Louisiana Needs a Constitutional Convention

Louisiana voters will face 10 proposed constitutional amendments on November 3. They cover property taxes, retirement systems, criminal justice, term limits, drinking-water infrastructure, and more. Some may be good ideas on their own. But the sheer volume raises a larger question: When did changing the constitution become the Legislature’s routine answer to problems that could be handled through ordinary law?

Our constitution has been amended 221 times since it took effect in 1975. Another 109 proposed amendments have been rejected by voters. Now 10 more are headed to the ballot in a single election.

A constitution should set the basic rules of government and protect fundamental rights. Louisiana’s has become a crowded collection of carve-outs, exceptions, and policy decisions. When lawmakers want a preferred policy to outlast the next election or avoid future legislative debate, they can ask voters to add it to the state’s highest law.

That approach may seem practical in the moment. Over time, it weakens the document and wears down public confidence. Voters are asked to sort through a long list of technical proposals, often on subjects that deserve careful explanation. It is hard to expect people to trust a process that keeps returning to the same solution: amend the constitution again.

This is not an argument that every amendment is unworthy, or that voters have made the wrong choice in the past. It is an argument that the process has become too prolific to serve its purpose. A constitution should not be a substitute for ordinary legislation, and every new amendment makes the whole document harder to understand and govern by.

Louisiana should call a constitutional convention and give the people a chance to review the document as a whole. A convention would allow delegates to examine how the constitution fits together, identify provisions that belong in statute, and propose a clearer framework for state government.

A convention is not a blank check. The Legislature can call one only by a two-thirds vote in each house, and any proposed constitution must go back to voters for approval. The people retain the final say.

That public vote is essential. Delegates should work in the open, publish their proposals, explain the changes, and give citizens time to understand what is at stake. Voters should be able to accept or reject the final proposal at the ballot box.

The goal should not be to make change easier for politicians. It should be to restore a constitution that people can read, understand, and trust. That means setting clear limits on what belongs in the constitution, protecting the rights of citizens, and leaving ordinary policy decisions to the Legislature and local governments where they can be debated and revised through the regular process.

Ten amendments on one ballot should prompt more than a debate over ten separate questions. It should prompt a debate about the system that keeps producing them. Louisiana’s constitution has been amended enough times to show that piecemeal repairs are not working.

The voters deserve a fresh start and a real say in the rules that govern them. It is time for Louisiana to call a constitutional convention.