By Sarah Gamard
The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday evening that aims to prevent young drivers from contentious interactions with traffic cops. The House did something similar earlier in the week.
Read the story in The Shreveport Times
Senate approves bill to sunset movie tax credit program
By Caitie Burkes
The Louisiana Senate has approved, 33-3, a bill that would end the Motion Picture Production Tax Credit program after eight years unless the Legislature votes to renew it and reined in the generous tax break for movie companies using the state as shoot locations
Read the story in The Shreveport Times
Bills on minimum wage, LGBT non-discrimination move to full state Senate for consideration
By Caitie Burkes
The Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations favorably moved two bills by Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans — one to increase the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour by 2019 and the other to enact a non-discrimination policy for Louisiana employees who identify as LGBT.
Read the story in bestofneworleans.com/Gambit
Medical coverage expansion bill for firefighters moves on
By Sarah Gmard
Compared to the average male, a male firefighter is 102 percent more likely to develop testicular cancer and 28 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer.
Sen. Ryan Gatti, R-Bossier City, told his Senate colleagues Wednesday that such statistics inspired him to file Senate Bill 63, which adds those two cancers and, through an amendment, any cancer deemed having work-related origins, to the occupational diseases covered by workers’ compensation for firefighters during their service or in post-retirement.
Read the story in The Shreveport Times
Leniency for disasters
By Christian Boutwell
House Bill 20, a constitutional amendment by Rep. Ed Price, D-Gonzales, that would give schools adversely affected by a natural disaster some potential leeway with state requirements unanimously passed the House and moved to the Senate.
Read the story in The Donaldsonville Chief
TOPS funding plan pulled from consideration
By Katie Gagliano
A measure to ensure consistent funding for the TOPS scholarship program was voluntarily deferred in a House Appropriations Committee Tuesday over concerns about diverting monies from the state’s general fund, thus hurting other unnamed entities.
Read the story in The Daily Advertiser
Capitol Briefing: Here’s the latest action from the Louisiana Legislature
By Sarah Gamard and Caitie Burkes
- House rejects proposed ban on spanking schoolchildren
- Panel derails effort to rid La. of traffic cams
- Police may get training in deescalating crises
- Bill aims to teach kids to respond appropriately during traffic stops
- Bill would add a dollar to driver’s license fees to aid service members
Don’t invest Louisiana money in terrorism-linked countries, companies, lawmakers say
By Katie Gagliano
A bill to forbid investment of Louisiana public money in countries or companies connected to terrorist activity passed the Senate Finance Committee on Monday (May 8). Senate Bill 223 by Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, would prohibit investment in Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria and in companies that engage in business with these countries.
Read the story in NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune
Leniency for disasters
BATON ROUGE — House Bill 20, a constitutional amendment by Rep. Ed Price, D-Gonzales, that would give schools adversely affected by a natural disaster some potential leeway with state requirements unanimously passed the House Wednesday and moved to the Senate.
The bill provides leniency — beginning this school year — to any public school unable to complete the instructional time and days of attendance mandated by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) because of a natural disaster.
House passes scaled-back $29B budget
By William Taylor Potter
By William Taylor Potter
BATON ROUGE – The GOP budget – that called for full TOPS funding and a $235 million cut from the Department of Health’s funding – passed the House relatively unscathed following five hours of debate Thursday, the only action at the Statehouse.
Following the addition of a few amendments, House Bill 1 passed, 63-40, more than half a billion dollars million less than Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, had requested in his $30 billion budget.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 