Regular legislative session through May 23, 2020

The Legislature entered the turn to home this week. If anything would move outside of a special session, which seems extremely likely, it had to start the process this week, if not clear its chamber of origin. HB 866 was removed from the list of good bills as its emendation narrowed its focus drastically. Also, HB 344 was removed from the list of bad bills as its emendation made it benign.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 140 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 334 passed the House; HB 445 passed the House; HB 497 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 690 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 746 passed the House; SB 157 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 166 with minor amendment passed the Senate and with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 231 passed the Senate; SB 418 with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 423 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 491 with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 498 with minor amendment passed House committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 97 passed Senate committee; HB 188 passed House committee; HB 241 passed the House; HB 328 passed Senate committee; HB 419 was deferred involuntarily; HB 763 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; HB 814 passed the House; HB 819 passed Senate committee; SB 347 with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 486 was deferred involuntarily.

Regular legislative session through May 16, 2020

With the Legislature working five days a week (gasp!), members are plowing through a fair number of bills.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 9 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 118 passed the House; HB 140 passed House committee; HB 242 passed the House; HB 334 passed House committee; HB 689 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 690 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 703 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 746 passed House committee; HB 850 passed House committee; SB 75 passed the Senate; SB 157 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 231 passed Senate committee; SB 351 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 418 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 461 passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 97 passed the House; HB 158 passed House committee; HB 328 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 344 passed House committee; HB 625 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 676 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 763 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 814 passed House committee; HB 819 passed the House; SB 293 passed Senate committee; SB 437 passed Senate committee.

Regular legislative session through May 9, 2020

The Legislature finally gets going again, with HB 464 and 469 removed from the list of bad bills after their emendations.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 118 passed House committee; HB 193 was withdrawn; HB 242 passed House committee; HB 347 passed House committee; HB 445 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 689 passed House committee; HB 703 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 75 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 187 was deferred involuntarily; SB 351 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 461 passed Senate committee; SB 491 with minor amendment passed Senate committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 97 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 328 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 819 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 832 was deferred involuntarily; SB 13 was deferred involuntarily; SB 15 was deferred involuntarily.

Regular legislative session through May 2, 2020

With the Legislature finally ready to resume on May 4, presented here are good and bad bills introduced in the interim.

THE GOOD: HB 733 by Rep. Zee Zeringue would extend higher education efficiency measures (similar bill: HB 829); HB 746 by Rep. Ray Garofalo would increase individual security in emergency situations; HB 749 by Rep. Beau Beaullieu would simplify and reduce costs of estate transfers; HB 850 by Rep. Barry Ivey creates better taxpayer protections in the creation of special taxing districts; HB 865 by Rep. Beryl Amedee would prevent government overreach restricting the right to bear arms in emergencies; HB 866 by Rep. Mack Cormier would tighten ethics laws for certain contractors; HB 868 by Ivey would clarify performance of emergency legislative activities; SB 445 by Sen. Barrow Peacock clarifies liability as it pertains to emergencies (similar bills: HB 826, SB 491); SB 461 by Sen. Mike Reese prohibits unduly penalizing employers because of the current state of emergency (similar bill: HB 833); SB 498 by Sen. Bret Allain provides for extending tax liability deadlines in emergencies.

THE BAD: HB 730 by Rep. Wilford Carter would increase the cost of vehicle insurance; HB 731 by Wilford Carter would reduce education standards; HB 755 by Rep. Edmond Jordan would increase the potential for conflicts in interest among policy-makers; HB 763 by Rep. Jack McFarland would disrupt adversely markets in times of certain emergencies and create bureaucratic and litigious messes; HB 797 by Rep. Royce Duplessis would allow local governments to undue interfere in business personnel policies; HB 801 by Rep. Rodney Lyons would authorize schools to deviate needlessly from their educational missions; HB 807 by Lyons increases the chances of abuse of medical marijuana (similar bill: SB 501); HB 814 by Rep. Sam Jenkins would allow another malady not proven to be affected by medical marijuana added to the list of its permitted uses (similar bill: HB 819); HB 824 by Rep. Barbara Carpenter would penalize unduly some students while unduly relaxing penalties on others; HB 832 by Rep. Matthew Willard would force businesses to grant forms of sick leave; SB 437 by Sen. Katrina Jackson would extend sick leave benefits to academic personnel with flexible schedules; SB 478 by Sen. Cleo Fields would subvert state annexation law with an unwarranted exception; SB 486 by Sen. Regina Barrow in regards to voting by mail is duplicative and allows nonresidents of a parish to vote there (similar bill: SB 501); SB 509 by Sen. Joseph Bouie would stifle educational delivery innovation; SB 510 by Bouie would restrict unwisely businesses’ ability to vet potential employees.

Regular legislative session through Mar. 21, 2020

With the Legislature parking matters for a couple of weeks as a result of the Wuhan coronavirus after Monday, little activity occurred this week. But a bill of note did sneak in before things came to a halt.

THE GOOD: HB 713 by Rep. Kathy Edmonston would devolve textbook selection to districts.

SCORECARD: