By Quint Forgey
BATON ROUGE — A proposed state constitutional amendment aimed at weaning the state off short-term funding sources was voluntarily deferred by its author on Monday after members of the Senate Finance committee deemed the measure too dangerous to enact in a time of such fiscal uncertainty.
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — Forget budget deficits, tax credits, discrimination and Real ID, Louisiana restaurants may soon be able to whip up freshly caught alligator dishes brought to the chefs by the diner.
House Bill 188, reported out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee Thursday, would includes alligator in the state’s Catch and Cook program.
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — The Senate Thursday unanimously passed Senate Bill 395 by Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, ending a practice of lawyers, judges and lawmaker indulging several times a year in food and drink at the swanky Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans on the taxpayer dime.
The bill mandates the Louisiana State Law Institute, whose 100-plus members include lawyers, judges and legislators, hold its meetings at a public building. The group researches and recommends legal reforms to the Legislature.
By D.B. Narveson
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House passed two abortion bills Thursday banning the dismemberment of a fetus and the second prohibiting the procedure for survivable genetic disorders of a fetus, such as Down’s syndrome or cystic fibrosis.
Rep. Rick Edmunds, R-Baton Rouge, said, as a pastor, one of the sweetest members of his church was a young man with Down’s syndrome, and that his own son was diagnosed with a genetic disease that required numerous surgeries on his legs and spine.
By D.B. Narveson
BATON ROUGE — The House of Representatives unanimously passed measures Thursday sponsored by Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, to put tighter limits on registered sex offenders and to expand the definition of a hate crime.
By Quint Forgey
By Justin DiCharia
BATON ROUGE – A West Monroe lawmaker Thursday pulled from consideration his bill banning tobacco products on public and private school property after Senate Education Committee members expressed a desire to keep the current designated smoking zones as they are.
By Justin DiCharia
BATON ROUGE — Legislation to halt discrimination against employees in the public and private workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity passed through the Senate Labor Committee following a switched votes by a Democratic senator.
By Quint Forgey
BATON ROUGE — A measure aimed at streamlining the governance of Louisiana’s higher education by merging its four management boards and the overarching Board of Regents into one new governing body — the Louisiana Postsecondary Education Board of Trustees — was effectively killed by one vote in the House Education Committee on Wednesday.
By Justin DiCharia
BATON ROUGE — Former Attorney General Buddy Caldwell testified Wednesday against a bill prohibiting justices of the peace from issuing felony warrants unless all other judges within their district had been contacted first.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 