Busy or not, all Louisiana judges will get a pay hike — maybe permanently

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You can’t help but marvel at the political power Louisiana judges wield when you consider their latest pay increase. They’ll get that money up front in one lump sum rather than after their work is done.

This means judges could accept the bonus — ranging from $14,000 for district court judges to $17,000 for appellate judges — then resign or retire without having worked the full fiscal year it’s meant to cover. What’s more, there’s a provision in state law that could make what was supposed to be a one-time stipend a permanent pay raise.

Judges enjoy distinct leverage among public employees in Louisiana. A legislative commission exists solely to consider their compensation , and its members can recommend raises for judges to the Legislature every two years. From fiscal years 2013 to 2023, the Legislature approved salary increases for trial court judges totaling 22.7% ($31,205), according to a Legislative Auditor’s report .

As of Jan. 1, 2023, the average annual salary for Louisiana judges ranged from nearly $169,000 at district court level to more than $197,000 for the state Supreme Court. Compare that to the state’s median income of $93,000 for a family of four based on the most recent Census figures.

When compared with similarly sized states, Louisiana had more judges per capita with 6.1 per every 100,000 people as of July 2022. Kentucky, with a nearly identical population, had 2.5.

Source: Louisiana Legislative Auditor

The Louisiana Legislature, where a considerable number of lawmakers are attorneys, has historically provided a friendly forum for judges in search of higher salaries. Conventional wisdom holds that legislator-lawyers are not keen to resist judges’ requests, with some perhaps aspiring to the bench themselves.

The trend held true this year when lawmakers supported a proposal to increase judicial pay once again, even though they saw annual percentage bumps since 2019. But in a change from years past, lawmakers agreed to conditions: state judges would receive a one-time stipend instead of a permanent hike and only if they completed a study to evaluate their caseloads .

Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, has consistently called on judges to share data on their work output. Judges have long resisted such efforts, dating back to 2011 when the Legislature called upon the Louisiana Supreme Court to conduct a workpoint study.

In a June 28 interview with WWL Radio’s Tommy Tucker, Zeringue said the objective of the study is “to essentially look at the judicial resources, and making sure that we have enough judges put where they need to be because of changes in demographics.”

In short, Louisiana is losing population as a whole, with parishes in north Louisiana seeing the largest drops. Growth in south Louisiana, especially along the Interstate 10 corridor, isn’t offsetting the decrease, but supporters of a judicial workpoint study say courts have failed to adjust for these changes for more than a decade.

In a 2023 study , the nonpartisan good government group Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana found caseloads statewide had fallen by half over 20 years.

A right-sizing of Louisiana courts won’t happen anytime soon. Gov. Jeff Landry used his line-item veto power to remove the workpoint study as a requirement for judges to see the pay increase. In his veto message , the governor said the Louisiana Supreme Court had its own work study and caseload evaluation, and its justices could also discipline and withhold pay from judges who don’t complete the study, Landry wrote.

The governor omitted that judges have historically avoided participating in a workpoint study, and that punishment for judges is rare in Louisiana and typically for only the most serious of infractions that rise to the level of breaking state law.

State lawmakers meant to pay the stipend out gradually over the fiscal year that began July 1, but judges and justices who make up the Judicial Budgetary Control Board voted last month to allow a lump sum payment based on their interpretation of “one-time” stipend.

“The legislative intent was to spread it out over the year, but I guess we should have been more specific in the language,” Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield, told Tyler Bridges of The Advocate . McFarland authored the bill that included the stipend.

Not everyone in the judiciary is on board with the pay increase without a workpoint study. Chief Judge John Michael Guidry of the First Circuit Court of Appeal has said he welcomes the overview, in contrast to his four other circuit peers.

Chief Justice John Weimer has been one of the most ardent backers of a workpoint study requirement and questioned the legality of stipend paid all at once. In a letter to the Judiciary Budgetary Control Board, in which he said he was writing as a “concerned citizen,” Weimer said paying the stipend in a lump sum before work is performed “would result in a donation of public funds (which is constitutionally prohibited) to those Judges who leave their position with the judiciary before judicial services are rendered or before the related study is commenced or is completed.”

Multiple attorney general’s opinions have found bonuses paid to public employees for work not performed violate Article VII, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution that prohibits donations from the government.

We won’t know until the spring, when the Legislature crafts the next state budget, whether judges will argue their stipend must be preserved in perpetuity. Louisiana is one of 28 states that constitutionally prevents the Legislature from reducing judges’ pay to reduce the influence of one branch of government over another, similar to the provision that exists in the U.S. Constitution.

This year’s stipend for judges comes from a reserve fund state courts fund themselves, but future years would likely come from the taxpayer-supported general fund.

With drastic cuts a strong possibility next fiscal year, Louisiana’s judiciary would be taking a bold political step to insist on making the stipend permanent. But they’ve not been dissuaded in the past.

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