Answer

R.S. 43:141 requires police juries, city and parish councils, municipal corporations, and school boards, Orleans Parish excepted, are required to select an official journal by June 1 of each year, following the procedures outlined there in R.S. 43:142. R.S. 43:171 requires levee, drainage, subdrainage, road, subroad, navigation, and sewerage districts, or other political subdivisions of the state and parishes to select an official journal. This is the catch-all statute for local political subdivisions other than those enumerated in R.S. 43:141(A). For all political subdivisions except for municipalities, R.S. 43:142 and R.S. 43:171(A)(2) both provide that the official journal selected must: 1. Be published in the office physically located in the parish in which the public entity is located for a period of 5 years preceding the selection; 2. Have not missed more than 3 consecutive issues during that period unless caused by fire, flood, strike or natural disaster; 3. Have maintained a general paid circulation in the parish for 5 consecutive years prior to selection; and 4. Have been entered in a US post office in that parish under a periodical permit in that parish for a period of 5 consecutive years prior to the selection. For municipalities, R.S. 43:145 requires the same as R.S. 43:142 except that the official journal selected must have an office physically located in the municipal boundaries; however, if there is no qualified newspaper with an office within the municipal boundaries, then the municipality may select a newspaper in the parish of the municipality. In all cases, if there is no newspaper published within the parish, a newspaper in an adjoining parish may be designated as the official journal. See, R.S. 43:146 and R.S. 43:171(C). The statutory requirements for the selection of official journals do not apply to Orleans Parish as its Home Rule Charter authorizes Orleans Parish to set its own standards for the selection of its official journal. See, Times Picayune Pub. Corp. v. City of New Orleans, 1999-1685 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2/23/00), 760 So.2d 375. Louisiana Legislative Auditor website: 10/19/2025 02:04:39 AM