LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: June 1, 2021

By: Ryan Nelsen | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—A bill that would limit the legal immunity for Louisiana police officers who use excessive force failed to pass through a Senate judiciary committee Tuesday.

Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, authored HB 609, which would give civil judges a list of factors to determine whether a law officer had used force reasonably.

The bill had passed the House 53-42, but was thwarted in the Senate Judiciary B Committee, 4-2. The bill had the support of the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association and was part of a broader package of changes in policing that had been recommended by a bipartisan task force.

Several police officers spoke Tuesday against the measure.

“I’m simply not going to work without qualified immunity,” said Michael Carter, the Shreveport Police Officers Association president. “I don’t make enough money to pay malpractice insurance. Doctors do.”

Qualified immunity was created to shield government officials from being held personally liable for violating the Constitution. The law dates back to the late 1960s and was meant to protect officials from lawsuits related to their job duties.

Jordan, an attorney, detailed how difficult it is to charge a police officer for unreasonable conduct. He told the committee that once a suit is filed against a police officer, the defense will automatically ask for qualified immunity. Then a judge will have to decide if the conduct is unreasonable or unconstitutional. For judges to disqualify the exemption, they have to find a case with matching facts.

To show how improbable this is, Jordan talked about a pregnant woman in Seattle who was tased three times and was forced to lie on her stomach during a traffic stop. The court declared the officers’ actions to be unconstitutional, but because there was never a case that showed that tasing a pregnant woman was a violation, the officers were exonerated.

Read more at BR Proud

Published: May 27, 2021

By: Ryan Nelsen | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—A bill to allow 1,500 prisoners who faced non-unanimous juries a chance for parole or other relief failed Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill, HB346, was written by the chairman of the committee, Rep. Randal Gaines, D-LaPlace. It won all four Democrats’ support but failed to sway any Republicans. It failed with a 7-4 vote and was voluntarily deferred by Gaines.

“Shame on y’all,” someone shouted as the large crowd gathered to watch the bill left the room.

Over an hour and a half of testimonies were given in support of the bill, from people who faced incarceration from non-unanimous juries and from people who served on them. No opposition to the bill was given.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Will Harrell, the senior policy counsel at Voice of the Experienced, a group that lobbies for changes in the criminal justice system. 

Harrell read from a letter from Paul Goins, an inmate counsel at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel. The letter urged the committee to do away with, as Goins put it, “what we all know is a racially motivated system.” 

Louisiana was one of only two states – the other was Oregon – that for many decades allowed non-unanimous jury convictions in serious felony cases. Louisiana voters approved a measure in 2018 to ban 10-2 guilty verdicts, and require all 12 jurors to be unanimous, going forward.

Read more at BIZ Magazine

Published: May 27, 2021

By: Emily Wood | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — A bill that would establish a grant program to create broadband access in communities around the state passed through a Senate committee on Wednesday.

“This legislation would lead to better access to healthcare, education and quality jobs,” said the bill’s author, Rep. Daryl Deshotel, R-Marksville.

The Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) program would use over $180 million in federal funds to provide broadband and internet access to 400,000 households in Louisiana.

Private and public service providers would apply to the GUMBO program to receive funding for the creation of broadband infrastructure in unserved communities around the state.

In the past year, the Louisiana Legislature created the Louisiana Office of Broadband and Connectivity as well as provided tax-exemptions on broadband equipment and supplies.

Veneeth Iyengar, the director of the Office of Broadband and Connectivity, said that the digital divide is broken up into three gaps: access, affordability and digital literacy. He said some parts of the state have different needs when it comes to those gaps.

Read more at The Daily Iberian

Published: May 26, 2021

By: Emily Wood, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Wire) – Seven bills and one House resolution about voting and elections advanced through the House and Senate committees on governmental affairs Wednesday.

The resolution, sponsored by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, provides criteria for considering redistricting plans to draw boundaries for seats in Congress and the state Legislature based on 2020 Census information.

Rep. John Stefanski, R-Crowley, speaking on behalf of Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, said that a joint group that drafted the resolution used the rules for redistricting from 10 years ago as a guiding point.

The criteria include compliance with the Voting Rights Act, respecting recognized political boundaries and natural geography of the state and keeping districts substantially equal.

Rep. Wilford Carter Sr., D-Lake Charles, expressed his concerns that racial demographics were not taken into consideration in the resolution. African Americans are concerned that while they make up 30% of the state’s population, they can only realistically win one of the seven congressional seats based on how the districts are now drawn.

But Stefanski pointed to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th and 15th Amendments in the United States Constitution included in the resolution.

“We are going to follow the law, we are going to follow the numbers and we are going to draw the fairest maps we can,” said Stefanski, who chairs the House Governmental Affairs Committee, which will oversee the process.

The resolution passed favorably without opposition and will move to the House floor.

Read more at KALB

Published: May 25, 2021

By: Ryan Nelsen | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Wire) – Louisiana is one step closer to using the federal money it is receiving from the American Rescue Plan after a bill by legislative leaders passed the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday.

The American Rescue Plan is a $1.88 trillion federal aid package, which gives each state a minimum of $500 million to offset the economic downfalls caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Louisiana will receive $5.18 billion in direct aid to state and local governments.

“We’ve tried to make the highest and best use of the dollars that are available to us, balancing these different pots of money,” Jay Dardenne, the commissioner of administration, told the committee.

House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzalez, wrote the bill, HB642, along with Rep. Jerome Zeringue, R-Houma, and Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette. The bill also will help improve infrastructure.

The bill received unanimous approval from the House Chamber and will now head to the Senate floor. It divides up the money and sets rules along these lines:

Louisiana Loggers Relief Fund – $10 million

Under the bill, timber harvesting and hauling businesses can apply for grants up to $25,000 if they meet the criteria for the Louisiana Main Street Recovery fund.

