LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: April 25, 2024

By: Elizabeth White

BATON ROUGE – The House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-5 on party lines Wednesday to advance a bill favored by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry that calls for a limited constitutional convention next month.

House Bill 800, sponsored by Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, calls for a constitutional convention to take place from May 20 to June 3, and it could be extended until no later than July 15. The bill now goes to the House floor, where Republicans hold a solid majority and are likely to pass it.

Read more at Shreveport Times

Published: April 24, 2024

By: Piper Naudin

This story was produced by the LSU Manship School News Service.

The House Health and Welfare Committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would require seafood sellers to clearly market whether the seafood is local or imported from other countries like China.

Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, showed an image of a package of frozen crawfish sold at a local supermarket. Connick explained that the item named “Boudreaux’s Crawfish” was not from Louisiana but instead a product of China.

“They are using our label, our name, our image, our culture,” Connick said. “But it’s Chinese shrimp, Chinese crawfish.”

Read more at Baton Rouge Public Radio.

Published: April 18, 2024

By: Piper Naudin

BATON ROUGE — The House Education Committee unanimously moved forward with a bill that would allow higher education management boards to raise tuition for high-cost majors and establish mandatory fees for all programs.

The bill, by Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, would limit any increases to no more than 10 % of the previous year’s level.

“We are the only state in the nation that requires a two-thirds vote of our legislature for tuition approval,” he said. “We are one of only two states, along with Florida, whose legislature has some control over tuition.”

Read more at Shreveport Times.

Published: April 17, 2024

Updated: April 21, 2024

By: Elizabeth White LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE Republicans on a House committee refused Wednesday to pass proposed constitutional amendments, preferring to wait for a constitutional convention sought by Gov. Jeff Landry.

Nine constitutional amendments were on the House and Governmental Affairs Committee’s agenda, but only two passed. The other seven were deferred due to member concerns over how they would be implemented if the Legislature authorized a limited constitutional convention in late May and early June.

House Bills 48 and 49 were the only two constitutional amendments that advanced. Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, sponsored both, and they stemmed from the chaotic way that major budget decisions were made in the last half hour of last year’s legislative session.

HB 48 would require that House-Senate conference committee reports for bills appropriating money be posted 48 hours before they are voted on. It passed through the committee 9-6.

Read more at The Reveille.

Published: April 17, 2024

By: Claire Sullivan LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — Louisianans may soon lose access to great swaths of government records currently made available upon request under the state public records law.

A Senate panel voted 6-2 Wednesday to advance a bill — backed by Gov. Jeff Landry and sponsored by Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek — that would gut public access to information at every level of government.

The proposal, Senate Bill 482, would bar access to “any records reflecting advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations comprising part of a process by which governmental decisions and policies are formulated.”

Cloud said this would allow government employees to give opinions to decision makers “without fear of later being subject to public ridicule or criticism” and prevent unfinalized information from being disseminated.

Read more at WBRZ.

Published: April 16, 2024

By: Madison Maronge and Elizabeth White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana House Tuesday kicked off discussion of Gov. Jeff Landry’s call for a convention this spring to pare down the state’s Constitution.

HB 800, sponsored by Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, calls for a limited constitutional convention and was introduced to the House and Governmental Affairs committee. The panel will not vote on the bill until next week.

Beaullieu also introduced amendments and answered committee member’s questions about the purpose and plans for the convention.

Read more at KATC.