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Read. Follow. Verify.Louisiana bill ties annual judge salary increases to consumer price index and state employee pay trends starting in 2028
Last action · May 11, 2026: Read by title, amended, ordered engrossed, recommitted to the Committee on Appropriations.Sponsor: Dixon McMakin
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What This Bill Proposed
JUDGES: Provides relative to judicial compensation (EG INCREASE GF EX See Note)
The measure abolishes the existing Judicial Compensation Commission process and replaces it with an automatic formula tied to inflation and state worker pay trends, subject to annual funding availability and judicial branch approval.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Louisiana Supreme Court, court of appeal, district court, city court, and parish court judges
Judges become eligible for automatic annual salary increases based on a Consumer Price Index formula, subject to funding availability and high-court approval.
Department of the Treasury
The department is assigned the responsibility of calculating the five-year rolling average for the annual salary increases.
Louisiana Supreme Court and Louisiana Judicial Budgetary Control Board
Both bodies are required to review and approve the salary increases prior to each July first based on available funding.
Key Facts
- Actual salaries for Louisiana Supreme Court, court of appeal, district court, city court, and parish court judges shall increase each year on July 1st.
- The yearly raise is determined by the average of a five-year rolling index of the Consumer Price Index provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- The rolling index is calculated each year after February 1st using the Consumer Price Index for the five previous years.
- The Department of the Treasury is responsible for calculating the five-year rolling average.
Show all 9 facts
- The percentage increase in any year cannot exceed the five-year rolling average for percentage increases in average annual pay for full-time state classified employees, according to Department of Civil Service data.
- Salary increases are contingent upon annual appropriations and prior approval each July 1st by the Louisiana Supreme Court and the Louisiana Judicial Budgetary Control Board.
- The pay raise for any given year is suspended if available funds are insufficient.
- Existing statutes creating and empowering the Judicial Compensation Commission (R.S. 13:42 through 50) are repealed in their entirety.
- The Act becomes effective on July 1, 2028.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to the current Judicial Compensation Commission?
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
6 actions- May 11, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, amended, ordered engrossed, recommitted to the Committee on Appropriations.
- May 7, 2026HouseReported with amendments (15-0).
- Mar 9, 2026HouseIntroducedRead by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
- Feb 27, 2026HouseFirst appeared in the Interim Calendar on 2/27/2026.
- Feb 26, 2026HousePrefiled.
- Feb 26, 2026HouseCommitteeUnder the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Replacement of Judicial Compensation Commission
The bill entirely repeals existing statutes governing the Judicial Compensation Commission (R.S. 13:42-50) and transitions judicial pay adjustments to an automatic formula tied to economic indicators.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.la.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 65)
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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