LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: March 30, 2026

By: Sheridan White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – Efforts to eliminate or significantly reduce Louisiana’s state income tax appear to be on hold this legislative session, as lawmakers have signaled a more cautious approach following recent tax reductions.

House Bill 253 by Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, and House Bill 411 by Rep. John Wyble, R-Franklinton, were voluntarily deferred Monday before even being considered in the House Ways and Means Committee.

The decisions to defer the bills reflect a broader sentiment among legislators that the state should first evaluate the impact of existing tax changes before pursuing additional cuts.

“We discussed with leadership and decided this year we needed to watch revenues,” McCormick said, adding that efforts to eliminate the income tax remain a long-term goal.

At Gov. Jeff Landry’s urging in 2025, the Legislature voted to change the individual income tax rate to a flat 3%, but new proposals to further reduce the tax rate have run into political headwinds.

Read more at KTBS.

Published: March 30, 2026

By: Kylah Babin, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana lawmakers took the first step toward eliminating the state’s vehicle inspection sticker program during a House Transportation Committee meeting Monday.

The bill filed by Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, to replace the sticker with a QR code was unanimously advanced from the committee.

Bagley has been working to eliminate inspection stickers since 2017, having failed to pass the bill seven times previously.

More support for the bill was shown this time around, including approval from Gov. Jeff Landry.

“The traditional vehicle inspection sticker process is annoying, it’s inconvenient, it serves little value to the safety of our roads,” Landry said in a speech he delivered on the first day of the legislative session.

Read more at KALB.

Published: March 30, 2026

By: Sheridan White and Courtney Bell, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE –The Secretary of State’s office is encouraging Louisiana voters to check their registration as the state prepares for a change that will limit their choices in some elections.

Louisiana is preparing to implement a new closed-primary system for statewide elections, a shift that will limit choices to candidates in their own parties instead of allowing them to vote for candidates in any party.

Secretary of State Nancy Landry said her department is engaging with voters to clarify the changes adopted by the Legislature and Gov. Jeff Landry. 

“We have been doing everything we can to get voters ready for the changes coming up in the May primary,” Landry said in a webinar with the Public Affairs Research Council on Friday.

The closed-party primaries will limit the candidates they can choose from in the primary based on their voter registrations.

Read more at WBRZ.

Published: March 26, 2026

By: AnnMarie Bedard, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—Though a voting rights advocate cautioned that technology used for voter checks could pose security risks to residents’ personal identification information, the House Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-7 Wednesday to move forward with a bill requiring use of the system.

Louisiana election officials have used the technology, called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, to remove 403 noncitizens from the voting rolls. 

The program, run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is designed to flag potentially ineligible voters. 

The bill, House Bill 691, would require state election officials to check the names of all Louisiana voters in the database each year to ensure that they were citizens.

However, opponents argued that could lead to breaches of sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers.

Read more at Minden Press-Herald.

Published: March 26, 2026

By: Sheridan White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — A proposal from Rep. Timothy Kerner, R-Lafitte, aims to close the long-standing gap in Louisiana’s seafood labeling laws, building on years of legislative efforts to protect one of the state’s signature industries.

House Bill 857, which advanced without opposition in the Committee on Natural Resources and Environment, addresses the issue of commingling, the mixing of domestic and imported seafood products in a way that makes it difficult to verify the food’s origin.

The bill would introduce penalties for such practices, which regulators say have been difficult to police under current law.

According to Commissioner of Agriculture Mike Strain, the challenge lies in jurisdiction.

“If it were a state product, we could go in and inspect it,” Strain said at a hearing Wednesday. “If it were an imported product, we are somewhat prohibited under federal law.”

Read more at Daily Advertiser.

Published: March 26, 2026

By: Sheridan White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, introduced two pieces of legislation focused on tightening Louisiana’s bail laws for individuals convicted of certain crimes against children.

Both measures advanced without opposition in the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee, reflecting broad concern among lawmakers about gaps in the current system.

The bills were prompted by a recent highly controversial case in which an individual convicted of aggravated rape of an 8-year-old was granted post-conviction bail so that he could take care of his mother at home.

Lawmakers were particularly alarmed because the individual was living near the victim, raising serious concerns about public safety and the protection of vulnerable children.

“I think that is so offensive, so I thank you for correcting the problem, protecting our most vulnerable,” said Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton.

Read more at Daily Advertiser.

Published: March 26, 2026

By: Sheridan White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–Louisiana lawmakers are advancing a new effort to crack down on hazing on college campuses.

The House Education Committee pushed forward a bill Wednesday by Rep. Vanessa LaFleur, D-Baton Rouge, to strengthen accountability for campus organizations involved in dangerous practices.

The proposal, House Bill 636, comes with the backing of New Orleans City Councilman Jason Hughes, a former legislator and current chairman of the Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Task Force.

The bill is in direct response to the death of Southern University student Caleb Wilson, whose parents, Urania and Corey Wilson, attended the committee meeting in support of the measure.

Read more at KATC.

Published: March 25, 2026

By: Sheridan White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – A proposal by Rep. Kyle Green, D-Marrero, is sparking debate over how, and when, Louisiana’s Legislature should conduct its work.

House Bill 752, advanced by a House committee on Tuesday, aims to significantly reshape the state’s legislative calendar and the constitutional framework that governs it.

At the heart of the bill is a proposed constitutional amendment to shift the start date of Louisiana’s legislative session.

Currently, the session begins in March or April each year and lasts into June.

HB 752 would move the start date to the second Monday in January, and the last day would be no later than May 1 st unless two-thirds of the lawmakers voted to extend the session.

While that change alone is notable, the broader intent of the bill is to grant lawmakers, who serve part-time, more control over their own schedule by transferring certain constitutional mandates into joint legislative rules.

Read more at WBRZ.

Published: March 25, 2026

By: Dakota Laszlo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — New Medicaid rules requiring recipients to work and reverify coverage every six months will disproportionately affect the 85% of Native Americans living in Louisiana, tribal leaders and Indigenous experts say.

While the 4,000 Native Americans belonging to four tribes officially recognized by the federal government under longstanding covenants are not affected by the new Medicaid rules, roughly 24,000 members of 11 state-recognized tribes will be subject to the new regulations.

“Instead of investing the time and the energy to think of more efficient and impactful ways to create the infrastructure around the problem, the common decision has just been to run away from the problem,” said Devon Parfait, chief of the state-recognized Grand Caillou Dulac tribe.

Read more at Daily Advertiser.

Published: March 25, 2026

By: Veronica Camenzuli, Izzy Wollfarth and Addi Loftis LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — A bill asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment giving legislators a say in removing judges advanced through a Senate Judiciary committee Tuesday.

Other bills advancing through judiciary committees would provide for an increase in infrastructure protections from foreign adversaries, and a ban on those who threaten student athletes from involvement in sports and mobile wagering.

Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, said Senate Bill 123 would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment to give legislators with a way to “hold judges accountable” beyond the current judicial commission.

He mentioned five cases where two juvenile court judges in Orleans Parish, Judge Candice Bates-Anderson and Judge Ranord J. Darensburg, released minors who faced charges for multiple crimes. After release, police arrested them on additional charges escalating in severity and violence.

Read more at KATC.