CONDOLENCES: Expresses condolences on the passing of Kathleen "Kathy" Sessums.
SR 135 is a Senate resolution expressing the Louisiana Senate’s condolences on the death of Kathleen “Kathy” Sessums and honoring her life, family, and decades of public service. The resolution recounts her upbringing in Shreveport, her marriage and family, and her role as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. It also highlights her personal qualities, including strength, warmth, intelligence, and mentorship.
The resolution places particular emphasis on Sessums’s 46-year career in Louisiana state government, beginning in 1978 and culminating in her leadership of the state’s Enterprise Resource Planning system, LaGov. It credits her with helping modernize state financial and administrative operations, including accounting, budgeting, procurement, payroll, inventory, travel, training, and grant services, and with generating significant taxpayer savings. The resolution also notes her receipt of the Charles E. Dunbar, Jr. Career Civil Service Award in 2022, recognizing her as a distinguished classified state employee.
As a simple memorial resolution, SR 135 does not change state law, create new programs, or appropriate funds. Its effect is ceremonial: it formally records the Senate’s sympathy, honors Sessums’s contributions to Louisiana government, and directs that a copy of the resolution be transmitted to her family. The measure primarily affects the public record and the symbolic recognition of a longtime state employee’s service, rather than any statute, agency, or regulated party.
The sentiment surrounding SR 135 is uniformly positive and respectful. The resolution itself is written in a commemorative tone, emphasizing gratitude, admiration, and condolences. There is no recorded committee debate or vote controversy in the provided materials, and the bill’s final action indicates it was advanced without apparent opposition.
There are no notable points of contention in the available record. Because SR 135 is a condolence resolution, it is noncontroversial by nature and does not present policy disputes, fiscal disagreements, or statutory changes. The only substantive focus is on honoring Kathy Sessums’s personal legacy and her impact on Louisiana’s state government and the people who worked with her.