Walt Leger III

Who is Walt Leger III?

Walter “Walt” John Leger, III, since 2007 state representative for Louisiana House District 91, and since January of 2011 the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives, the youngest member ever to serve in this second highest position in the House, was born 1978 June 22 to Walter, Jr., and Cathy Leger, the oldest of three siblings. A Democrat, he was elected with support of a broad coalition of Democrats and Republicans.

Leger is an attorney at law. He graduated from Jesuit High School in 1996 and received a B.A. in political science from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 2000; during his college career he worked as a summer intern for then United States Senator John Breaux. Leger's juris doctor, completed in 2003 together with a Certificate in admiralty and maritime law, is from the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

Leger, a former assistant district attorney for Orleans Parish, specializing in the prosecution of violent offenders and narcotics traffickers is married to the former Danielle Marie Doiron of Houma.

In 2013, Leger successfully submitted before the House Education Committee a bill to allow the governing boards of all four public college systems to increase tuition and fees under a uniform policy that would be determined by the Louisiana Board of Regents, which oversees higher education in the state. Leger's bill was approved 13-4 in the committee. Currently, the power to increase tuition and fees lies with the legislature. Leger said the change would guarantee a more reliable revenue stream for the institutions, whose state share of funding has been declining in recent years.