Amendment 7: Public Funds for Lead and Copper Drinking Water Service Lines on Private Property
Statewide — all of Louisiana
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred to the ballot by the Louisiana Legislature as Senate Bill 228 (Act 607), sponsored by Sen. Royce Duplessis (D-New Orleans); amendments require a two-thirds vote of each chamber and no gubernatorial signature. The bill history shows the Senate passing it 28-9 on first passage, the House 79-13, and the Senate concurring in the House amendments 32-4 on May 31, 2026.[1]
The question on the ballot
Do you support an amendment to allow for the use of public funds by a political subdivision for the purpose of identifying, inventorying, removing or replacing drinking water utility service lines made of or affected by materials as specified or prescribed by the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, promulgated October 30, 2024, or subsequent promulgation, on property owned by utility customers? (Amends Article VII, Section 14)[2][5]
Article VII, Section 14(A) of the Louisiana Constitution prohibits loaning, pledging or donating public funds, credit or property to private persons or entities, with listed exceptions. The amendment adds an exception allowing a political subdivision to use public funds to identify, inventory, remove or replace drinking-water service lines made of or affected by materials covered by the U.S. EPA's October 30, 2024 Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, including on property owned by utility customers. Fiscal impact (Legislative Fiscal Office): it "may increase local fund expenditures for political subdivisions" to the extent they use public funds for such work, with no direct material effect on governmental revenues.[3][4]
A YES vote means
Allows a parish or other political subdivision to use public funds to find and replace lead or other covered drinking-water service lines located on private property owned by utility customers.
A NO vote means
Keeps the existing ban on donating public funds to private persons without this additional exception.
The law today
Article VII, Section 14 prohibits the state and its political subdivisions from loaning, pledging or donating public funds, credit or property to private persons or entities, with listed exceptions. The Attorney General's Office has issued a non-binding opinion that the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board could replace lead lines on private property under current restrictions.[4][5]
Official fiscal estimate
The Legislative Fiscal Office says the amendment "may increase local fund expenditures for political subdivisions" to the extent they use public funds on such lines, and anticipates no direct material effect on governmental revenues.[4]
Arguments made for
- Sen. Royce Duplessis (D-New Orleans), the sponsor, said, as reported by Fox 8, that voter approval of the amendment is “critical,” pointing to the health impacts lead can have on children: “We have to address this issue now.”[6]
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 argument against was found in the sources reviewed, although the Senate and House each recorded some no votes (9 and 13) with no stated reasons. A quote from the sponsor that Ballotpedia relayed from a Verite News article could not be verified against the original, so a Fox 8 report is quoted instead. 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 · 6
Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.
- 1.SB 228 (Act 607), bill history and votes · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 2.Enrolled SB 228: joint resolution and ballot proposition · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 3.Résumé Digest, Act 607 (SB 228) · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 4.Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note, enrolled SB 228 · Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office Official record
- 5.PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments · Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana · 2026-10 Reference
- 6.State lawmakers open door for SWBNO to replace lead lines on private property · Fox 8 (WVUE) · 2026-06-02 News report