LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: May 23, 2023

By: Allison Allsop and Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — A House committee passed a bill Monday that would require the state to create a sexual assault collection kit tracking system.

The system would indicate the location and status of rape kits throughout the stages of the criminal justice process.

Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, presented Senate Bill 169, saying it would put Louisiana on the same level as 40 other states who have similar programs. Mizell placed a rape kit in front of her as she presented the bill.

“We are outliers, as we are in many things, but we are outliers in the way we handle rape kits and sexual assaults from that point,” Mizell said about tracking the kits.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Capitol, the Senate Finance Committee was hearing from domestic violence shelters about their lack of funding.

Read more at KATC

Published: May 22, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — A House committee advanced a bill that would provide free breakfast and lunch for K-12 students who are eligible for reduced-price meals.

Rep. Kyle M. Green Jr., D-Marrero, and Stephanie Loup from the Louisiana Department of Education presented HB 282 to the House Appropriations Committee Monday.

“We have children in certain school districts whose parents meet an income threshold where they qualify for reduced (price) lunch,” Green said. “What I don’t want to have is that unfortunate situation where a child could be denied a decent meal simply because their parents weren’t able to pay.”

Currently, students who qualify for reduced-price meals pay about 70 cents a day. That adds up to about $14 per month for breakfast and lunch.

Loup said the bill would remove the copay for students who eat reduced-price school meals. It would cost the state about $860,000 per year. The money would have to be appropriated each year through the Legislature. If it receives final approvals, Green said, the bill would go into effect starting with the 2023-2024 school year.

Read more at American Press

Published: May 18, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Senate Committee on Education advanced several bills Thursday, including one prohibiting schools from disciplining students with physical force unless the parents give written consent for corporal punishment to be used. 

The committee also advanced bills to grant civil immunity for teachers breaking up fights, encourage Bible classes in public schools, and to require all public schools to display “In God We Trust” signs in classrooms. 

Current state law allows public school teachers, principals and administrators to use corporal punishment on students, including “hitting, paddling, striking, spanking, slapping, or any other physical force that causes pain or physical discomfort,” 

But use is up to the discretion of the school districts, and 27 of Louisiana’s 46 school systems ban corporal punishment, The Advocate reported in 2022. 

House Bill 242, advanced Thursday would prohibit the general use of corporal punishment at all schools, but it would allow parents to sign a form saying school officials could physically discipline their child.  

Read more at WWL-TV

Published: May 18, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — A $483 million increase in revenue for the state’s general spending fund is now being estimated for 2024, adding to a giant pile of money that the state Legislature has at its disposal.

Under the new projections, the state’s general fund also will take in $323.4 million more than previously expected in the current fiscal year, bringing the total surplus from the last two years to over $2.1 billion.

The new projection was made Thursday by the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference. It updated revenue forecasts for both the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and for next year.

The increased projections come as the House and the Senate are split over what to do with all the extra money.

Under a formula that places a cap on spending, the Legislature could only spend $500 million of the surplus funds in fiscal year 2024 on recurring budget items, and the additional revenue forecasted Thursday will not increase the cap.

Read more at WWL-TV

Published: May 18, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The House passed a bill 79-17 Wednesday that would provide free menstrual products to students in public schools.

House Bill 117 would require public schools to provide free tampons and pads in easily accessible locations. Charter schools are exempt from the bill.

The Legislature would have to approve funding each year for the bill to be in effect that year.

The funding for the products would come from the state’s general fund. Schools may provide the products in bathrooms, offices or other locations.

Read more at The Houma Times

Published: May 17, 2023

By: Piper Naudin, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice moved a bill
forward that would create a registry of people who commit battery against minors.

Rep. Troy D. Romero, R-Jennings, proposed House Bill 31 to protect children. Terry Mann
tearfully testified how he had discovered after two weeks of intensive medical care that his 7-year-old grandson had suffered from two skull fractures.

He said the bill was necessary to protect children from people who might harm them.

Sarah Whittington, an attorney for the Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana, testified in opposition. She said the bill would be ineffective in protecting children because all the information that it attempts to publicize is already available to law enforcement officers.

Read more at Bossier Press-Tribune

Published: May 17, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan, LSU Manship School News Service

Louisiana’s most recent plan to restore and protect its coast at a cost of $50 billion advanced Wednesday through the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment.

The coastal master plan is updated by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority every six years, as required by state law. It lays out the 50-year future for Louisiana’s coast in terms of coastal land loss and flood risk–with and without its implementation.

The plan represents a vital need in a state that has lost more than 2,000 square miles of land, an area the size of Delaware, since the 1930s, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Louisiana’s problems are exacerbated by devastating hurricanes and rising seas from climate change.

Though the coastal plan rests on the latest science and engineering, it also emerges from a highly public process. The coastal authority received more than 200 public comments and held close to 100 public meetings in South Louisiana about the plan, the coastal protection board’s chairman, Kyle R. “Chip” Kline Jr., said.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: May 17, 2023

By: Molly Ryan, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – A bill that would, in certain circumstances, require newborns to get tested
for cytomegalovirus, or CMV, cleared another hurdle Wednesday as it advanced out of the
Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

House Bill 643, also known as “Journie’s Law,” requires newborns in Louisiana who fail their
hearing tests to be screened for CMV, a common virus that can lie dormant and be passed from mother to child during pregnancy. It can have serious health implications for children if it goes undetected.

Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Bossier, the bill’s author, said a failed hearing test is an immediate sign an infant may have the virus. The bill is named after one of Horton’s constituents, Journie, who was not tested for the virus after failing her hearing test.

Journie is now blind, has cerebral palsy and needs to be fed with a feeding tube. Horton said
Journie could be walking and talking if the virus had been detected earlier.

Read more at Bossier Press-Tribune

Published: May 17, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — A House committee on crime advanced a bill 8-1 that would allow permitless concealed carry for individuals 18 and older.

Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, brought what he said was a “constitutional carry” bill before the committee Tuesday. McCormick’s bill would amend present law that only allows concealed carry for 21 or older who undergo the proper training to receive a permit.

Rep. McCormick told the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice that his bill, House Bill 131, would mimic current rules that allows individuals 18 and over to openly carry a firearm. His bill would allow individuals to carry a concealed weapon at the same age.

“So basically, what you’re doing with this bill is that you’re trying to get every law-abiding citizen in the state of Louisiana the same ability that every criminal does,” Rep. Raymond E. Garofalo Jr. R-Chalmette, said. “Every criminal right now can carry a concealed weapon with no permit, no training, no nothing.”

Read more at WWL-TV

Published: May 17, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–A House committee killed two bills Tuesday that were meant to clarify the language of abortion laws to protect physicians making difficult choices.

House Bill 598, written by Rep. Candace Newell, D-New Orleans, was blocked in the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice in a 7-5 vote.

The committee rejected a similar measure, House Bill 461, by Rep. Mary DuBuisson, R-Slidell, in an 8-5 vote.

All the votes to kill both bills came from Republicans. Four Democrats and the committee’s chairman, Rep. Joseph Marino III, a political independent from Gretna, supported both bills.

Read more at BIZ Magazine