New Session Begins on a High Note

Experts Say Trump Can’t Tweet His Way Out of Oil Spike
April 15, 2019
Local Reflects on Career, Lawsuit Versus NFL
April 15, 2019
Experts Say Trump Can’t Tweet His Way Out of Oil Spike
April 15, 2019
Local Reflects on Career, Lawsuit Versus NFL
April 15, 2019

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards presented a hopeful State of the State address last week at the Capitol to open the 2019 legislative session.


Edwards’ tone stood in sharp contrast to the last few sessions in which lawmakers fought extensively over how to solve state budget problems.

While the focus for the session is on financial matters, local legislators have pre-filed bills that cover an array of topics ranging from choices for state songs and a dance to relief for persons owing fines, that can help them more easily clean the slate over time.

Edwards, a Democrat who is campaigning for re-election, pointed to how the state’s $2 billion deficit has turned into a surplus and said his top priority this year is pay raises for teachers. He is seeking $1,000 pay raises for public school teachers and $500 raises for school support personnel.


“Our teachers deserve more,” Edwards said, urging lawmakers to “step up” for teachers across the state.

Edwards also boasted about stabilizing funding for higher education and securing healthcare services.

“Through partnership rather than partisanship, we restored fiscal stability and put an end to the greatest budget crisis in our state’s history,’” Edwards said. He maintained that the “state is finally moving in the right direction.”


In the speech, Edwards touted his expansion of the state’s Medicaid program to include residents making up to 38 percent more than poverty levels. Roughly 480,000 people have enrolled.

Edwards told the story of a recovering addict who had received care through the expansion and is now becoming a paralegal. He also mentioned that no rural hospitals have closed since the expansion, both saving jobs and providing care to rural residents.

“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Medicaid expansion is saving lives,” he said.


Edwards, however, did not mention the loose management controls that state auditors have criticized. In November, auditors found that the Louisiana Department of Health could have misspent $85 million on ineligible enrollees as well as misallocated funds to healthcare providers. After the audit, his administration implemented a new computer system meant to prevent abuse.

Edwards also expressed his support for protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions. Currently, 850,000 Louisiana residents have pre-existing health conditions and are covered under the federal Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare.

“I do not want the nearly one million Louisianans living with pre-existing conditions to get caught in the middle of Washington-style politics,” Edwards said. “They deserve better than that.”


Edwards said he is again looking to establish a minimum wage in the state of $9 an hour and close the wage gap between men and women. State Rep. Barry Ivey (R., Baton Rouge) said the legislature was able to overcome budget deficits in recent years but will have different challenges for this session, with the governor’s minimum wage proposal likely to face significant hurdles.

Turning to the opioid epidemic, Edwards said he is supporting legislation to enhance data on opioid overdoses in the hopes of finding solutions. Deadly opioid overdoses in Louisiana have plateaued at a high rate. The state health department debuted a dashboard with drug overdose data in October.

Edwards, who is pro-life, mentioned that abortions in the state are at a 10-year low. That received roaring applause from both Republicans and Democrats.


By Hunter Lovell and James A. Smith LSU Manship School News Service

 

Local lawmakers file a variety of bills

BY JOHN DESANTIS

Lawmakers are limited to five pre-filed bills each that do not relate to finance, and some local representatives have approached a broad variety of topics. Below are highlights of legislation they have filed for the session. The list is limited and does not include all pre-filed bills.

 

REP. TANNER MAGEE – R, HOUMA

Among Magee’s offerings this session is a plan for people who have fines imposed by the courts who are in financial difficulties to more easily arrange for payments over time, lessening the potential for job loss and other hardships.

HB 255 provides that prior to imposing fines, costs or restitution, a court shall determine whether an immediate payment of the full amount will cause great difficulty to them or their dependents.


If a hardship is determined, the court may waive all or part of the cost or order a monthly payment plan. In addition, if a defendant becomes unemployed or homeless while making payments, alternatives means of making good can include substance treatment, education, or community services.

In like fashion, if the defendant’s ability to pay becomes better grounded, the court can impose new payment terms.

 

REP. JEROME ZERINGUE – R, HOUMA

The coastal wizard’s most wide-ranging bill this session would create a new tax structure that will have a strong effect on the ability to deduct taxes paid to the federal government, and a graduated tax structure that he says will more evenly spread the burdens and the benefits of the state tax code. HB 151 would create a constitutional amendment providing for rates and brackets to be updated for calculation purposes, and repeals the deduction for federal income taxes paid for computing individual and corporate income taxes.


HB150 would remove the police chief for the City of Houma from random appointment and instead require the position to be a competitive one.

Zeringue’s HB 153 would provide annual pay increases for police officers in certain municipalities, including Houma, amounting to about 2 percent.

One of the more controversial bills filed by Zeringue would require opinions rendered to the Louisiana Supreme Court by the state’s Judicial Commission concerning alleged misconduct of judges to be public. HB 75 would eliminate a layer of secrecy surrounding such proceedings.


 

SEN. NORBY CHABERT – R, HOUMA

The veteran lawmaker – now serving his final term – proposes in SB 192 that “Jambalaya,” the Hank Williams classic, join “You Are My Sunshine” and “Give Me Louisiana” as an official state song. The bill also would designate “The Cajun Waltz” as the official state dance.

SB 122 would allow voters to amend the state constitution would authorize an exemption from ad valorem taxes for goods held by a business in inventory.

 

REP. BERYL AMEDEE – R, HOUMA

HB 445 includes wide-ranging restrictions on legal advertisements. The bill would prohibit the presentation of advertising from lawyers as a medical, health or consumer alert or public service announcement. The logos of state or federal government agencies would be barred from lawyer advertising, and sponsors of such advertisements must be identified.


 

REP. JERRY GISCLAIR – D, CUT OFF

A bill strongly favored by fishermen but eschewed by some restaurant interests, HB198, would require restaurants serving shrimp or crawfish from other nations to identify them as such on menus or placards offering their bills of fare. Gisclair says the proposed law is motivated by concern over banned antibiotics being used in overseas aquaculture operations.

Of interest to hunters is HB166 which would require a harness to be used by anyone hunting from an open deer-stand. •