Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 24 > Chapter 1 > Part I - General Provisions

• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Agency: means an organization or facility that delivers social work services and employs social workers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Case management: means a method to plan, provide, evaluate, and monitor services from a variety of resources on behalf of and in collaboration with a client. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Consultation: means a problem-solving process in which expertise is offered to an individual, group, organization, or community. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Council on Social Work Education: means the national organization which accredits graduate and undergraduate social work programs or its predecessor or successor organization. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Graduate school of social work: means a program within an institution of higher education which offers a full-time course of study in social work, granting a master's degree in social work or social welfare, and accredited or under candidacy by the Council on Social Work Education or its predecessor or successor organization. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Joint resolution: A legislative measure which requires the approval of both chambers.
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Social work practice: means the professional application of social work values, theories, and interventions to one or more of the following: enhancing the development, problem-solving, and coping capacities of people; promoting the effective and humane operations of systems that provide resources and services to people; linking people with systems that provide them with resources, services, and opportunities; developing and improving social policy; and engaging in research related to the professional activities. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Social worker: means a person who holds a degree in social work, having successfully completed an undergraduate or graduate level academic social work program. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Supervision: means the professional relationship between a supervisor and a supervisee that provides guidance and evaluation of the services provided by the supervisee. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:2703
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.