Louisiana Constitutional Home Rule — Art. VI §§4–5 (LA)

Tracked preemption from the Louisiana overlay bundle.

Overview

Effective
1975-01-01
Sunset
Authority
state
Scope
state:LA

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

always true

Preempted fields

2 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
city_attributes.home_rule_basisoverridela_const_art_vi_para_4_or_5_or_lawrasonConst. Art. VI §4 (pre-1974 charters: New Orleans, Baton Rouge/EBR, Jefferson Parish) retain broad powers not denied by general law; §5 governs post-1974 charters; §6 covers non-charter governments operating under the Lawrason Act (La. R.S. 33:321 et seq.) under Dillon's Rule.
review_typerequirepreemption_clear_statement_review_for_art_vi_sec_4_jurisdictionsCity of New Orleans v. Board of Comm'rs of Orleans Levee Dist., 640 So.2d 237 (La. 1994) — state override of §4 home-rule zoning requires clear and unambiguous legislative statement or a matter of overriding state concern.

Citation

Authority source
La. Const. Art. VI §§4–6
§ Art. VI §4 (pre-1974 home rule); §5 (post-1974 home rule); §6 (other local governments)
https://senate.la.gov/Documents/Constitution/

Research notes

Foundational predicate — every Louisiana city/parish record must capture home-rule basis. §4 pre-1974 charters (New Orleans, Baton Rouge/EBR, Jefferson Parish) have the strongest preemption resistance. §5 post-1974 charters (Shreveport, Lafayette Consolidated, Lake Charles, Monroe, Kenner, Bossier City, Alexandria) are slightly narrower. Lawrason Act municipalities (§6) operate under Dillon's Rule — only powers expressly granted by R.S. 33:321 et seq. and R.S. 33:4721 et seq. apply. Civil-law strict-construction canon (La. C.C. arts. 1, 4) applies to all delegations of police power.