Two bills signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards last week directly impact Acadia Parish.
One deals with the Acadia Parish Police Jury and its legal counsel, the second with insurance premiums for retirees from the parish Clerk of Courts Office.
Act 30 adds Acadia Parish to the list of parishes relieving the district attorney from the duty of representing them.
Now, District Attorney Keith Stutes is no longer obliged to serve as legal counsel for the Acadia Parish Police Jury as long as the police jury retains its own attorney to represent it generally.
The new law originally was introduced as SB 128 by Sen. Jonathan Perry, R-Kaplan, at the request of the police jury.
Prior law provided that district attorneys serve as the regular attorneys and counsel for the police juries within their respective districts. However, prior law does not prevent or prohibit the governing authorities of the parishes of St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, Ouachita, Morehouse, Calcasieu and Vermilion from each employing or retaining its own attorney to represent it generally, relieving the district attorney of those judicial districts from the duty of representing them.
For many years the Acadia Parish Police Jury has retained its own attorney and, through an intergovernmental agreement with the previous D.A., was reimbursed by that office for doing so.
When Stutes assumed the office of 15th Judicial District Attorney, he stopped the reimbursement and explained to the jury “it is in my job description” to represent the parish.
The new law, which went into effect upon Edwards’ signature on Wednesday, relieves Stutes of that duty.
The Acadia Police Jury currently retains a pair of attorneys, one for general counsel and one for litigation.
Act 117, introduced as HB 82 by Rep. John Stefanski, R-Crowley, “requires the Acadia Parish Clerk of Court to pay the full amount of all insurance premiums for all retirees who have worked with the Acadia Parish Clerk of Court’s office for 20 years and are at least 55 years of age.”
The original proposal also would have included any clerk or employee who retired with at least 30 years of service, regardless of age. That qualification was removed on the House Floor.
Previous law provided that the clerk or any employees that retire under the clerk of court retirement program “may elect to continue insurance coverage under the program and that the cost may be paid in the same manner as if he were still employed by the clerk and a member of the Louisiana Clerks’ of Court Retirement and Relief Fund for at least 12 years prior to retirement.”
