Legislation dealing with the authority of the Capital Area Transit System is headed to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s desk for signing into law. The action came as the Louisiana House voted 68-26 to concur in Senate changes to House Bill 865, which implements part of a plan … Continue reading →

The Louisiana House refused Thursday to give final legislative approval to the Jindal administration’s proposed new 401(k)-type pension plan for future state employees. The House voted 49-43 to concur in state Senate changes to the so-called “cash balance” legislation — four votes shy of the majority needed to send House Bill 61 to the governor’s desk for … Continue reading →

The state House voted Thursday to create a tougher legal hurdle for restricting the right to keep and bear arms in Louisiana. The legislation would give the state the strongest Second Amendment-supporting law in the nation, its sponsor, state Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, has said. Opponents called the bill unnecessary and a test from … Continue reading →

House convenes again at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Senate convenes again at 4 p.m. Monday. No House Committee meetings. No Senate Committee meetings. Legislative news at it happens, including supporting documents, available on the Internet at http://blogs.theadvocate.com/politicsblog/ Hearings … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law Wednesday a ban on certain convicted sex offenders using Facebook and other social networking websites. “We already restrict sex offenders from playgrounds, daycares, and schools, and they should not be allowed to prey on our children in … Continue reading →

Property taxes for homeowners in the Mayfair and Glen Oaks areas of Baton Rouge would increase under legislation that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday. The Senate Committee on Local and Municipal Affairs voted without objection to advance House Bill 253 by state Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, and House Bill 480 by state Rep. Regina Barrow, D-Baton … Continue reading →

The House Retirement Committee, at the behest of the Jindal administration, hijacked a bill Wednesday that could help advance stalled legislation to consolidate Louisiana’s school employees and teachers retirement systems. Opponents criticized the governor’s office for submitting a 47-page amendment to a non-controversial three-page bill that already has passed the state Senate. The maneuver allows the … Continue reading →

A state House panel on Wednesday altered, then endorsed a Senate-passed bill aimed at increasing the pension system contributions of more than 50,000 state employees. Critics continued to warn that the legislation is unconstitutional because it breaks employment contracts and amounts to a tax on current employees to pay state retirement obligations. In addition, opponents … Continue reading →

The state Public Service Commission gave phone companies the right to stop delivering white page directories under certain conditions Wednesday. AT&T, which has the most customers in Louisiana, is still delivering phone books and will continue for the time being, said Debbie Canale, AT&T regional vice president, after the vote. AT&T has stopped delivering phone … Continue reading →

Members of the Louisiana Board of Regents acknowledged Wednesday they didn’t have much success at the state Legislature this year. The general consensus at the regents’ board meeting at Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus was that the governor’s emphasis on overhauling the state policies concerning kindergarten through the 12th grade derailed the higher education agenda. The … Continue reading →

After purging one-time money from the state spending plan, a group of Republicans in the Louisiana House began preparing Wednesday for a fight to keep the budget rewrite intact. The latest bargaining chip in the struggle between Gov. Bobby Jindal and some Republicans over the $25 billion proposed state operating budget is the state’s “rainy day” … Continue reading →

LAFAYETTE — The state’s regulators Wednesday allowed Entergy Corp. to transfer functional control of its electricity grid to a regional coalition of power companies that would stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson Bay. The result, should regulators in other states agree, would lower costs to Entergy Corp. by more than $500 million, which … Continue reading →

ISSUES TO WATCH THURSDAY SB299 and SB563 would allow southeast Baton Rouge neighborhoods to breakaway from the East Baton Parish School System is set for a vote before the full House. House convenes at 9:00 a.m. Senate convenes at 9:00 a.m. Continue reading →

Legislation that would authorize the spending of $3.4 billion for public schools moved near final approval Tuesday despite claims that the proposal is seriously flawed. The state House Education Committee approved the measure without objection. The proposal, Senate Concurrent Resolution 99, next faces a vote in the state House, and possibly a review by the House … Continue reading →

The Louisiana House rejected an attempt Tuesday night to prevent foreign governments from owning ports, airports, public roads, highways, bridges or toll roads in the state. State Rep. Valerie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, sought the amendment to Senate Bill 273 as a way to fight … Continue reading →

