Author: manshipxgr

Published: June 05, 2023

By: Allison Allsop – LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved a compromise plan to raise an expenditure cap and let the state to spend an additional $250 million in the current fiscal year and $1.4 billion above the projected cap next year.

The plan, approved 21-3, came after House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R- Gonzalez, supported a Senate resolution to exceed the caps by $500 million this year and $1.8 billion next year.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, the leader of a conservative caucus that had opposed any increase in the caps, countered with an amendment to lower those totals, and that is the plan the committee approved.

Both the House and the Senate must take up the measure before the legislative session ends Thursday. Any plan to exceed the spending cap requires a two-thirds vote in each house.

Read more at KTBS

Published: June 02, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—A second Senate committee advanced a bill Friday that would ban gender-affirming care for minors after the Republican chairman of another committee had blocked the measure.

Rep. Michael “Gabe” Firment, R-Pollock, presented the legislation, House Bill 648, that failed in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on May 24 in a 5-4 vote.

Sen. Fred Mills, a Republican and the chairman of that committee, was the tie-breaking vote that crossed party lines to block the bill then. National Republican activists attacked Mills after his vote.

The Senate later voted 26-12 to recommit the bill to the Senate Judiciary A Committee. The committee moved to adopt an amendment that would change the date that the law would become effective to Jan. 1, 2024, from July 1, 2023.

Read more at Bossier Press-Tribune

Published: June 02, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

LSU is ending its controversial, seven-figure agreement allowing Caesars Entertainment to advertise sports betting across the campus, according to university officials and a sports marketing company involved in the deal.

The agreement, struck in 2021, was supposed to last several more years, said Lauren Capone of Playfly Sports, a marketing company that helped arrange the deal.

Capone said talk of ending the deal began when a bill was filed in the Louisiana Legislature in March that would prohibit colleges and universities in the state from creating advertising agreements with gaming entities. The bill, by Sen. Gary Smith, D-Norco, passed the House on Tuesday.

Another factor was that the American Gaming Association, an industry group, updated its responsible marketing code in March to prohibit gaming companies from having partnerships with universities to promote sports betting.

Since then, several schools, including Michigan State and the University of Maryland, have said they were ending similar advertising agreements with gaming companies.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: June 02, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. —The Senate Education Committee advanced bills Thursday that would ban discussion of gender and sexual orientation in schools and prohibit teachers from using a student’s preferred name or pronoun without their parent’s written permission if it differs from their biological sex.

The bill to restrict gender discussion was modeled after a Florida law that critics refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The Louisiana version, House Bill 466, was sponsored by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton.

The other bill, House Bill 81, would require parents to submit a form in order for public school teachers and employees to use a name that is not on the student’s birth certificate or to use pronouns that are not in accordance with the student’s sex. Rep. Raymond J. Crews, R-Bossier City presented that bill.

Crews’ bill passed 3-1. Three Republicans– Sen. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles; and Sen. Robert Mills, R-Minden; and Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton—voted for the bill. The committee’s chairman, Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, opposed it.

Read more at KATC

Published: June 01, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

The Senate Education Committee unanimously advanced two bills Thursday that would relax vaccine requirements for K-12 students.

Rep. Kathy Edmonston, R-Gonzales, wrote both bills. Colleges and universities are no longer included in the bills after amendments by the committee.

House Bill 182 would prohibit Covid-19 vaccinations as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment in any public or private K-12 schools.

House Bill 399 would require schools to provide exemption information for any type of vaccine.

Read more at the Shreveport Times

Published: June 01, 2023

By: Eliza Stanley, LSU Manship School News Service

Seventy-seven percent of Louisiana residents say a woman should be able to obtain a legal abortion if she became pregnant after being raped, according to an LSU survey released Thursday.

