Legislative regular session through Apr. 5, 2014

Prefiling of bills ended earlier this week, with the usual rush.

THE GOOD: HB 1079 by Rep. Tim Burns would require more extensive annotation of campaign finance reports; HB 1102 by Rep. Simone Champagne would close a loophole that serves to advertise candidacies through public funds; HB 1153 by Rep. Joe Harrison would move the Taylor Opportunity for Scholars Program towards becoming a true scholarship program; HB 1176 by Rep. Chris Broadwater would prevent use of cash welfare benefits to be used for certain unproductive purposes; HB 1177 by Rep. Steve Carter would improve governance of larger school districts (similar bill: SB 636); HB 1199 by Rep. John Schroder would increase families’ abilities to review school materials taught; HB 1225 by Rep. Joel Robideaux would balance better paying off retirement liabilities and giving increase to retirees; HB 1233 by Rep. Alan Seabaugh would encourage certain municipalities to enforce traffic laws on the basis of safety first; SB 652 by Sen. Elbert Guillory would improve classroom discipline

THE BAD: HB 1084 by Rep. Jared Brossett would impose additional unneeded environmental regulation; HB 1097 by Rep. Barbara Norton would allow Shreveport to charge more sales tax than the Constitution permits and permanently; HB 1132 by Rep. Neil Abramson would place too much restriction defined imprecisely on use of state sales tax revenues (similar bill: HB 1229); HB 1165 by Rep. Katrina Jackson would produce a chilling effect of combating government corruption; HB 1168 by Norton would weaken ethics standards needlessly; HB 1172 by Rep. Wesley Bishop would weaken needlessly teacher accountability standards; HB 1183 by Rep. Sam Jones would inexpertly micromanage financial affairs of the state’s technical and community colleges; HB 1188 by Rep. Herbert Dixon would cost jobs and raise costs to taxpayers (similar bills: HB 1221, SB 646); HB 1189 by Norton would increase homeowners vulnerability to violent crime; HB 1212 by Rep. Ted James would allow nonresidents of areas wishing to incorporate to vote on that decision; SB 613 by Sen. Gary Smith would make the state subsidize health insurance premiums for some non-employees; HB 621 by Sen. Jody Amedee would put unnecessary constraints on state fiscal practices; SB 624 by Sen. Bob Kostelka would allow West Monroe among other cities to charge more sales tax than the Constitution permits and permanently; SB 666 by Sen. Page Cortez makes charter schools unfairly pay for past funding mistakes of public schools; SB 674 by Sen. Ben Nevers would prevent capriciously the exercise of self-government; SB 679 by Nevers would restrict unduly the marketplace for small lending.

THE UGLY: HB 1174 by Abramson would create a special one-year-only exemption to allow overage high school students to compete in sports; why is this needed; SB 630 by Sen. Danny Martiny would carve out yet another exception to official journal laws that should be scrapped.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 388 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 801 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 874 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 896 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 1075 passed House committee; HB 1076 passed House committee; SB 354 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 394 passed the Senate; SB 547 with minor amendment passed Senate committee and passed the Senate; SB 553 passed Senate committee.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 187 with major amendment passed the House; SB 60 with major amendment passed Senate committee; SB 84 with major amendment passed Senate committee.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1255; total number of bills, Senate: 679.

Total number of good bills, House: 71; total number of good bills, Senate: 34.

Total number of bad bills, House: 107; total number of bad bills, Senate: 34.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 24; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 10.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 23; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 7.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 11; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 3; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 5.

Total House good bills approved by House: 3; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 5.

Total House bad bills approved by House: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 1.

Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 0; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 0; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 0.

Total House good bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate good bills approved by House: 0.

Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 0; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 0.

Total House good bills going to governor: 0; total Senate good bills going to governor: 0.

Total House bad bills going to governor: 0; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 0.

Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.

Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 0.