Amendment 1: One-Time Transfer of Surviving Spouse's Disabled Veteran Homestead Exemption
Statewide — all of Louisiana
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred to the ballot by the Louisiana Legislature as Senate Bill 180 (Act 39), sponsored by Sen. Franklin Foil (R); amendments require a two-thirds vote of each chamber and no gubernatorial signature. The bill history shows the Senate passing it 38-0, the House 92-0, and the Senate concurring in the House amendments 36-0 on May 11, 2026.[1]
The question on the ballot
Do you support an amendment to allow the surviving spouse of a deceased veteran with a service-connected disability, who receives the additional property tax exemption, to make a one-time transfer of the additional property tax exemption to a subsequent qualifying property? (Effective January 1, 2027) (Amends Article VII, Section 21(K)(1))[2][5]
Under the current Constitution, a surviving spouse of a veteran with a service-connected disability rating of 50 percent or more keeps the veteran's additional homestead property-tax exemption only while the spouse occupies and owns the property. The amendment removes the occupancy-and-ownership requirement and gives a surviving spouse who has taken the exemption a one-time transfer of it to a subsequently acquired qualifying homestead, limited to the exemption amount claimed on the prior homestead in its last year; assessors may require information about that amount. It applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. Fiscal impact (Legislative Fiscal Office): the aggregate revenue impact is "not expected to be significant"; in 2025, 229 surviving spouses claimed the exemption on about $1.6 million of assessed value (about $168,000 in forgone tax at the average 105 mills), and the number who buy a new home in a given year is "indeterminable but expected to be low."[3][4]
A YES vote means
Allows a surviving spouse of a disabled veteran who receives the additional homestead tax exemption to transfer it one time to a new qualifying homestead, with the exemption limited to the amount claimed on the prior homestead.
A NO vote means
Keeps current law, under which the surviving spouse's additional exemption applies only to the property the spouse occupies and owns when the exemption is claimed, with no one-time transfer to a new homestead.
The law today
Résumé digest: “Existing constitution provides that the surviving spouse of a deceased disabled veteran with a service-connected disability rating by the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs shall be eligible for this exemption if the surviving spouse occupies and remains the owner of the property, whether or not the exemption was in effect on the property prior to the death of the veteran.”[3]
Official fiscal estimate
Legislative Fiscal Office note on the enrolled bill: the Secretary of State “may incur minimal ballot processing costs”; the measure “may result in a decrease in tax revenues… however, the aggregate revenue impact is not expected to be significant.” In 2025, 229 surviving spouses claimed the exemption on about $1.6 million of assessed value (about $168,000 in forgone tax at 105 mills); how many will buy a new home each year is “indeterminable but expected to be low.”[4]
Arguments made for
- None found in public sources.
Arguments made against
- None found in public sources.
On record in support
- Sen. Franklin Foil (R), author of the resolution, which passed the Senate 38-0 and the House 92-0[1]
On record in opposition
- None found in public sources.
Research notes & limits
Ballot question text is the proposition printed in the enrolled joint resolution, which directs that it be placed on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot; vote counts, Act numbers and fiscal information are from the Louisiana Legislature's bill pages, résumé digests and Legislative Fiscal Office notes. The Louisiana Secretary of State's certified list could not be loaded (sos.la.gov election pages returned 404 on Oct 19, 2026), so the Amendment 1-10 numbering and the question wording were checked against the nonpartisan PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments, which lists the same ten amendments in the same order with the same question text; the parenthetical effective-date and constitutional-citation text follows the enrolled resolution. Louisiana has no citizen initiative and publishes no voter-pamphlet arguments; a majority of votes cast approves an amendment. No supporting or opposing arguments or campaign committees were found in the sources reviewed; the bill passed without a recorded no vote in the House or on its first Senate passage. No pro or con argument was added: the PAR guide’s “Argument For/Against” text is the nonpartisan organization’s own summary, not a quote from a named person or campaign, and no committee or stated opposition was found. No campaign finance (no committees).
Sources · 5
Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.
- 1.SB 180 (Act 39), bill history and votes · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 2.Enrolled SB 180: joint resolution and ballot proposition · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 3.Résumé Digest, Act 39 (SB 180) · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 4.Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note, enrolled SB 180 · Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office Official record
- 5.PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments · Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana · 2026-10 Reference