The Louisiana State Legislature is the legislative body of the US state of Louisiana. The Louisiana Legislature, like the legislatures of most other states, is bicameral and consists of the Senate, which is the upper house and has 39 senators, and the House of Representatives, which is the lower house and has 105 representatives. Members of each chamber are elected in single-member constituencies of approximately equal population. The legislature meets in the Louisiana State Capitol building in the state capital, Baton Rouge.
Louisiana is one of the 40 states in the country where the legislature is not a full-time position. Members of the legislature usually have their main job, and work in the legislature is an additional employment for them. The annual salary of members of the Legislature is $15,362 per year.
Members of both chambers of the legislature are elected for four-year terms, and the number of terms is limited to three (i.e., twelve years). The term limits were imposed by the state’s voters in a 1995 constitutional referendum and were later incorporated into Article III, Section 4 of the Louisiana Constitution. Due to this amendment, in 2007 some members of the legislature reached the maximum number of terms and could not be re-elected. The restriction is imposed on consecutive terms, meaning that they can be re-elected after a break.
The leaders of each chamber of the Legislature are elected at the beginning of each new term and serve for four years. The House of Representatives elects a Speaker and a Temporary Speaker from among its members. Although this procedure is not written into the constitution, traditionally the Speaker of the House is nominated by the Governor of Louisiana. The House of Representatives also elects the Chief Clerk. The Senate elects the President of the Senate from among its members, who is the head of the chamber, and is also nominated by the Governor.
From 1853 until the adoption of the new Louisiana Constitution in 1974, the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana was considered the formal President of the Senate. Currently, the Lieutenant Governor exercises the powers delegated to him by the Governor. He or she also assumes the duties of the Governor if the office is vacated early, or if the Governor is unable to perform his or her duties, or is out of the state. Since the Lieutenant Governor no longer presides over the Senate, he or she has been made a formal member of every committee, board, and commission on which the Governor is a member. In addition, the Lieutenant Governor is the head of the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.