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Gov. Jeff Landry issued 138 executive orders during his first eight months in office, which represents the highest single-year tally of any governor dating back to at least 1975, when the current Louisiana Constitution took effect.
That’s quite a feat for an executive branch leader, especially when you consider Landry still has another four months remaining in his own inaugural year.
In a relatively short period of time, Landry’s use of executive orders has become a developing case study of how a governor can use that authority to not only shrink the footprint of state government, but also address the politics of the day and his political enemies of the moment—all without legislative interference.
“He’s a governor who wants to appear to be in charge of everything that matters to him,” says Terry Ryder, who served as executive counsel to three other former Louisiana governors. “Whether he has authority to do that is another question.”
Despite the important role of executive orders in Louisiana government, our current constitution provides no direct guidance on how or when they should be issued. Instead, such language can be found in a guiding state statute that provides the governor with the ability “to see that the laws are faithfully executed.”
Landry’s present total of 138 is almost twice as many as the 75 orders Gov. John Bel Edwards issued in his first year on the Capitol’s fourth floor. (And, again, Landry still has another four months to go to complete his first year.)
Going further back, the first-year executive order totals for Govs. Bobby Jindal, Kathleen Blanco and Mike Foster were 114, 66 and 79, respectively.
