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
By Sarah Gamard and Caitie Burkes
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
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.
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.
By Sarah Gamard
Demonstrators waved Confederate flags outside the Louisiana State Capitol on Thursday (May 4) in protest of New Orleans’ contentious decision to remove four monuments in the city representing the Confederacy and in support of three bills before the Legislature that aim to protect them.
By Carrie Grace Henderson
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana will be on its way to its next constitutional convention to adjust the Louisiana Constitution where it deals with fiscal matters if a bill approved in the House Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday makes it through the House and Senate.
“We can all agree on one thing: The current system is broken. Regardless of what the fix is, we all agree that we need to fix it,” Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, said. “This provides a mechanism to do it.”
By Sarah Gamard
The Louisiana House voted 54-42 Tuesday and sent to the Senate an amendment to state law that would qualify same-sex couples for legal protection and assistance in cases of domestic abuse.
House Bill 27 by Rep. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, applies to partners who are in a sexual or intimate relationship, thus encompassing both opposite-sex married couples and other partnerships.
Read the story in bestofneworleans.com/Gambit
By Rose Velazquez
BATON ROUGE, La. – Preceded by roughly two hours of emotional testimony, the House Municipal and Cultural Affairs Committee voted 10-8 Wednesday to send to the full House a bill that would prevent the state and local governments from destroying or removing public military memorials.
It was a not-so-veiled attempt to stop the city of New Orleans from removing prominently placed statues of Confederate generals and officials, and to stop such action from happening anywhere else in the state.
By Christian Boutwell
BATON ROUGE – Gen. Robin Rand, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command based at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, expressed gratitude to lawmakers as he addressed those in the Senate chamber Tuesday.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 