LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

(Photo credit: Vitezslav Valka)

Published: June 5, 2019

By: Hunter Lovell, LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE—The Louisiana House today voted 82-0 to allow medical marijuana patients to inhale cannabis, sending the bill to the governor’s desk for final approval.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, does not allow smoking, but patients can inhale medical marijuana through a device similar to an asthma inhaler.

Present law permits patients to consume medical marijuana through edibles, oils and extracts.

The bill initially stalled in the Senate as lawmakers sought to expand the number of licenses to prescribe medical cannabis, but legislators revived the measure after including “metered-dose inhaler” in the definition of acceptable devices.

James also added an amendment to allow doctors who live outside the state to suggest therapeutic medical marijuana treatment. The current law only permits in-state physicians to recommend medical cannabis usage.

In order to legally receive medical marijuana, patients must have “debilitating medical conditions,” such as cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, intractable pain and/or HIV.

No medical cannabis has been delivered to patients yet because of an ongoing feud between the state’s agriculture commissioner, Mike Strain, and the LSU AgCenter over a dispute about growing methods. Therapeutic marijuana is expected to be available later this year.

Other efforts to update the state’s cannabis laws were successfully passed during this legislative session.

House lawmakers on Monday unanimously supported a bill to legalize industrial hemp and allow the growth and sale of certain CBD products in Louisiana.

The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, was sent to the governor’s desk for review and approval. Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat running for re-election in the fall, has said he is supportive of hemp regulation in Louisiana.

The Senate’s Agricultural Committee added a number of amendments to Schexnayder’s bill before the Senate approved the proposal in a 34-2 vote.

Hemp and marijuana come from the same plant species, but hemp contains nearly no TCH or psychoactive properties. Hemp is the fiber of the cannabis plant, and is a multi-use material that can be used to make rope, fabric and paper products.

Read more at NOLA.com

Published: June 4, 2019

By: Hunter Lovell, LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE—The Senate on Tuesday approved a 15.5-percent tax on online fantasy sports betting along with an amendment that represented a last-ditch effort to keep the possibility of betting on real sports alive.

The bill now goes back to the House, which supports the tax on fantasy sports betting but has opposed gambling on real football, basketball and baseball games.

The Senate vote came after an angry fight between two Republican lawmakers from Metairie — Sen. Danny Martiny, who has pushed to legalize real sports betting, and Rep. Cameron Henry, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who bottled up Martiny’s bill in his committee.

Henry went so far as to duck out of committee meetings at key moments to block any reconsideration of Martiny’s proposal.

Martiny, whose tenure in the Senate ends Thursday due to term limits, was furious that Henry went to such lengths to head him off.

“This is the last bill that I will ever handle in the legislature,” Martiny said in an interview. “I’m not going to go down without a fight.”

The House and the Senate have both approved the 15.5 percent tax on fantasy sports. But given Henry’s opposition to legalizing betting on real sports, the House could still strip that amendment from what the Senate approved Tuesday, leaving it up to a House-Senate conference committee to decide the fate of both parts of the bill.

Last November, voters in 47 of the state’s 64 parishes approved wagering on fantasy sports matchups, leaving it to the Legislature to create a tax and regulatory framework.

It was clear after voters approved fantasy sports wagering in so many parishes last fall that Martiny and others would try to use that momentum to win that approval for legalizing betting on real sports as well.

Read more at WBRZ.com

 

(Photo credit: MGN)

Published: June 3, 2019

By: Lauren Heffker and Hunter Lovell, LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE— A proposal that would expand the state’s foster care system passed the House in an 87-1 vote and now heads to the governor’s desk.

Sponsored by Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, the bill would extend Louisiana’s foster care program for young adults up to 21, instead of aging them out at 18.

The proposal would cost the state $3 million, but the Edwards administration indicated it would support the bill as long as it was backed by the Legislature.

Read more at KALB.com.

(Photo credit: Pexels)

Published: June 3, 2019

By: Tryfon Boukouvidis, LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE—Lawmakers have considered a bill that seeks to address the spike in cellphone-related accidents and deaths on Louisiana roads.

A bill by Mike Huval, R-Breaux Bridge, would expand the existing ban of cellphone usage while driving in school zones to all roads.

The proposal would also decrease the fines associated with texting while driving from $500 to $100 for a first violation and from $1,000 to $300 for a second violation.

