Category: Uncategorized

Published: June 4, 2025

By:  Anna Puleo

BATON ROUGE–A bill aimed at increasing transparency in how pharmacy benefit managers operate advanced out of the Senate Insurance Committee Wednesday, signaling a push to regulate an industry that critics say drives up drug prices and puts local pharmacies at risk.

House Bill 264, authored by Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, cleared the committee with amendments that would ban pricing schemes, strengthen oversight and increase transparency in the often-confusing world of drug benefits.

PBMs are third-party companies that manage prescription drug benefits for health insurers, large employers and government programs like Medicaid. They negotiate with drugmakers and reimburse pharmacies, all while claiming to lower costs for patients. In practice, critics say they frequently do the opposite.

Read more at WBRZ.

Published: June 3, 2025

By: By Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The Louisiana Senate is reining in several major proposals pushed by Gov. Jeff Landry and House conservatives, rejecting additional tax cuts and scaling back spending on private school vouchers amid caution over the state’s longer-term financial outlook.

Despite clearing the House with little resistance, two key tax bills were effectively shelved by the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee earlier this week.

The committee declined to take up a plan to further phase down personal income taxes, and it slashed funding for a Landry plan to expand state funding for parents to send their children to private schools.

Read more at Bossier Press-Tribune.

Published May 29, 2025

By:Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a sweeping package of auto insurance reform bills Wednesday, promising to lower the cost of coverage in Louisiana by cracking down on what he calls “frivolous lawsuits” and strengthening oversight of the insurance industry.

Landry called the new auto insurance laws “the largest tort reform package, and effort made in the history of the state.” He said the goal was to take a measured approach by holding both insurers and litigants accountable for rising costs.

The signing came a week after Landry flexed his political muscle and forced one of the key bills through the Senate in a late-night vote.

Read more at Shreveport Times.

Published: May 28, 2025

By: Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House passed a bill Tuesday that changes how the state treats embryos created through in vitro fertilization.

The bill, which passed 82-14, establishes legal protections and reshapes how IVF is regulated.

The bill originated in the Senate, and an amended version was carried in the House by Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge. It redefines IVF embryos as “juridical persons,” a legal category that gives them more rights without going so far as to classify them as full legal “children” or property.

Read more at The Daily Advertiser.

Published: May 21, 2025

By: Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House advanced a bill Tuesday to raise taxes on online sports betting after adopting an amendment to lower the amount of the tax increase.

As amended, House Bill 639 by Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia would increase the tax rate on mobile sports wagering from 15% to 21.5%. That is down from the originally proposed 32.5%.

The 10% tax on in-person retail betting remains unchanged.

Read more at Houma Today.

Published: May 20, 2025

By: Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) – The Louisiana House Monday night passed a controversial bill that would prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion offices, training and hiring policies in state agencies and public colleges.

The bill passed 57-32 after an emotional and deeply divided debate that largely fell along racial lines.

House Bill 685, by Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-Baton Rouge, now moves to the Senate. It is part of Gov. Jeff Landry’s legislative agenda.

Read more at KLFY.

Published: May 19, 2025

By: Anna Puleo (LSU Manship School News Service)

BATON ROUGE–The House Appropriations Committee on Monday advanced two major criminal justice bills, including a post-conviction change that could cost the state more than $4 million next year.

House Bill 675, by Rep. Brian Glorioso, R-Pearl River, would limit when and how incarcerated people can appeal convictions. It stops those who pled guilty from claiming factual innocence, speeds up deadlines in death-row cases and allows the attorney general to take over some post-conviction cases.

It also says applications are considered abandoned if no filings are made within two years, regardless of the case’s stage.

Read more at WRKF.

Published: May 15, 2025

By:  Quinn Marceaux (LSU Manship School News Service)

BATON ROUGE–-A sweeping insurance bill advanced through the Senate Insurance Committee on Wednesday, though tensions flared over a controversial part that would expand the authority of Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple.

While most lawmakers and insurance representatives praised the bill’s consumer protections and transparency measures, such as requiring insurers to disclose previous premiums in sending out renewal notices, some warned that granting Temple more power to reject rate hikes could backfire.

But supporters of the bill, House Bill 148, argued that bolder changes are necessary to rein in Louisiana’s sky-high insurance premiums and restore public trust in the system.

Read more at WWNO.

Published: May 12, 2025

By:  Quinn Marceaux — LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE (Manship News Service) — The House Appropriations Committee advanced a $49.4 billion state budget Monday that funds $2,000 teacher stipends for next year, closes a nearly $200 million shortfall and balances the books without raising taxes.

To bridge the budget gap, lawmakers pieced together a solution using a mix of cuts, delayed spending and the discovery of unspent or underutilized funds tucked away in various agencies.

Read more at WBRZ.

Published: May 8, 2025

By:  Quinn Marceaux (LSU Manship School News Service)

BATON ROUGE–The House of Representatives voted 86-13 Wednesday to approve a bill that might further cut the state’s new flat individual income tax rate and create a tax break for seniors starting in 2027.

But the changes could occur only if voters were to pass a constitutional amendment allowing the state to shift hundreds of millions of dollars from reserve funds into the state general fund.

Wednesday’s vote was just the first step in a lengthy process.

Read more at WRKF.