Amendment 2: Millage Rate Adjustments by Local Taxing Authorities
Statewide — all of Louisiana
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred to the ballot by the Louisiana Legislature as House Bill 521 (Act 273), sponsored by Rep. Roger Wilder III (R); amendments require a two-thirds vote of each chamber and no gubernatorial signature. The House passed it 95-0 and the Senate 36-0 (per the bill history).[1][3]
The question on the ballot
Do you support an amendment to allow a local taxing authority to continue to levy a lower millage rate without losing its ability to adjust to the maximum authorized millage rate from a prior year's reassessment? (Effective January 1, 2027) (Amends Article VII, Section 23(C))[2][5]
After each reassessment, Louisiana's Constitution requires property-tax millage rates to be adjusted so revenue stays roughly level, and a taxing authority may, by a two-thirds vote after a public hearing, "roll forward" its millage up to the prior year's maximum without a new vote of the people. Under current law, if the authority does not roll forward before the next reassessment, it permanently loses the ability to reach that maximum. The amendment would let an authority keep levying a lower millage without losing that ability. It applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. Fiscal impact (Legislative Fiscal Office): it may result in forgone property-tax revenue if authorities defer rolling forward their millages, but "the extent of any decrease is indeterminable."[3][4]
A YES vote means
Lets a local taxing authority keep levying a lower millage rate than its maximum without permanently losing its ability to later roll the rate forward to the prior year's maximum authorized rate.
A NO vote means
Keeps current law, under which a taxing authority that does not roll its millage forward before the next reassessment permanently loses the ability to reach the prior maximum.
The law today
The Constitution requires millage rates to be adjusted after each reassessment so revenue stays level. A local taxing authority may then, by a two-thirds vote of its members after a public hearing, "roll forward" the millage up to the prior year's maximum without a new vote of the people. If it does not do so before the next reassessment, it permanently loses the ability to reach that maximum.[4][5]
Official fiscal estimate
The Legislative Fiscal Office says the amendment "may result in foregone ad valorem tax revenues" if taxing authorities defer rolling forward their millages, but "the extent of any decrease is indeterminable." It anticipates no other impact on governmental expenditures beyond minimal Secretary of State ballot-processing costs.[4]
Arguments made for
- None found in public sources.
Arguments made against
- 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; the bill passed with no recorded no votes. Enrichment (Oct 19): current law and fiscal impact are drawn from the enrolled-version Legislative Fiscal Office notes (or the Legislative Auditor's actuarial note for Amendment 5) and the PAR guide; Amendments 4 and 8 have no fiscal note. PAR's guide gives unattributed 'argument for/against' summaries rather than quotes from named people or groups, so they are not used as arguments. No registered campaign committees or campaign-finance filings were found for any of these amendments.
Sources · 5
Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.
- 1.HB 521 (Act 273), bill history and votes · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 2.Enrolled HB 521: joint resolution and ballot proposition · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 3.Résumé Digest, Act 273 (HB 521) · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 4.Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note, enrolled HB 521 · Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office Official record
- 5.PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments · Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana · 2026-10 Reference