Rep. Shaun Mena's Act 511 Changes Meeting, Training and Audit Rules for the RTA Board

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Act 511, by state Rep. Shaun Mena, has set new rules for the Regional Transit Authority board since it took effect Aug. 1, 2025. It requires at least 10 board meetings a year, down from monthly, and members commit to at least two hours of transit-specific training. State Rep. Delisha Boyd co-authored the bill, and it cleared both chambers without a vote against it.

Mena, a Democrat, represents House District 23 and Orleans Parish, according to his official House page. The bill page lists him as primary author and Boyd, who represents House District 102, as the second. The act changes how the RTA board meets and how its members are trained, and it reworks the separate advisory board.

Before the act, the board had to meet at least once a month, according to the Legislature's résumé digest. The act also drops the requirement that the secretary give members written notice and an agenda at least five days ahead. Notice now follows R.S. 42:19, the state's public meeting notice law.

Each appointed member commits to completing at least two hours of transit-specific training, before taking office or within a year after, the act's text says. The digest calls this a requirement to complete the training, and the act's title says "for members added to the board." The act also drops a requirement that members appointed by a parish legislator have previous union experience.

The act keeps the ban on proxy voting and the board's quorum rule, which calls for two-thirds of the weighted vote and at least one representative of a majority of the participating parishes. It adds one exception. If only one parish is represented, a simple majority of the regular membership is required to establish a quorum or adopt a motion. If a participating parish opts out of the RTA after Aug. 1, 2024, the act says its chief executive officer or governing authority, not the mayor, can appoint two new members.

The advisory board must meet at least quarterly and present findings and recommendations to the board of commissioners at least once a year. The act adds a seat, rotating every two years, for a labor representative from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the United Labor Union or any other union formed to represent RTA workers. Each university president on the statute's list now appoints a representative, Delgado Community College joins the list, and two seats appointed by the Louisiana AFL-CIO are removed. Advisory board members commit to two hours of transit-specific training, and the separate two hours on labor and union relations are dropped.

The act removes four entries from the statute's list of RTA powers, R.S. 48:1656(23) through (26): quarterly reporting, addressing RTA violations of state and city laws, an investigative committee on waste, bid rigging, abuse of employees and labor law violations, and a provision that the authority is not a "common carrier" under R.S. 45:162. The statute still grants "all powers necessary or convenient" to carry out its purposes. On audits, a city or parish with appointments on the board can request an internal audit or hire a third party at its expense, and it reimburses the RTA for employee hours spent supporting a third-party audit.

House Bill 588 moved without opposition: the House Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee reported it 10-0 with amendments on May 12, 2025, and the House passed it 100-0 on May 14. The Senate Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee reported it favorably on May 29, and the Senate passed it 35-0 on June 3. It became Act 511 on July 1 without the governor's signature and took effect Aug. 1.

The act's text gives the board three members from each participating parish, one appointed by the New Orleans City Council, one House District 102 or Senate District 7 appointee on a four-year rotation, and two appointed by the chief executive officer of the parish with the greatest percentage of public transit revenue operating miles. The RTA's meeting page says the board meets monthly and that attendees may speak at the end of open meetings.

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Photo: vxla (2010), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.