Regular legislative session through May 18, 2019

HB 546 was removed from the list of good bills, because it became linked to a bad bill, HB 601. Also, HB 310 was substituted for by HB 620.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 72 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 372 was deferred involuntarily by Senate committee; HB 484 passed Senate committee; HB 503 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 599 passed House committee; HB 614 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 184 passed House committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 215 passed House committee; HB 289 was deferred involuntarily by House committee; HB 293 failed to pass the House; HB 358 passed the House; HB 422 was deferred involuntarily by House committee; HB 564 passed House committee; HB 610 with minor amendment failed to pass the House; HB 620 passed House committee; SB 27 with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 174 passed Senate committee.

Regular legislative session through May 11, 2019

A bad bill, HB 589, turned into a substitute HB 617, but that didn’t improve it. However, amendments to SB 79 made that bill benign, and thus this proposed constitutional amendment was removed from the bad bill list, as was SB 80 which contained the statutory authorizing legislation. Finally, amendments to SB 237 made it benign and it was removed from the bad bill list.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 72 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 425 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; HB 484 with minor amendment passed the House; SB 184 with minor amendment passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 63 was deferred involuntarily; HB 302 was deferred involuntarily, HB 435 with minor amendments passed House committee; HB 601 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 617 with major amendment passed the House; SB 5 with minor amendment passed the Senate; SB 112 failed to pass the Senate; SB 219 passed Senate committee.

Regular legislative session through May 4, 2019

Due to its fiscal notes registering revenue reduction, HB 262 by Rep. Julie Stokes is added to the list of good bills. The bill would flatten and simplify the tax code. Also, HB 202 has been removed from the list of bad bills, after a proposed beneficial amendment to it is scheduled to be debated on the floor.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 12 was deferred involuntarily; HB 82 passed the House; HB 147 passed House committee; HB 231 was deferred involuntarily; HB 262 HB 281 passed House committee; HB 372 passed the House; HB 388 was substituted for by HB 614; HB 404 passed the House; HB 413 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 416 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 441 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 503 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 614 passed House committee; SB 184 with major amendment passed Senate committee; SB 221 passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 46 was deferred involuntarily by House committee;  HB 178 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 293 passed House committee;  HB 358 passed House committee; HB 610 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 4 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 5 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 79 passed Senate committee and failed to pass the Senate; SB 80 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 112 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 186 passed Senate committee.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 27, 2019

Finally, the Legislature gets in a full week of business (which for it is four days), so activity has picked up. Most intriguingly, one bill actually flipped in status, with amendments taking HB 521 from bad to good by eliminating the overall tax increase that could have resulted and diverting some existing tax revenues to New Orleans infrastructure.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 82 passed House committee; HB 372 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 404 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 413 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 425 passed the House; HB 484 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 521 with major amendment passed House committee; SB 201 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: SB 136 passed Senate committee; SB 155 passed Senate committee.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 20, 2019

The Louisiana Legislature had another week light on business, this time because it adjourned the week early after inclement weather. Nonetheless, the window for introducing bills remained open.

THE GOOD: HB 588 by Rep. Stephanie Hilferty essentially redirects a percent of the hotel occupancy tax to New Orleans and cuts a tax on food and beverage sales; HB 594 by Rep. Mark Wright would flatten and simplify income taxes (similar bill: HB 608); HB 599 by Rep. Lance Harris would cut sales taxes.

THE BAD: HB 589 by Rep. Walt Leger would continue indefinitely superfluous taxes going to tourism activities; HB 601 by Rep. Larry Bagley largely subverts consumer savings from his HB 546; HB 610 by Rep. Blake Miguez would intensify the elevated amount of revenue sharing by the state by retaining a higher sales tax; SB 237 by Sen. Yvonne Colomb would create duplicative governmental units.