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FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE # 34 FROM CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA The Opinions handed down on the 14th day of April, 2004, are as follows: BY JOHNSON, J.: 2003-CA-1702 STATE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION v. DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, ROBERT S. HECKER, LARRY M. TONEY, WARNER TUREAUD, KEVIN L. NEWMAN, MICHAEL S. SAWER, JOSEPH TREVIGNE, PENELOPE E. HAHN, CAROL W. HENRY, JOSEPH O. LABARRIERE, ET AL. (Parish of E. Baton Rouge) We conclude that LSA-R.S. 33:2218.2(A)(2)(a) is unconstitutional, because in enacting said law, the Legislature infringed upon the constitutional powers of the Civil Service Commission that can only be abridged by constitutional amendment. Further, the Port of New Orleans Harbor Police are state classified employees, and not municipal policemen, and therefore they are outside the purview of the constitutional exceptions found in LSA-Const. Art. 6, Section 14 and in the Firefighters, (La. 1982) case. Defendants' argument that the statute is a constitutional exercise of the Legislature's police powers is without merit. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Appeal is AFFIRMED. CALOGERO, C.J., additionally concurs with reasons.

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SUPREME COURT of LOUISIANA
03-CA-1702 STATE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION vs. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY DIRECTOR, ET AL. ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE
JOHNSON, Justice We are called upon in this case to determine whether LSA-R.S. 33:2218.2(A)(2)(a), as enacted by the Louisiana Legislature, infringes upon the exclusive constitutional powers granted to the State Civil Service Commission. After a thorough review of the record, applicable statutes, legislative history, and

jurisprudence, we affirm the Court of Appeal's ruling that the statute is unconstitutional because it infringes upon the exclusive authority of the Civil Service Commission to regulate compensation for state classified employees.

FACTS and PROCEDURAL HISTORY This suit was filed by the Civil Service Commission following the enactment of LSA-R.S. 33:2218.2(A)(2)(a) on July 1, 1999. The disputed statute at issue reads as follows: (2)(a) Every sworn, commissioned law enforcement officer employed on a fulltime basis by a bona fide police agency of the state or its political subdivisions, other than the Department of Public Safety and Corrections and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and headquartered in a municipality with a population in excess of four hundred fifty thousand, and who serves the welfare
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of the public in the capacity of a police officer by providing police services to the general public through effecting arrests, issuing citations, serving warrants, patrolling levees, waterways, and riverfront areas or while patrolling bridges that are within the boundaries of a municipality with a population in excess of four hundred fifty thousand shall be paid by the state extra compensation in the amount of three hundred dollars per month in addition to the compensation now paid to him by his employer out of self-generated revenue attributable to the agency employing such officers. To be eligible for the extra compensation, each such law enforcement officer shall have completed one year of service, and any such law enforcement officer hired after March 31, 1986, shall also have completed and passed a council-certified training program, as provided in R.S. 40:2405. (b) For purpose of qualifications, computations, and other applicable provisions of this Section, references to "municipality" and "municipal" shall include in their meaning the bona fide police agency of the state or its political subdivisions that employ full-time sworn, commissioned law enforcement officers made eligible in this Paragraph. On October 23, 1999, three months following the enactment of LSA-R.S. 33:2218.2(A)(2)(a), the Legislature sought to pass a constitutional referendum that would amend LSA-Const. Art. 10, Section 10(A)(1)

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