LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: April 26, 2023

By: Molly Ryan and Metia Carroll, LSU Manship School News Service

A House committee voted 13-2 Wednesday to advance a bill that would make juvenile criminal information in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport more available to the public.

House Bill 321 would compile the names and other information of juvenile criminals in a
database that the public could access. Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Jefferson, who brought the bill, said
this would increase public safety through accountability.

Even though many juvenile defendants in urban areas are Black, Villio said the bill does not
target race. It doesn’t target district attorneys. It doesn’t target judges.”

“This bill is about public safety,” she added.

Villio said members of the public, especially victims of crimes, have a right to view and analyze
documents and decisions related to juvenile crimes. Items like medical records and pictures
would not be available to the public.

Read more at Bossier Press-Tribune

Published: April 26, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The House Education Committee voted 7-4 Tuesday to advance a bill to place state money into accounts that parents could use to send children to private schools.

The committee also moved forward bills to confirm that teaching the Bible is legal and to make data about how public schools are spending their funds more easily available to the public.

The bill to create the education accounts was authored by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria. If it becomes law, the bill, House Bill 98, would enhance a long-time conservative goal of giving parents’ greater options if they want to send children to private school or home-school them.

Critics contend that the bill could take away money that public schools need.

Read more at Biz Magazine

Published: April 25, 2023

By: Piper Naudin, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — Increasing violence in schools has prompted lawmakers to propose the “Protect Teachers Act,” a bill that would grant protection from criminal liability to teachers who try to break up student-on-student violence.

“Instead of watching two kids kill each other, this allows teachers to stop that from happening,” the bill’s primary author, Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, told the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure Monday.

The committee voted 11-0 to advance the bill, which would grant criminal immunity to teachers who use justifiable defense to stop battery and assault by one or more students. Teachers already have immunity from civil lawsuits when breaking up fights.

Hodges said she did not intend for the bill to protect teachers who abused students, stating that the immunity from criminal charges would apply only to teachers who did not have malicious intent.

Read more at WWL-TV

Published: April 25, 2023

By: Chloe Gehman, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The House Commerce Committee advanced a bill Monday that would reduce the hours required to obtain a cosmetology license in Louisiana.

The reduction would change the minimum requirement from 1,500 to 1,200 hours but would not take away the requirement that all students must pass a national exam to become licensed in Louisiana.

House Bill 470 would require the Board of Cosmetology to create a website through which students could apply, pay fees and see their progress toward a license.

Schools would be allowed to require more than the proposed 1,200-hour minimum of instruction in hair styling, nail treatments, and other esthetics.

Read more at WWL-TV

Published: April 24, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The state’s near-total abortion ban has reignited efforts by lawmakers to address Louisiana’s low rankings in maternal and infant health.

One bill, authored by Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, would establish a tax credit equal to half of the donations to pregnancy centers up to a total of $5 million. It would limit donations eligible for the tax credit to $5,000 per person.

The bill advanced through the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs on Monday.

“We have talked for years about how low the rankings were in Louisiana on maternal wellness and health, and it’s not lost on me that I’m speaking to a bunch of men,” Mizell said to the 10 all-male members of the committee.

The pregnancy centers, called maternal wellness centers in the bill, provide services to pregnant women and new mothers including pregnancy confirmations, parenting classes, diapers and maternal and baby clothes. There are 36 of the centers in the state, Mizell said.

Read more at WWL-TV

Published: April 24, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan and Oscar Tickle, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. —Legislative committees advanced bills Monday to eliminate a key corporate tax, reduce sales taxes and extend tax incentives for the movie industry.

If the bills become law, they would cut state revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars at a time when many legislators are already worried that the state could be facing another fiscal cliff.

Other bills that moved forward Monday would reinstate an annual three-day sales tax holiday for purchases of guns and ammunition, provide $5 million in tax incentives for crisis pregnancy centers and exempt prescription drugs and insulin from local sales tax.

The committee actions came after the Louisiana House Conservative Caucus, which has 42 members, and the House Freedom Caucus announced they would oppose raising a cap on state spending to pay for recurring items.

Read more at KTBS

Published: April 20, 2023

By: Oscar Tickle, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The House Ways and Means Committee advanced a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would sharply increase the cap on the share of severance tax revenue that each parish can keep.

If voters across the state approve the change, the new annual cap would be $10 million for each parish, up from about $1.1 million now. Eighteen parishes in various parts of the state would benefit the most, across to legislative analysts.

The proposal would cost the state $46.9 million over five years, according to the analysts.

The committee passed that proposal Wednesday along with another bill, sponsored by Rep. Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, that would reduce the state’s severance tax rate on oil from 12.5% to 8.5% in half-percent increments until fiscal year 2032.

Read more at the Houma Times

Published: April 19, 2023

By: Gabby Jimenez and Claire Sullivan | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The House Civil Law and Procedure Committee moved forward a bill that would allow mothers to recuperate half of the out-of-pocket, pregnancy-related medical expenses from the father of their child.

After the baby is born, the mother would have two years to recover these expenses, which would not include costs covered by insurance. Under present law, women have no avenue for this action.

“I think this is a very good bill to really help the pregnant women in our state who have no way to recover these medical expenses,” said Rep. Lawrence “Larry” Frieman, R-Abita Springs, the bill’s author.

The bill requires that paternity be proven by clear and convincing evidence, with the burden of proof requiring paternity to be more likely true than untrue.

Read more at WWLTV

Published: April 19, 2023

By: Molly Ryan, LSU Manship School News Service

Rep. Richard Nelson suspended his proposal to eliminate the state income tax after discussing it this week with skeptical lawmakers at a House Ways and Means Committee meeting.

Instead, Nelson, R-Mandeville, will likely make his proposal the linchpin of his run for governor this year.

His plan includes phasing out the personal income tax and corporate franchise tax over the next four years while eliminating various tax exemptions.

It also would reduce the state’s portion of the Minimum Foundation Program formula that funds K-12 education and reduce state spending in other areas to offset any lost revenue.

Lawmakers said his proposal is unlikely to receive further attention this session.

Read more at WWNO

Published: April 19, 2023

By: Caden Lim, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – The Senate Committee on Health and Welfare advanced a bill Tuesday to require Louisiana operating rooms to have equipment to remove harmful surgical smoke plumes.

The bill’s author, Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, said operating-room patients emit “surgical smoke plume,” or actual smoke, when treated with a heat-generating device. He said the smoke “is prevalent in operating rooms across the state” and is extremely harmful if inhaled.

Boudreaux said “evacuation system” refers to devices that filter and remove the chemicals in the smoke.

Committee members voiced no resistance in advancing the bill, Senate Bill 29. It will need further legislative approvals to become law.

Read more at Shreveport Times