In a legislative session devoted mostly to tax policy, Louisiana lawmakers are taking steps to empower themselves to set up new state courts outside of the traditional judicial system. Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, has proposed a state constitutional amendment that would give legislators the authority to create specialized courts statewide with a two-thirds vote of lawmakers in the state House and Senate. Under the current constitution, lawmakers can only set up subject-matter courts, such as a drug or veterans court program, on a parishwide basis. Morris’ constitutional amendment needs two-thirds support in each legislative chamber and then approval from voters statewide before it can become law. If legislators sign off on it this month, it will appear on the March 29 or Nov. 15 ballot next year. The lawmaker said Senate Bill 1 will allow legislators to move forward with forming a special statewide court to handle business disputes, though he has offered few details about what that system would look like. Establishing a business court would take another round of legislation in 2025 or beyond, even if his amendment is approved. State district court judges currently preside over business-related cases alongside other civil law matters such as divorce or personal injury. Under Morris’ proposal, the state would separate business-related cases out and send them to a specific set of judges. Proponents of business courts argue the system allows judges to develop an expertise in complex commercial issues. Critics have said it’s a way for business owners to bypass arbiters who might have different political leanings than their own. A speciality business court can also give the corporate community faster resolutions to their legal disputes than others. They would no longer have to compete with child custody cases and other routine civil law matters for a district court’s time and attention. In an interview last week, Morris said Gov. Jeff Landry supports his amendment. Business courts exist in roughly half of states and take on several different forms, Morris said at a legislative hearing last week. But they are still a relatively recent phenomenon, popping up in most of those places over the last 25 years. For example, Texas set up business courts with legislation last year, and they only started operating in September. Debate over the new Texas business courts centers around how their judges are selected. The state generally elects its judges, and critics are upset that business court judges at the district level will be appointed instead. In Texas, lawmakers created both a district and appellate court to handle large business matters. The Texas governor will appoint judges to the district business court every two years under the state’s new law. He also will appoint judges to the appellate court for the next three years, though they will eventually transition to statewide elected positions, according to the Texas Tribune. Democrats in Texas see the new system as a strategy to circumvent Democratic judges elected in urban and suburban areas by creating statewide appointed and elected positions that favor Republicans. The business court concept was proposed after Democrats won 31 of the 32 contested elections for Texas state appeals court seats in 2018, the Texas Tribune reported. Morris said his intention is not to create a path toward having appointed judges in Louisiana, where these powerful positions are elected at every level. “We don’t have appointed judges,” Morris said at a legislative hearing about the bill last week. The Louisiana District Judges Association had not taken a position on the legislation as of last week. Still, the group’s representative at a legislative hearing, retired Judge Glenn Ansardi, said its members would like more specifics about what a Louisiana business court would entail. At the hearing, Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, also said lawmakers should know more about the potential cost of creating a special business court. The proposal could potentially be expensive, requiring an entire court support staff and new panel of judges. “If we create one of these courts, it is going to cost money,” Luneau said. Morris’ legislation would also allow new specialty courts that are not just related to business. In Mississippi for example, Republican state lawmakers established a new state-run Capital Complex Improvement District Court in Jackson, a city that is majority Black and Democratic. White, conservative officials are now in charge of appointing the judge who will preside over its cases, according to the Associated Press. In an interview last week, Morris said the purpose of his legislation is not to set up a similar state-run court in New Orleans or any other part of Louisiana, but he acknowledged the amendment might make it easier to do so in the future. “Would it allow the creation of other types of specialized courts? Yes, it would,” he said at the hearing. His proposal has a good chance of passing the Legislature and getting on the ballot. Morris pushed a similar constitutional amendment during the regular legislative session in the spring that was almost approved. It may have failed, in large part, because several Republican lawmakers were absent from the Louisiana House floor when it came up for votes. The Louisiana Senate Judiciary A Committee approved Morris’ constitutional amendment in a 4-3 vote last week, with Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats opposed. It is expected to come up for a vote on the full Senate floor this week.