Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes, which the state's official website describes as "analogous to counties in other states," and each parish has a governing authority: a police jury, a council under a home rule charter, or a consolidated city-parish government. That body passes parish ordinances and keeps parish government records, which you can request under the Public Records Law. It is separate from the clerk of court, sheriff, and assessor, who are elected on their own and keep their own records.
How Louisiana parishes are governed
The parishes themselves are fixed by the constitution. Article VI, Section 1 recognizes and ratifies the parishes and their boundaries as they existed when the 1974 constitution took effect, and says a parish seat may be moved only by a two-thirds vote of the electors voting on it. The constitution calls a parish or municipality a "local governmental subdivision" and defines its "governing authority" as the body that exercises its legislative functions (art. VI, §44).
The state's Local Louisiana site puts it simply: "There are various forms of government being used within the parishes." The main types are these.
Police juries
The police jury is Louisiana's traditional parish governing body. A Louisiana House of Representatives overview of local government (prepared for the 2012 to 2016 term) says a police jury generally has at least five and not more than 15 members under R.S. 33:1221. The Rapides Parish Police Jury, for example, says on its website that "The Police Jury is the governing authority for Rapides Parish." The Ouachita, Avoyelles, Grant, and Vernon parish police juries also run their own official sites.
Home rule charter governments
The constitution lets "Any local governmental subdivision" draft, adopt, or amend a home rule charter, adopted by a majority of the voters, and lets two or more local governmental subdivisions in one parish adopt one charter together (art. VI, §5). Natchitoches Parish is one charter parish, with a parish president and a parish council: its parish government website says the five-member Parish Council is the legislative branch, that members are elected from single-member districts for four-year terms with a limit of three consecutive terms, and that the council, "being bound by the Home Rule Charter, State laws and the Constitution," has the authority to pass parish ordinances.
Consolidated city-parish governments
Some parishes have consolidated parish and city government. Examples with official sites include Lafayette Consolidated Government, Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government in Houma, and the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge, whose own site refers to the "City-Parish" and its Metropolitan Council.
What a charter cannot change
A home rule charter cannot contain provisions affecting a school board or the offices of district attorney, sheriff, assessor, clerk of a district court, or coroner that are inconsistent with the constitution or state law (art. VI, §5(G)). Those offices keep their constitutional and statutory roles whichever form of government a parish uses.
This page does not give a count of police jury parishes versus charter parishes. Official sources reviewed in October 2026 did not agree, and forms of government change by local election.
Which office holds what
Parish government is only one of several parish offices, and many records people look for are kept by one of the others.
| What you need | Office that holds it |
|---|---|
| Parish ordinances, council or police jury minutes, parish budgets and contracts | The parish governing authority |
| Deeds, mortgages, and other recorded acts | The clerk of court, as parish recorder (property records) |
| Civil and criminal court files | The clerk of court (court records) |
| Property values and homestead exemptions | The parish assessor (assessors and property taxes) |
| Property tax bills and receipts (outside Orleans) | The sheriff, as tax collector (sheriff's offices) |
| Voter registration | The registrar of voters |
| Elections and candidate qualifying for local office | The clerk of court, as chief election officer of the parish |
Parish government does connect to some of these. The constitution says "The governing authority of each parish shall appoint a registrar of voters" (art. XI, §5), so the registrar is appointed by the police jury or council even though the registrar's work is separate. And the parish governing authority is the first stop when a property owner seeks review of an assessment: the constitution makes assessments subject to review "first by the parish governing authority, then by the Louisiana Tax Commission or its successor, and finally by the courts" (art. VII, §18(E)).
The clerk of court's election role is set by statute: "The clerk of court is the chief election officer of the parish" (R.S. 18:422), and local and municipal candidates qualify with the clerk of the parish where they are registered to vote (R.S. 18:462).
Getting records from parish government
A police jury or parish council is a public body under the Public Records Law, which covers any political subdivision and its agencies, and the law treats records in any form, including electronic ones, as public records unless an exception applies (R.S. 44:1). The constitution adds that "No person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law" (art. XII, §3).
How a request works, in short:
- Who may ask. Any person of the age of majority may inspect or copy a public record, and any person may obtain a copy (R.S. 44:31). The custodian may ask your age and for identification, and may ask questions to clarify which records you want (R.S. 44:32(A)).
- How fast. A record that is immediately available must be presented immediately. If it is in active use, the custodian must certify that in writing and set a time within three days, not counting weekends and legal holidays (R.S. 44:33). If the custodian doubts that a record is public, a written determination is due within five business days of a written request (R.S. 44:32(D)).
- What it costs. Parish custodians may charge reasonable copy fees but must post the fee schedule, and no fee may be charged just to examine a record (R.S. 44:32(C)).
- If you are refused. A person denied access, or who gets no written determination within five business days, may sue in the district court of the parish where the custodian's office is located (R.S. 44:35).
Some parishes post agendas, minutes, and request forms online. Natchitoches Parish Government, for example, has a Public Information Requests page and says on its site that its Parish Council meets on the third Monday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in Room 211 of the Natchitoches Parish Courthouse (as the site read in October 2026).
For parish finances, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor publishes audit reports and lets readers find an audit report by parish, along with local government financial reports.
Finding your parish government
The Local Louisiana section of louisiana.gov has a profile for each parish with a "Local Government" link to the parish governing authority, plus links for the clerk of court, assessor, registrar of voters, and sheriffs' directory. This site's Louisiana parishes map and the Louisiana Clerks of Court directory lead to individual parish pages, which name the governing authority where research confirmed it. Examples include the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court (Rapides Parish Police Jury), the Natchitoches Parish Clerk of Court (Natchitoches Parish Government, a home rule charter parish), and the Vernon Parish Clerk of Court (Vernon Parish Police Jury).
Orleans Parish
In Orleans, the city and the parish share one government. The City of New Orleans describes the New Orleans City Council as "the governing authority of Orleans Parish," so the city's council fills the role a police jury or parish council fills elsewhere.
Several parish offices in Orleans also differ from the rest of the state. Orleans has one sheriff (R.S. 13:5581) and one assessor, elected at the same time as the city's municipal officers (art. VII, §24). Property taxes are collected by the City of New Orleans Bureau of Treasury rather than the sheriff. And since May 4, 2026, Orleans has one clerk of court: Act 15 of the 2026 Regular Session abolished the separate clerk of criminal district court and transferred its records and duties to the clerk of court for the parish of Orleans. See the Orleans Parish clerk of court page.