A third violation would then incur fines of up to $300. The proposal would also lower the driver’s license suspension for a third violation from 60 to 30 days.

Safe driving practices, Huval said, is the main idea behind his bill. He cited other states that enforced similar legislation and as a consequence reported a decline in fatal car accidents.

Cellphone-related fatal accidents are on the rise in the state, according to data from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. This year, there were nine fatalities and 317 cases of injury due to cell phone distractions, the data shows.

Read more at KALB.com.

(Photo credit: KATC News)

Published: June 3, 2019

By: Tryfon Boukouvidis, LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE—Louisiana lawmakers are backing efforts to limit the sale of popular vaping pens to minors, tightening hazing laws on campuses, and expanding the state’s current texting while driving laws. A Senate committee approved these bills and sent them to the Senate floor where legislators will cast their vote this week.

A proposal by Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, would increase fines for vendors that sell vapor products to underage individuals. The new fines would go up from $50 to a maximum of $500 for a first violation, and from $100 to a maximum of $750 for a second violation. Any further violation would cost perpetrators up to $1,000.

Current fines for selling vaping products to people under 18 are “too low,” argued Talbot in the Senate Judiciary Committee C, pointing out that the existing law only mandates fines of up to $250 for a third violation and up to $400 for subsequent violations.

“I have two kids in high school and I can tell you the vaping is absolutely just rampant,” Talbot said, adding that the health impacts of these nicotine products are still unclear. “We’re still finding out what vape does to you,” he said.

Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, amended the proposal to also include tobacco products.

“We’re just still discovering the dangers of vape,” Carter argued, “but we know today the dangers of tobacco.”

House lawmakers struck down a proposal in May to raise Louisiana’s legal smoking age from 18 to 21. The bill was only backed by 24 legislators while 55 voted against it.

The Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, or ATC, collected in 2018 approximately $200,000 in tobacco fines on products sold to underage individuals, according to data by the Legislative Fiscal Office.

The percentage of adults who report using electronic cigarettes daily or on some days is 2.8 percent, according to a 2018 report by United States Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read more in KATC News.

Published: May 31, 2019

By: Lauren Heffker, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — A proposal that would call for “truth in labeling” of food products, including meat, sailed through the House Agricultural Committee on Thursday. The state’s top agricultural chief and conventional agricultural groups backed the bill, arguing it would protect the state’s farmers and give consumers clear choices.

A similar proposal, which would prohibit companies from labeling their plant-based products as milk, passed the House floor the same day in a 70-27 vote.

“We’re simply saying that what is on the label has to be what is in the product,” Commissioner of Agriculture Mike Strain told committee members. “You cannot manufacture something to sell it using a standard that we know.”

Both labeling bills are sponsored by Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, who said they aim to protect the state’s meat and dairy industries by identifying the source of food.

Traditionally, agriculture has been one of the state’s economic backbones for decades. But prices for dairy have plummeted and the number of dairy farms in the state has declined rapidly over the last decade. In 2004, Louisiana had over 300 dairy farms, according to The Dairy Alliance. Now the state has around 100.

Supporters argue that the milk labeling bill would help consumers by defining milk as “milk of hooved mammals” and prohibiting plant-based drink manufacturers from marketing almond milk, oat milk and coconut milk as milk.

The bills have received bipartisan support throughout this legislative session.

While opponents of the bill, including plant based food companies, said the proposed law would violate their First Amendment rights, Thompson and Strain said that could be decided through litigation.

Read more in WWL TV.

Published: May 31, 2019

By: Madeline Meyer, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — GOP-lawmakers in the House Education Committee on Thursday backed the governor’s $3.8 billion proposal for public school funding, including the $1,000 teacher pay raises and $500 raises for support staff, as well as the $39 million block grant.

This legislative session has been marked by a budget standoff between the Board of Education and Secondary Education, or BESE, and Republican House leaders.

Although legislators from both sides of the aisle signaled support for giving teachers a pay raise, the main point of contention has been the education budget proposed by Gov. John Bel Edwards and BESE.

Each year, the board sets a budget to fund schools across the state. BESE‘splan, called the Minimum Foundation Program, or MFP, includes a proposed budget of $1,000 teacher pay raises and $500 supporting staff pay increase, and $39 million for public school funding.

Governor Edwards, a Democrat running for re-election in the fall, has touted his plans for funding K-12 education, and last Tuesday, he increased pressure on the House after announcing plans to raise early childhood education funding by $18 million.

