By Sarah Gamard
The Louisiana State Capitol was flooded with a sea of bright blue T-shirts Thursday when more than 100 members of the group Louisianans for Prison Alternatives came to support bills relating to incarceration reform.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) also was there to support the group. Sarah Omojola, an SPLC policy counsel in New Orleans, said twice as many people as expected showed up for the demonstration.
By Tryfon Boukouvidis
A Louisiana Senate committee moved a bill forward Thursday (April 20) that would prohibit certain coverings, substances and devices from obstructing a license plate for the purpose of foiling the attempts of traffic enforcement cameras to read it.
By Christian Boutwell
Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, filed, as promised, House Bill 632 on Tuesday (April 18), which would increase Louisiana’s gas tax 17 cents per gallon and would raise an estimated additional $510 million annually for the state’s highways and bridges.
“Across Louisiana, our infrastructure is crumbling,” Carter said off the floor. “The citizens of this state are sick of being stuck in traffic, and they want bold solutions that improve safety, quality of life and economic productivity, which this bill provides.”
By Christian Boutwell
BATON ROUGE — Rep. Steve Carter filed, as promised, House Bill 632 Tuesday, which would increase Louisiana’s gas tax by 17 cents per gallon and would raise an estimated additional $510 million annually for the state’s highways and bridges.
“Across Louisiana, our infrastructure is crumbling,” Carter, R-Baton Rouge, said off the floor. “The citizens of this state are sick of being stuck in traffic, and they want bold solutions that improve safety, quality of life and economic productivity, which this bill provides.”
By Rose Velazquez
BATON ROUGE — A pair of bills to increase the $500,000 cap on economic damages in Louisiana medical malpractice cases prompted the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee on Thursday (April 13) to seek an “all-encompassing look” at the state’s laws governing malpractice. That puts both measures on hold for the Legislature’s 2017 regular session.
By Rose Velazquez
BATON ROUGE — The majority of Louisianans support measures that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, but remain almost evenly divided on whether businesses should be allowed to refuse wedding or other services to same-sex couples on religious grounds.
Those are the findings of the sixth and final report of The Louisiana Survey 2017 released Thursday by LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs.
BATON ROUGE – The hour-long Senate session one morning walked and talked more like a school awards ceremony than a body that owns the sole franchise for enacting, amending and killing laws for the residents Louisiana.
Louisiana isn’t burning and its Legislature isn’t actually fiddling, but it might seem that way at times to casual visitors to the Capitol.
For example, of the 31 agenda items, 19 were sweet-as-a-lollipop resolutions recognizing a who’s who of various senators’ constituents. And that doesn’t count the proclamations, announcements, commendations, condolences, recognitions and verbal glad-handing that preceded or followed the more serious concurrent resolutions.
By Sam Karlin
BATON ROUGE — Proponents of criminal justice reform are confident the Louisiana Legislature will pass a series of bills this spring that the governor maintains would reduce the state’s prison population by 13 percent and save taxpayers $305 million over the next 10 years.
Even with the state’s District Attorneys Association issuing a lengthy and sharp rebuttal to most of the ideas, and an atmosphere of divisiveness in the Capitol, several lawmakers believe this could be the year the state sheds its title as prison capital of the U.S., which in turn makes it the prison capital of the world.
By Christian Boutwell
BATON ROUGE — A Louisiana representative is confident voters will “handily reject” the continued use of fine-issuing traffic cameras operating mainly at traffic light intersections in cities across Louisiana if they get the opportunity to do so this fall.
And Rep. Paul Hollis, R-Covington, aims to give them that chance.
By Rose Velazquez
In spite of “widespread approval” of last year’s Medicaid expansion in the state, Louisianans largely have an unfavorable and deeply divided view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to The Louisiana Survey 2017’s fifth report released today by the Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 