Jindal administration officials told legislators Tuesday they are abandoning a bid to move the Office of Elderly Affairs from the Governor’s Office. “After several months of dialogue, we’re no longer moving forward with that plan,” state Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein ”said. The decision followed weeks of public outrage from officials concerned … Continue reading →

A proposal to tweak the state’s self-defense law in response to Florida’s Trayvon Martin case was shelved Tuesday in a Senate committee. Members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary B voted 4-2 to defer action on House Bill 1100 by state Rep. Roy Burrell, D-Shreveport. Concerns that the proposal would muddy Louisiana criminal law doomed the … Continue reading →

Just one day after state senators killed a shot at freedom for some habitual but nonviolent offenders serving life sentences, the state Senate reversed course and revived the legislation. House Bill 543, sponsored by state Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, is now headed to the governor’s desk after passing on a 23-12 vote Tuesday. HB543 … Continue reading →

The Louisiana Senate derailed legislation Tuesday that would have exempted architects, engineers and others doing government contract work from state conflict of interest and nepotism laws. The Ethics Board had opposed the House-passed measure, saying it would water down state ethics laws. The state Senate rejected the bill when only 13 senators voted for House Bill … Continue reading →

Louisiana, which a short time ago was accused of running gladiator camps for young offenders, now is among the best states in the nation for setting up programs aimed at helping juveniles who find themselves in trouble with the law, according to a national survey. Many states announce reform programs and start them, but the services … Continue reading →

House convenes at 2 p.m. Senate convenes at 1 p.m. HOUSE COMMITTEE MEETINGS Education. 1 p.m. in committee room 2. Judiciary. 11:30 a.m. in Committee Room 1. Labor & Industrial Relations. 9:30 a.m. in Committee Room … Continue reading →

A seemingly innocuous proposal to study the use of tolls to finish Interstate 49 between Lafayette and New Orleans sparked a north-south spat Monday in the state House Transportation Committee. The proposal, Senate Concurrent Resolution 38, eventually passed the panel 8-3 and now faces a vote in the full House. The resolution passed the Senate earlier … Continue reading →

State House-passed legislation that would restrict use of welfare electronic benefit cards stalled Monday in a Senate committee. The Senate Finance Committee delayed action, noting that money has not been identified to cover the $454,000 cost associated with the legislation’s implementation. The panel is dealing with the fallout from the House stripping one-time money from the … Continue reading →

A state Senate committee altered, and then advanced, Jindal administration legislation that would add new types of businesses to the list of those that could get local property tax exemptions. In its new form, all five political entities in parishes would have to agree to forgo the taxes to recruit non-manufacturing businesses such as multistate distributions centers, … Continue reading →

With the 2012 legislative session nearing its end, Gov. Bobby Jindal made a quick trip to North Dakota on Monday, according to a news release. Jindal flew to Bismarck to raise money for North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple. As lieutenant governor, Dalrymple … Continue reading →

Session Day 44 of 60 legislative days House convenes at 2:00 p.m. Senate convenes at 1:00 p.m. HOUSE COMMITTEE MEETINGS Appropriations. At adjournment in Committee Room 5. Civil Law & Procedure. 8:30 a.m. in Committee Room 4. Continue reading →

Higher education leaders Monday predicted $225 million in proposed budget cuts would lead to dramatic consequences with one administrator saying the effects would take a generation to overcome. At LSU, Chancellor Michael Martin said the university would have to declare a financial emergency and put whole colleges on the chopping block should the Legislature stick with … Continue reading →

With little discussion, the state Senate rejected legislation Monday that would give some habitual offenders a shot at freedom. No one took the Senate floor to denounce the proposal, House Bill 543 by state Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge. Instead, debate centered on two senators’ attempts to assure their colleagues that the bill would not make … Continue reading →

TOPS scholarships The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS, is a very popular program. Can you find out how many of Louisiana’s college-bound high school students who entered Louisiana colleges received TOPS scholarships? The minimum requirements for TOPS — a grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale), and … Continue reading →

Session Day 43 of 60 legislative days. ISSUES TO WATCH MONDAY SB673 To establish the Juban Crossing Economic Development District Fund as a special fund in the state treasury and to provide for the disposition of certain sales tax proceeds within Livingston Parish in House Appropriations committee. SB555 One of the two compromise … Continue reading →

