Louisiana Senate president casts doubt on holding constitutional convention

Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry (Pool Photo/Gerald Herbert via AP)

The leader of the Louisiana Senate says lawmakers still have “the same amount of questions” about Gov. Jeff Landry’s proposed constitutional convention as they did a few weeks ago, and they are still skeptical about going forward with the event.

The Senate is not close to voting to support a convention at this point, with just three weeks left in the legislative session, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said. Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives last week voted to hold the convention in August. 

The Landry administration hasn’t answered senators’ questions about the purpose or process of a convention, so the legislation authorizing it, House Bill 800, hasn’t been scheduled for a Senate committee hearing yet.

“Time’s running tight,” Henry said about the constitutional convention’s prospects.

Senators are likely to spend the final weeks of the session focused on getting their own bills approved and working through the state budget and construction plan, according to Henry. That will leave less time to focus on the constitutional convention proposal.

“These types of events, these types of bills, though important to the administration, it becomes more difficult to get members’ attention,” Henry said Tuesday in an interview with reporters.

Landry made holding a convention to rewrite the state’s 50-year-old constitution a top legislative priority for this spring. Yet the governor and other convention supporters have refused to provide details about what types of changes they would make to the constitution during the meeting.

Legislators haven’t even been told privately any specifics the governor wants to take out of the constitution, Henry said. It’s one of the reasons senators have been hesitant to move forward with Landry’s proposal. 

“Like at the end of the day, what’s the best possible outcome? And do we really need to have a constitutional convention to get there?” Henry said.

In order to get his proposal out of the House, Landry agreed to move the bulk of the constitutional convention from the last two weeks of May to early August.

An organizational meeting for legislators and the 27 delegates Landry has picked would be held on May 30, according to the convention legislation. They would then be expected to hold meetings in June and July to work out the details of the event.

Henry said senators want more information about how the planning meetings in June and July would work before they vote in favor of a convention. Lawmakers have been in session every month this year so far, and several legislators have said they would like the summer to take a break from the state’s business. 

“It’s imperative for them to understand what process we will use,” Henry said.

The Senate president also said his colleagues aren’t comfortable with Landry unilaterally picking his own delegates to participate in the process. They also believe having House members, senators and gubernatorial delegates – a total of 171 people – voting during the convention would be too unwieldy, he said.

“That’s definitely a problem,” Henry said.

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