By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — The House Monday unanimously passed a resolution by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, to urge the Department of Health and Hospitals to study the viability of a controversial procedure to reverse an abortion induced by the drug mifepristone.
By Quint Forgey
BATON ROUGE — A measure requiring Louisiana’s exotic dancers to be at least 21 years old sailed through the House Judiciary committee without opposition on Thursday.
By Quint Forgey
BATON ROUGE — Following the uncontested approval of Senate Bill 320 in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, domestic violence victims are another step closer to having special seating — separate from alleged abusers — in state courtrooms.
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE The Senate Committee on Transportation and Public Works Thursday voted 3-1 to prevent localities from establishing a 50 percent local-hire quota on contracts for public works projects.
By Quint Forgey
BATON ROUGE — A measure that would have rewarded state higher education institutions for improving their graduation rates by granting limited tuition autonomy failed in the full House chamber on Thursday.
Opponents were concerned over increasing college costs for Louisiana’s students.
By Samuel Carter Karlin
BATON ROUGE — A higher minimum wage in Louisiana may run into trouble in the Legislature as the state grapples with a $600 million shortfall and an expected special session to raise more revenue approaches. The Senate Finance Committtee was scheduled to take up the bill Monday, but passed over it and may consider it next week.
By Quint Forgey
BATON ROUGE — A proposed state constitutional amendment aimed at weaning the state off short-term funding sources was voluntarily deferred by its author on Monday after members of the Senate Finance committee deemed the measure too dangerous to enact in a time of such fiscal uncertainty.
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — Forget budget deficits, tax credits, discrimination and Real ID, Louisiana restaurants may soon be able to whip up freshly caught alligator dishes brought to the chefs by the diner.
House Bill 188, reported out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee Thursday, would includes alligator in the state’s Catch and Cook program.
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — The Senate Thursday unanimously passed Senate Bill 395 by Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, ending a practice of lawyers, judges and lawmaker indulging several times a year in food and drink at the swanky Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans on the taxpayer dime.
The bill mandates the Louisiana State Law Institute, whose 100-plus members include lawyers, judges and legislators, hold its meetings at a public building. The group researches and recommends legal reforms to the Legislature.
By D.B. Narveson
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House passed two abortion bills Thursday banning the dismemberment of a fetus and the second prohibiting the procedure for survivable genetic disorders of a fetus, such as Down’s syndrome or cystic fibrosis.
Rep. Rick Edmunds, R-Baton Rouge, said, as a pastor, one of the sweetest members of his church was a young man with Down’s syndrome, and that his own son was diagnosed with a genetic disease that required numerous surgeries on his legs and spine.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 