Funding threats to a program that helps children with developmental disabilities brought parents in droves to the State Capitol on Saturday. Courtney Moore, of Central, sat her 12-month-old daughter, Camille, on a table in front of legislators and begged them to save the state’s EarlySteps program. Moore’s daughter was born with Down syndrome and receives therapy … Continue reading →

Amid the recent spate of laudatory columns that promote Gov. Bobby Jindal as vice presidential timber, the Americans for Tort Reform on Friday released an opinion slamming the governor on the legacy lawsuit debate. “It’s a safe bet that few of those singing Jindal’s praises as a possible vice president know that, as tort reformers see it, … Continue reading →

Talk about possible state budget cuts to health care and higher education brought Susanna Moss to tears Friday during a visit to the State Capitol. Moss, 24, traveled to Baton Rouge from her Haynesville home in north Louisiana to put a human face on the work of LSU Health Shreveport. Both hospitals and colleges are slated … Continue reading →

A ex-LSU Police Department employee has agreed she violated state ethics law when she accepted a $400 reward for helping an out-of-state visitor recover a lost wallet. The Louisiana Board of Ethics signed off Friday on a consent order with Elisa Lewis in which she also agreed to pay a $400 civil penalty as part of the … Continue reading →

The Louisiana Ethics Board members voted Friday to oppose two House-passed bills they say would erode conflict-of-interest laws. One measure would exempt certain professionals contracted by the state and the other bill would require the board to pay court and attorney fees if it lost an appeal. Both House-passed measures are headed to the Senate floor … Continue reading →

Wednesday is “D-Day” on the fate of Jindal administration legislation that would raise the retirement age for some state employees, the Senate sponsor of the legislation said Friday. Senate Retirement Committee Chairman Elbert Guillory said negotiations are continuing over the legislation, which is undergoing another revamp that would eliminate more employees from new age requirements. “The … Continue reading →

Self-described liberal and conservative political operatives and policy researchers Thursday discussed the impact of exemptions and loopholes in the state’s tax code. “Some of these are tax breaks that everybody supports,” Jan Moller, director of the Louisiana Budget Project told a gathering of about 35 people at a League of Women Voters of Baton Rouge luncheon. … Continue reading →

Jindal administration legislation affecting current, future and retired state employees pension benefits advanced Thursday in the Louisiana Legislature. A state House panel approved Senate-passed legislation that would effectively reduce the potential pension benefits for current employees and stop retirees’ cost-of-living raises for the forseeable future. Opponents argued that both plans unconstitutionally break contracts and have … Continue reading →

A bill to make school bus drivers who start work after June 30 ineligible for tenure breezed through the Louisiana Senate Education Committee on Thursday. The proposal, which has already won House approval, faces action on the Senate floor. If approved without changes it would be sent to Gov. Bobby Jindal. State Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Napleonville, … Continue reading →

Baton Rouge Community College will have to eliminate many night and weekend classes, reduce course offerings and increase class sizes if the Louisiana Legislature adopts the state spending plan winding its way through the State Capitol, Chancellor Andrea Lewis Miller said. House Republicans, last week, successfully purged $267 million in one-time money out of House Bill 1, … Continue reading →

The Louisiana House voted 81-21 in favor of advancing legislation that calls for a standstill budget for its chamber and a slight increase for the state Senate. Under House Bill 1044, the House would be able to spend $27.6 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1. … Continue reading →

A $3.9 billion multi-year construction budget sailed through the Louisiana House on Thursday. House Bill 2, the state capital outlay spending plan, would provide initial funding for projects in the fiscal year that starts July 1. “It’s geographically spread across the state,” said state Rep. Joel Robideaux, the proposal’s sponsor. The House voted 84-15 … Continue reading →

A Louisiana House-passed bill to ban handheld cellphones while driving was killed Thursday by a state Senate committee. Critics said the data on cellphone usage and traffic accidents is inconclusive, questioned the size of the fines in the bill and other details. “I have talked to a number of police officers,” said state Sen. Troy Brown, … Continue reading →

Impassioned pleas invoking Thomas Jefferson and the state constitution failed to sway the Louisiana House on Thursday to quash one of the state budget bills. The advancement of House Bill 822 on a 63-38 vote could signal a shift in favor of the Jindal administration and Democrats in a battle with some House Republicans over using one-time … Continue reading →