Author: manshipxgr

Published: May 18, 2022

By: Piper Hutchinson, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE –The House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice Wednesday advanced two bills without objection that relate to juvenile justice.

Senate Bill 323, sponsored by Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, would require the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections to adopt rules that would sort juvenile offenders into low, medium and high-risk categories based on medical, educational and psychological assessments.

The tiered system could then be used to segregate high-risk juveniles as a safety precaution.

The bill comes after a series of escapes and violent actions at the state’s juvenile facilities. The facilities are in Bridge City, Monroe, Columbia, Bunkie and St. Martinville.

Cloud said that under current policies, a 20-year-old violent offender could be sleeping in the same dormitory as a 14-year-old convicted of property crimes.

“As a parent, that should activate us and should greatly concern us,” Cloud said.

Read more at KATC

Published: May 18, 2022

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The House Education Committee on Tuesday killed two bills by a conservative lawmaker that would have prohibited teaching concepts related to race, ethnicity, national origin and sex. 

The committee voted unanimously to involuntarily defer the bills after much debate over whether or not the Legislature should set school curricula. 

The bills, House Bill 1014 and House Bill 747, were both authored by Rep. Raymond Garofalo, R-Chalmette. The bills tackled what many would call critical race theory. 

“Our classrooms are set up so that students can get the basic skills that they need: reading, writing, arithmetic, history, accurate history,” Garofalo said. “They are not setup so that we can indoctrinate our students into a political way of thinking.”  

Critical race theory, as described by the NAACP, is “an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society.” The two bills attempted to dissolve critical race theory within the schools from different sides.

HB 1014 would have prohibited many concepts related to race, ethnicity, and national origin, including whether any race is inherently superior or inferior, from being in the K-12 curriculum. 

The bill also would have prohibited any teaching about whether the U.S. is a systematically racist country. 

During 1 ½ hours of debate, multiple representatives questioned whether indoctrination was an actual issue. 

Read more at The Shreveport Times

Published: May 18, 2022

By: Piper Hutchinson | LSU Manship School News Service

The House passed a bill Tuesday that would prohibit transgender athletes from competing according to their gender identity.

Senate Bill 44, sponsored by Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, is titled the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.” It requires athletes from the elementary through college level to compete based on their sex at birth.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association, which governs high school sports, already requires athletes to compete according to their sex assigned at birth.

The bill cleared the house 72-21. Seven Democrats representatives — Ken Brass of Vacherie, Robby Carter of Amite, Mack Cormier of Belle Chasse, Travis Johnson of Vidalia, Jeremy Lacombe of Livonia, Dustin Miller of Opelousas and Francis Thompson of Delhi, voted for the bill. One of the House’s three Independents, Rep. Joe Marino, voted against the bill.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the bill when it came up last year and has said he has not changed his stance.

The House needs 70 votes to override a veto. Last year, the bill passed with 78 in favor. Several representatives ultimately changed their votes. The bill was carried on the floor by Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie. Schlegel cited transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, who won an NCAA title earlier this year. Schlegel argued that Thomas’ victory was not fair.

Read more at The American Press

Published: May 17, 2022

By: Piper Hutchinson | LSU Manship School News Service

The Louisiana House Committee on Health and Welfare Tuesday advanced two anti-abortion bills in bipartisan votes.

Senate Bill 342, sponsored by state Sen. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, would increase criminal penalties for abortion providers under Louisiana’s trigger laws.

Louisiana is one of 13 states with trigger laws that go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Under a law signed by former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, abortion would become illegal almost immediately upon the overturning of Roe.

Existing laws allows for prison terms of one to five years and fines of $5,000 to $50,000 for abortion providers. Jackson’s bill increases the penalties to one to 10 years of prison time and fines of $10,000 to $100,000.

Jackson included language that would prohibit criminal penalties from being applied to women who end their own pregnancies.

While Jackson’s bill would not criminalize those who undergo abortions, abortion rights advocates point out that women who end their pregnancies could still be penalized under other existing abortion statutes.

Louisiana’s criminal code defines person as “a human being from the moment of fertilization and implantation.”

