ACT No. 674
House Bill No. 2. By: Mr. Talbot.
A JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to Section 31 of Article VII of the Constitution of Louisiana, to provide for an additional judicial district in the state, to be designated as the Thirty-Second Judicial District, composed of the parish of Terrebonne; to provide that the Seventeenth Judicial District shall be composed solely of the parish of Lafourche, and to provide for the judges and district attorneys for each of said districts.
Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the State of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Section 31 of Article VII of the Constitution of Louisiana, so that the same may be made to read as follows:
§ 31. Judicial districts
Section 31. Judicial districts. A. There shall be thirty-two judicial districts in the state, the parish of Orleans excepted, and each district shall be composed as follows:
The parish of Caddo shall compose the First District.
The parishes of Jackson, Claiborne and Bienville compose the Second District.
The parishes of Lincoln and Union shall compose the Third District.
The parishes of Ouachita and Morehouse shall compose the Fourth District.
The parishes of West Carroll, Richland and Franklin shall compose the Fifth District.
The parishes of East Carroll, Madison and Tensas shall compose the Sixth District.
The parishes of Catahoula and Concordia shall compose the Seventh District.
The parishes of Grant and Winn shall compose the Eighth District.
The parish of Rapides shall compose the Ninth District.
The parishes of Natchitoches and Red River shall compose the Tenth District.
The parishes of DeSoto and Sabine shall compose the Eleventh District.
The parish of Avoyelles shall compose the Twelfth District.
The parish of Evangeline shall compose the Thirteenth District.
The parishes of Calcasieu and Cameron shall compose the Fourteenth District.
The parishes of Acadia, Lafayette and Vermilion shall compose the Fifteenth District.
The parishes of St. Mary, Iberia and St. Martin shall compose the Sixteenth District.
The parish of Lafourche shall compose the Seventeenth District.
The parishes of Iberville, West Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee shall compose the Eighteenth District.
The parish of East Baton Rouge shall compose the Nineteenth District.
The parishes of East Feliciana and West Feliciana shall compose the Twentieth District.
The parishes of Tangipahoa, Livingston and St. Helena shall compose the Twenty-First District.
The parishes of Washington and St. Tammany shall compose the Twenty-Second District.
The parishes of Assumption, Ascension and St. James shall compose the Twenty-Third District.
The parish of Jefferson shall compose the Twenty-Fourth District.
The parishes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines shall compose the Twenty-Fifth District.
The parishes of Bossier and Webster shall compose the Twenty-Sixth District.
The parish of St. Landry shall compose the Twenty-Seventh District.
The parishes of LaSalle and Caldwell shall compose the Twenty-Eighth District.
The parishes of St. John the Baptist and St. Charles shall compose the Twenty-Ninth District.
The parishes of Beauregard and Vernon shall compose the Thirtieth District.
The parishes of Jefferson Davis and Allen shall compose the Thirty-First District.
The parish of Terrebonne shall compose the Thirty-Second District.
B. Within thirty days after being so petitioned by the Police Jury of the Parish of Jefferson, or its successor, the governor shall call an election for the office of an additional judgeship in the Twenty-Fourth Judicial District of the State of Louisiana, the term of said judge after such election to be for the then present unexpired term, and thereafter, such judgeship shall be filled as the other two judgeships are elected within said district.
C. At the next regular election for district judges throughout the state, following the adoption of this amendment, there shall be elected two judges for the now existing Seventeenth Judicial District and two judges for the newly created Thirty-Second Judicial District, and thereafter the judges for these districts shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as is provided by law for the election of judges of district courts throughout the state. Such judges shall serve as judges of Divisions A and B of their respective districts; provided, that nothing herein contained shall affect the terms of the judges of the now existing Seventeenth Judicial District who are serving in that capacity on the effective date of this amendment. At the next regular election for district attorneys throughout the state, following the adoption of this amendment, there shall be elected a district attorney for the now existing Seventeenth Judicial District and a district attorney for the newly created Thirty-Second Judicial District, and thereafter the district attorneys for those districts shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as is provided by law for the election of district attorneys throughout the state; provided, that nothing herein contained shall affect the term of the district attorney of the now existing Seventeenth Judicial District who is serving in that capacity on the effective date of this amendment. The creation of the Thirty-Second Judicial District shall not become effective until such time as the judges and district attorney are elected for that district, as provided herein.
Section 2. This proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the State of Louisiana at the next election for Representatives in Congress, to be held in Louisiana on the first Tuesday next following the first Monday of November, 1968.
Section 3. In the event more than one amendment to Section 31 of Article VII of the Constitution is adopted in 1968 for the purpose of creating judicial districts, and two or more of such newly created districts are designated by the same number, the Secretary of State shall have authority and he is hereby directed, immediately after such adoptions, to assign consecutive numbers to the newly created judicial districts, commencing with the Thirty-Second District.
Section 4. On the official ballot to be used at said election there shall be printed:
FOR the proposed amendment to Article VII, Section 31 of the Louisiana Constitution, to create and provide with respect to the Thirty-Second Judicial District, to be composed of parish of Terrebonne.
and also:
AGAINST the proposed amendment to Article VII, Section 31 of the Louisiana Constitution, to create and provide with respect to the Thirty-Second Judicial District to be composed of parish of Terrebonne.
Each elector voting on this proposition for so amending the Constitution shall indicate his vote relative thereto in the manner provided by the General Election Laws of the State of Louisiana.
A true copy:
WADE 0. MARTIN, JR.
Secretary of State.
From 1969 volume:
NOTE: The above amendment was voted on throughout the State on November 5, 1968, and carried by the following vote:
FOR ............................................. 241,445
AGAINST ........................................ 207,617