Amendment 5: Application of Nonrecurring State Money to Retirement System Unfunded Liability
Statewide — all of Louisiana
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred to the ballot by the Louisiana Legislature as House Bill 27 (Act 606), sponsored by Rep. Dixon McMakin (R); amendments require a two-thirds vote of each chamber and no gubernatorial signature. The House passed it 87-0 and the Senate 34-0 (per the bill history).[1][3]
The question on the ballot
Do you support an amendment to authorize a state retirement system to apply any nonrecurring state monies it receives to any of its unfunded accrued liability rather than requiring application to its oldest unfunded accrued liability? (Amends Article VII, Section 10(D)(2)(b)(iii))[2][5]
The Constitution requires the Legislature to appropriate at least 25 percent of any money designated as nonrecurring in the official revenue forecast to the state retirement systems for application to their unfunded accrued liability (UAL), and requires each system to apply it to its oldest UAL first. The amendment removes the "oldest first" requirement, letting a system apply the money to any of its UAL. The actuarial note states the amendment does not change retirement benefits, and that it is "not expected to have any measurable effects on retirement related fiscal costs and revenues during the five-year measurement period."[3][4]
A YES vote means
Removes the requirement that a state retirement system apply nonrecurring state money to its oldest unfunded accrued liability first, allowing it to apply the money to any of its unfunded accrued liability.
A NO vote means
Keeps the requirement that nonrecurring state money received by a retirement system be applied to its oldest unfunded accrued liability.
The law today
The Constitution requires the Legislature to appropriate at least 25 percent of any money designated nonrecurring in the official revenue forecast to the state retirement systems for their unfunded accrued liability, and requires each system to apply it to its oldest unfunded accrued liability first.[4][5]
Official fiscal estimate
The Legislative Auditor's actuarial note (with Legislative Fiscal Office input) says the amendment makes no change to retirement benefits and, because nonrecurring monies are not anticipated revenue of the systems, "is not expected to have any measurable effects on retirement related fiscal costs and revenues during the five-year measurement period."[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. The linked fiscal document is an actuarial note rather than a Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note. 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 27 (Act 606), bill history and votes · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 2.Enrolled HB 27: joint resolution and ballot proposition · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 3.Résumé Digest, Act 606 (HB 27) · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 4.Actuarial note, enrolled HB 27 · Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office Official record
- 5.PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments · Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana · 2026-10 Reference