This definition could allow for prosecution of anybody who ends a pregnancy, not just abortion providers.

Read more at The Advocate

Published: May 17, 2022

By: Piper Hutchinson, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure advanced a bill Monday that would prohibit discrimination based on certain hairstyles.

House Bill 41, sponsored by Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, would amend discrimination law to include “natural, protective, or cultural hairstyle.” That would include afros, dreadlocks, braids, and other styles with cultural significance or intended to protect hair texture.

Newell said protective styles are particularly important in Louisiana due to the humidity.

“Hair discrimination is rooted in the belief that straight hair is ultimately cleaner, neater or more professional, while it’s opposite for hair that is textured,” Newell said.

The bill passed 8-6, with two Republicans, Rep. Nicholas Muscarello Jr. of Hammond and Rep. Richard Nelson of Mandeville, voting with Democrats to approve it.

Read more at the Daily Advertiser

Published: May 17, 2022

By: Alex Tirado

The House and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would raise the limit on the amount of money that individuals and political committees can contribute to Louisiana candidates.

House Bill 254, sponsored by Rep. Kyle Green Jr., D-Marrero, would set the campaign contribution limit for donors and small political action committees at $5,000 for all political offices. It would increase the limit to $10,000 for larger PACs with 250 or more members who have contributed at least $50 each.

Current state campaign finance law sets varying donation limits depending on the office a candidate is running for.

Major offices, including statewide elected officials, already have a limit of $5,000, while district offices and other offices that include members of the Legislature have limits of $1,000 to $2,500.

The bill would remove this hierarchical structure of campaign contributions and provide a blanket contribution limit regardless of the office sought by the candidate.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: May 16, 2022

By: Piper Hutchinson

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) – The House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure advanced a bill Monday, May 16 that would prohibit discrimination over vaccination or immunity status.

House Bill 252, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Edmonston, R-Gonzales, would amend several existing discrimination statutes, adding vaccination or immunity status as a protected class.

In most statutes, protected classes include race, sex, color, national origin, age, disability as well as occasionally marital status, economic status, family status and creed.

Edmonston’s bill originally applied to all discrimination statutes, including those related to employment, education, lending, health care and insurance. It was amended in committee to not apply to discrimination in housing rental and sales.

The bill passed 9-4 with all of the Republicans in favor and four of the committee’s Democrats opposed.

“Discrimination, as we all know, is not a Louisiana value,” Edmonston said. “It has a negative effect on our economy and our people young and old. They’ll be looking elsewhere for jobs, leaving our state. They believe in equal access for all under the law.”

Read more at KALB

Published: May 13, 2022

By: Ally Kadlubar

Published: May 12, 2022

By: Piper Hutchinson and Allison Kadlubar, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — After a nationwide backlash, Louisiana House Republicans on Thursday amended a bill to remove criminal penalties for women who have abortions, prompting the bill’s author to withdraw the measure.

House Bill 813, sponsored by Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, would have allowed anyone who received or administered an abortion to be charged with homicide, a crime that is punishable with life in prison.

But even some Republicans who had supported the bill earlier said they realized it went too far in making it a crime for women to have abortions. The amendment, which would have applied the criminal penalties only to abortion providers, passed 65-26.

McCormick opposed the changes and returned the bill to the calendar. It would require a two- thirds vote to bring it back for a floor vote, rendering it likely dead for the session.

The amendment would have made the bill similar to Senate Bill 342 by Sen. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, which is still live in the session.

The amendment approved by the House removed portions of McCormick’s bill that criminalized women who receive abortions. It also clarified that the bill would not have applied to ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages or contraceptives that take affect prior to when a pregnancy can be detected. 

Read more at WWL

Published: May 11, 2022

By: Allison Kadlubar

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) – The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday, May 11 rejected a House resolution to repeal a state rule requiring COVID vaccines for students.

The committee voted 4-3 against the resolution. Its vote will allow the Louisiana Health Department to add the COVID vaccine to a list of required immunizations for students aged 16 and up.

Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, proposed the resolution after several lawmakers brought the rule to his attention.

Read more at KALB