation submitted on recommendation of the Louisiana State Law Institute.  The minority report shall include comments which accurately reflect a dissenting position or adverse position expressed by such member.  Any other member may join and sign such minority report; however, no member may sign more than one minority report.  The author of the minority report shall submit a copy of such report to each member of each standing committee of each house of the legislature to which such recommended legislation has been or is expected to be referred.  All costs associated with furnishing such copies shall be paid by the Louisiana State Law Institute.  Additionally, any member signing a minority report may present such report at any legislative hearing held on such recommended legislation.

Acts 1988, No. 206, §1; Acts 1999, No. 305, §1; Acts 2014, No. 598, §1, eff. June 12, 2014.

R.S. 24:205. Reports; advisory capacity; printing and distribution of reports

The Louisiana State Law Institute, in submitting reports to the legislature shall act solely in an advisory capacity. Its reports, studies, and recommended publications shall be public and available as provided by law.

Acts 2015, No. 383, §1, eff. July 1, 2015.

Additional statutory provisions concerning the Louisiana State Law Institute are provided in the remainder of Chapter 4 of Title 24, R.S. 24:206 through 208, and in Chapter 5 of Title 24, R.S. 24:251 through 256.