That finding is at odds with Louisiana’s near-total ban on abortions. Earlier this month, a state House committee rejected a bill that would have added exceptions for cases of rape and incest to Louisiana’s abortion ban, one of the strictest in the country. Lawmakers shot down the bill in a 10-5 vote.

The final installment of the Louisiana Survey, conducted by LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs, shows a continuing shift in Louisiana residents’ attitudes toward abortion in recent years.

Fifty-two percent of the people interviewed lean toward abortion being legalized. Eighty-five percent say that a woman should be able to obtain an abortion if her life is seriously threatened due to pregnancy, and two-thirds say abortion should be legal if there is a strong chance of the child having a lethal birth defect.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: June 01, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) — He paced the Tiger Stadium sidelines, gave rousing locker room speeches and traveled with the football team. But this unofficial coach could not leave Louisiana without temporarily giving up his gubernatorial powers.

In a new book, “Kingfish U: Huey Long and LSU,” LSU professor Robert “Bob” Mann documents the intense relationship between former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long and the university he helped build into its modern form.

An unofficial football coach, Long also acted as the university’s de facto co-president and a member of the LSU Board of Supervisors. Though he never attended LSU, and was once its opponent, Long set the university on a new path to national recognition.

Long helped expand the campus and bolster enrollment, increasing state funding for the university and opening its doors to students from more economic backgrounds. (Though, at the time, still only those who were white.)

Read more at KLFY

Published: June 01, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. —The House Education Committee rejected a resolution Wednesday that would have asked public schools, including universities, to provide information on programs and activities related to critical race theory, diversity, equity and inclusion, and social-emotional learning.

The resolution was deferred on a 6-5 vote. Two Republicans—Reps. Vincent “Vinney” St. Blanc III, of Franklin, and Barbara Reich Freiberg, of Baton Rouge—joined four Democrats in rejecting the proposal.

A major contention point, highlighted by public education officials at all levels, was the resolution’s lack of definitions for the various subjects. The vote also represented a relatively rare instance in which Louisiana Republicans blocked a push on a cultural issue targeted by national party activists.

Rep. Ken Brass, D-Vacherie, asked the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, to define critical race theory. She dodged the question, saying, “different people interpret it different ways.”

Read more at KATC

Published: May 31, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—A House committee passed a bill Tuesday that would require printing the number for a crisis hotline on the back of driver’s licenses.

Senate Bill 34, authored by Sen. Louie Bernard, R-Natchitoches, passed its first hurdle in the House without any objection. This bill would require that “Crisis Lifeline dial 988” be printed on all state-issued driver’s licenses as well as personal identification cards.

Bernard said a few college students had approached him about their friends committing suicide. They wanted to print the crisis number on student ID cards. From the conversation, it was seemed like it would be useful on all licenses, according to Bernard.

“When you’re in a moment of emotional crisis, there should be a place where you automatically know that number I need is on there,” Bernard said.

Karen Stubbs from the Louisiana Department of Health said that the 988 hotline is confidential, toll-free and open 24/7. It is a national number with connections to more than 200 crisis centers. The lifeline routes calls by the caller’s area code to the nearest crisis center.

Read more at The Houma Times

Published: May 31, 2023

By: Eliza Stanley, LSU Manship School News Service

Seventeen percent of Louisiana residents say insurance companies canceled their homeowner’s policies last year, according to an LSUsurvey released Tuesday.

And a majority of residents polled say insurance rates are on the rise and are higher than in other states.

In the second of three installments of the Louisiana Survey, conducted by LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs, 63% of homeowner’s insurance policyholders and 54% of flood insurance ones said the cost of coverage has increased in the past year.

Of automobile insurance policyholders, 43% said they pay more compared to the previous year, while only 10% said they pay less.

A majority of participants also said insurance rates are higher in Louisiana than in other states. Sixty-nine percent of the people interviewed said homeowner’s insurance costs more here, 71% said flood insurance costs more and 67% said automobile insurance costs more in Louisiana.

Read more at NOLA.com