In June 2020, the Legislature created the fund to disperse $275 million in relief for small businesses. The program gave grants of up to $15,000 to more than 20,000 businesses across the state.

The grants are only awarded to companies with less than 50 employees that were in Louisiana as of March 1, 2020. The businesses must have experienced a gross revenue loss of 10% or greater in 2020 compared to 2019.

Read more at KALB

Published: May 25, 2021

By: Adrian Dubose, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — With about 77 percent of LSU employees vaccinated, university faculty members are pushing for student vaccinations as well.

University records indicate that 3,988 out of the 5,164 faculty and staff on the Baton Rouge campus have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Hundreds of LSU faculty members voted Tuesday for a resolution calling on the university to require students to receive COVID-19 vaccines before returning in the fall.

A preliminary vote count showed the resolution passing with 88% of the votes at a meeting that was held online and attended by professors and members of the public.

LSU officials were checking the roughly 650 votes to eliminate any not cast by full-time faculty members. They expected to have a final vote tally on Wednesday.

The resolution was sponsored by 10 faculty members, and it followed similar votes by the LSU faculty and student senates to mandate vaccines.

In the resolution, faculty members said they recognized that there could be legal questions about requiring COVID vaccines before the Food and Drug Administration gives permanent approval to them.

So far, the vaccines have been distributed under emergency use authorizations. The faculty members want LSU to add the vaccines to the list of required vaccinations and immunizations for all students as soon as the FDA gives them full approval.

Read more at WBRZ

Published: May 25, 2021

By: Emily Wood | LSU Manship School News Service

The health and safety of women has emerged as a significant theme in this year’s legislative session, and five bills, two House resolutions and one Senate resolution dealing with these issues advanced on Tuesday.

Two instruments focus on domestic abuse. House Bill 159, sponsored by Rep. Malinda White, D-Bogalusa, would provide a clear definition for domestic abuse, and House Bill 55, sponsored Rep. Aimee Freeman, D-New Orleans, would remove the notarization requirement on a temporary restraining order.

The recent mishandling of sexual assault allegations against multiple student athletes at Louisiana State University has prompted legislators to address women’s health and safety issues.

Multiple female legislators critiqued LSU’s handling of the allegations in a joint committee hearing in March, and they vowed to make dramatic changes.

Helena Moreno, a New Orleans city councilwoman and a former state representative, and survivors of domestic violence spoke in support of White’s bill in the Senate Judiciary A Committee.

Senate Bill 133, sponsored by Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, advanced through the House Committee on Health and Welfare. The bill would require the Louisiana Department of Health to serve as a resource for addressing health care disparities for women and vulnerable populations in Louisiana.

“Black women are more likely to die while giving birth in the state of Louisiana than white women are, and we want to continue to make sure we close that gap,” said Kimberly Hood, assistant secretary for the Louisiana Office of Public Health.

Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, questioned why addressing health care disparities among a population that makes up over 50% of Louisiana’s broader population is not a part of the health department’s integral mission.

Read more at The Advocate

Published: May 25, 2021

By: Emily Wood| LSU Manship School News Service

A resolution asking the Louisiana Department of Education to study the likelihood of banning corporal punishment in public schools passed the House 60-34 Tuesday.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 was sponsored by Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, and had passed unanimously in the Senate.

But it prompted some disagreement in the House, mainly over questions of local control.

“I think the local school boards and local district should make decisions on this, not someone in Baton Rouge, so I cannot support this.” said Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall.

House Concurrent Resolution 11, sponsored by Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, requests that the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop a plan to provide literacy coaches for students reading below grade level in grades K-2.

Read more at The Advocate

Published: May 25, 2021

By: Ryan Nelsen | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The rules and regulations for sports wagering in Louisiana have moved closer to completion with a bill that advanced through a House committee Tuesday.

SB247, by Sen. Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, was heard by the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee and was reported favorably without objection. The bill will bring online and in-person sports betting to the state along with kiosks similar to video poker machines.

“It’s our hopes that this would be available to the public sometime before the football season, the NFL season, but we don’t know for sure,” said Cortez.

A referendum last November gave voters the chance to legalize wagering in their parishes, and 55 of 64 parishes elected to do so. Overall, 64% of the state’s voters were in favor.

Read more at KALB

Published: May 25, 2021

By: Emily Wood | LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–A bill that would mandate the instruction of World War II and the Holocaust to middle school and high school students passed 65-32 in the House Monday. It would include training for teachers instructing students on such history.

“By teaching students about World War II, they become stronger in their ability as a society to resist efforts to marginalize and demonize vulnerable groups of people,” said the bill’s author, Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs.

The bill, House Bill 416, would call on schools across the state to partner with the National WWII Museum in New Orleans to teach the curriculum.

Rep. Hodges said that it is the legislators and the educator’s responsibility to share the stories of the Holocaust because survivors will soon no longer be around to share themselves.

There was opposition to the bill from the Louisiana Board of Secondary Education (BESE). A commission is reviewing state social studies standards that will make a recommendation to BESE for new standards in October.

Rep. Hodges explained that her bill is timely because waiting for the review commission to create new standards would be too late. Once new standards are created, they are in place for the next seven years.

Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Houma, said she had heard from opponents who think that all curriculum standards decisions should be made by BESE, not the Legislature. Rep. Hodges responded that the Legislature has mandated curriculum 37 different times in the past.

Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, brought an amendment to the bill to mandate the teaching of significant Black historical figures. The amendment failed, but it created robust debate by House members on what should and should not be mandated in Louisiana public schools.

Read more at Daily Advertiser