DID YOU KNOW?
SB
1 by Sen. Dan Claitor would circumscribe
the use of Tulane University scholarships by legislators. This entailed
reversing a previous amendment from a previous meeting of the Senate and
Governmental Affairs Committee. It would not allow nomination of immediate
family as defined by the Ethics Code, nor any elected official, nor members of their
immediate families, nor federal elected officials, nor statewide elected officials.
Additional criteria may be imposed by legislators, or it may be deferred to
Tulane with preference to students residing in a legislator’s district and then
financial need. Names of awardees and awarders would be published on the
Legislature’s website, to which Tulane’s would link. It also would indicate any
relationship to an official. It also allowed for a legislator to pass along a
scholarship to another legislator’s district.
Sen. Jack Donahue asked why information
about contributions was removed. Claitor said since that is reported elsewhere,
it can be cross-checked, although some different names and the like might
obscure that. Sen. Neil Riser said
many local officials and family members from large population areas were still
eligible; Claitor said he had no easy way to be able to exclude them and he
didn’t think it would pass if he included them.
Without objection, it was
reported favorably.
DID
YOU KNOW?
HB
451 by Rep. Alan
Seabaugh would disallow government withholding union dues from public employee
paychecks. He told the House Labor and
Industrial Relations Committee that this expends taxpayer resources to send
money to organizations that may expend them for lobbying purposes. He noted
that to accomplish withholding without involving a public employee was hardly
any different, just using different paperwork. It would repeal the exception
where a collective bargaining agreement mandates the transfer, according to an
amendment. Facing objection, it passed 10-3.
Rep. Pat Smith said
there should be no additional hiring, and said Seabaugh said there would have
to have individuals hired to do this. He said he didn’t, but that it is part of
hired employees’ jobs. She said this bill then would override local control
with the amendment to create ease of deduction for employees; he said in this
instance where the money could go to a special interest that lobbies this
should be an exception. Smith said lots of entities lobbied, and said this was
selective.
Rep. Kenny Cox said
he should have a right to choose. Seabaugh said it was a privilege to have
government collect on behalf of an organization, and does nothing to prevent people
from joining unions, which is a voluntary decision. Cox said he thought the
people ought to vote on this; Seabaugh said it was his and Cox’s job to make this
decision on their behalf. Seabaugh also said he had surveyed his district and
found 80 percent support on it.
Chairman Herbert Dixon
said a local district could decide on this, so he thought that could be more
appropriate than doing it at a state level. Seabaugh said Dixon’s use of the Caddo
Parish School Board as an example was bad because he thought it dysfunctional,
but said certain decisions ought to be made at the state level. He appealed to
precedent of doing this for a long time, but Seabaugh said just because something’s
been there for awhile doesn’t mean it’s best. Dixon said it was interference by
the state with this bill.
Rep. Alfred Williams
asked whether any governmental agency asked about this. Seabaugh said he’d only
talked to the Caddo Parish School Board, but reiterated that state policy ought
to be not having public employees perform functions for private organizations.
Williams asked about health insurance deductions, which could be voluntary.
Seabaugh said because it’s different and had tax implications, addressing
benefits. Williams asked whether sheriff’s deputies were included as far as
their professional associations; Seabaugh said they weren’t and thought they
were different.
Dixon cautioned the room that it
might have to be vacated if outbursts continued. Rep. Lance Harris
asked whether he thought government-paid compensation was the same as voluntary
union dues; Seabaugh said they were not.
Rep. Vincent Pierre
said this bill was “unreal” and asked whether private industry was included;
Seabaugh said he didn’t think that could be done now. Smith said she said it
could be, although, as Seabaugh said, not by public employees.
Jim Patterson of the Louisiana
Association of Business and Industry noted that local government already did
not have discretion to choose in deductions because employees could request
this at the local level. He also noted that other organizations had neutral
relationships with government, but there could be an adversarial
employer/employee relationship with a union to government, justifying the bill
because it put the employer (government) at a disadvantage by also making it an
agent of the employees (union).
Rep. Dee Richard said
teachers ought to be privileged and they should be removed from the bill, and
wanted to act to do so. Smith motioned to reconsider the earlier amendment,
which would have that effect. That was defeated 7-9.
Opponents claimed unions had no
advantage relative to a public employer, said union membership was crucial to the
livelihood of government employees, and that unions were the way to give them a
voice and payroll deduction denial interfered with that mission. They said it
was anti-union and that the bill would destroy unions. They also claimed it
would be too onerous on unions, that it was unethical and unjust and that
payroll deductions allowed them to be treated fairly. Finally, they claimed it
would save no money, even a fiscal office report said there would be savings,
just not material in nature.
Harris questioned some opponents,
noting that if unions felt threatened for their existence without deductions,
then it must be something they weren’t doing right. After Seabuagh closed, Smith
made a motion to defer involuntarily defer. The 8-8 voted caused it to fail,
and the subsequent vote of the same also caused it to fail.
DID YOU KNOW?
HB
1059 by Rep. Kirk
Talbot would do pretty much the same thing, except it included public
safety employees. And given the previous result, he deferred it voluntarily.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Dying … don’t do that to your
student
Claitor,
in explaining how a student might lose a scholarship because the legislator
wouldn’t be around anymore to reappoint a student.
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