On Wednesday, the governor and other school officials rallied on the steps of the State Capitol for passage of their proposal.

“Teachers and support personnel in the schools give so much to our students every day, and we are now one step closer to giving them a pay raise that is long overdue and well deserved,” the governor commented in a press release on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the board’s proposal was met with opposition by the House Appropriations Committee, which advanced a $30 billion state operating budget that would have increased the pay raises to a one-time $1,200 for teachers and $600 for supporting staff. But the additional $39 million for schools was not included.

Read more in the Bossier Press-Tribune.

Published: May 30, 2019

By: Lauren Heffker, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–A proposal that would call for “truth in labeling” of food products, including meat, sailed through the House Agricultural Committee on Thursday. The state’s top agricultural chief and conventional agricultural groups backed the bill, arguing it would protect the state’s farmers and give consumers clear choices.

A similar proposal, which would prohibit companies from labeling their plant-based products as milk, passed the House floor the same day in a 70-27 vote.

“We’re simply saying that what is on the label has to be what is in the product,” Commissioner of Agriculture Mike Strain told committee members. “You cannot manufacture something to sell it using a standard that we know.”

Both labeling bills are sponsored by Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, who said they aim to protect the state’s meat and dairy industries by identifying the source of food.

Traditionally, agriculture has been one of the state’s economic backbones for decades. But prices for dairy have plummeted and the number of dairy farms in the state has declined rapidly over the last decade. In 2004, Louisiana had over 300 dairy farms, according to The Dairy Alliance. Now the state has around 100.

Supporters argue that the milk labeling bill would help consumers by defining milk as “milk of hooved mammals” and prohibiting plant-based drink manufacturers from marketing almond milk, oat milk and coconut milk as milk.

The bills have received bipartisan support throughout this legislative session.

While opponents of the bill, including plant-based food companies, said the proposed law would violate their First Amendment rights, Thompson and Strain said that could be decided through litigation.

“If we go to court over it that’s fine,” Thompson said. “If they can prove Tofu is meat then maybe I’m in the wrong ballpark.”

Read more in KALB.

Published: May 30, 2019

By: Tryfon Boukouvidis, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Senate passed on Thursday in a 35-2 vote a $30 billion state operating budget for next year that includes pay raises for school teachers, across-the-board increases for school districts and a boost for early childhood education.

Sen. Eric LaFleur, a Democrat from Ville Platte who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said on the Senate floor “I think we have a budget that we can be proud of.”

The Senate Finance Committee on Monday amended the budget bill to better reflect the proposals of Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Board of Education and Secondary Education, or BESE, on public school funding. But the proposal differed from what House Republican leaders pursued.

Earlier this month, House Republican leaders had sent the budget proposal to the Senate after an almost unanimous vote that included $1,200 pay raises for teachers and $600 raises for support workers but excluded the governor’s plan for an additional $39 million block grant for school districts.

Yet, BESE refused to back down from the $39 million state aid proposal.

But eventually GOP lawmakers in the House Education Committee on Thursday backed the governor’s proposal for public school funding.

The Senate-amended budget includes a $140 million increase for K-12 schools, comprised of $1,000 and $500 pay raises for teachers and support workers, respectively, and $39 million funds for school districts.

Read more in The Advertiser.

Published: May 30, 2019

By: Hunter Lovell, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — Nearly 300 abortion rights demonstrators gathered at the Louisiana State Capitol on Thursday to protest the “fetal heartbeat” anti-abortion bill, which Gov. John Bel Edwards signed into law later that afternoon.

The protesters staged a silent “stand-in” outside the House and Senate chambers in opposition to the bill that landed on the governor’s desk after a 79-23 House vote Wednesday.

The law bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women are aware they are pregnant. Louisiana’s “fetal heartbeat” law does not provide exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

The law will not go into effect unless a similar Mississippi law, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge, is upheld by a federal appeals court.

“In 2015, I ran for governor as a pro-life candidate after serving as a pro-life legislator for eight years,” Edwards said in a statement Wednesday. “As governor, I have been true to my word and my beliefs on this issue.”

Abortion rights demonstrators showed up at the Capitol to fight against the abortion ban.

“These bans hurt women,” said Rochelle Tafolla, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, the abortion rights group that organized the protest. “We’re here to show that we’re against (the law).”

Read more in The Advertiser.