Hollis Downs

Who is Hollis Downs?

Hollis H. Downs is a finance professor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, and a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 12.

A native of Farmerville, the seat of neighboring Union Parish, Downs graduated from Louisiana Tech in 1968. He served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1974 and the Louisiana National Guard from 1974 to 1976. He is a financial planner in Ruston, where he resides with his wife, Catherine Downs. He is United Methodist.

Downs won a special election to the state House held in January 2003 created by the resignation of Democratic Representative Jay McCallum. He won the contest by 36 votes over fellow Republican Chuck Earle, 3,838 to 3,802.

Downs then won four-year terms in the elections of 2003 and 2007 without opposition. However, Downs did not seek a third full term in the primary election held on October 22, 2011.

In 2011, Downs sponsored House Bill 448 which would have charged college students for fifteen credit hours, up from the current twelve semester hours. According to the Legislative Fiscal Office, the change would raise about $74 million a year. Downs said that previous policy in which students pay only for twelve hours encourages them to enroll in additional courses that they frequently drop by the time of withdrawal day. Therefore, colleges must hire more faculty and staff than they would otherwise need. Downs said that the 15-hour requirement would encourage students to take more classes and to graduate earlier. The additional funds raised would compensate too, he said, for other budget cuts in higher education. However, the full House overwhelmingly rejected Hollis's bill and a similar measure by Republican Representative Frank Hoffmann of West Monroe.