07 April 2019

The Good, Bad, and Ugly for the 2019 Regular session

Welcome to the 2019 edition of the Louisiana Legislature Log, which is somewhat scaled-down from the past due to circumstances beyond my control. As always, we start with the Good, Bad and Ugly bills, except this year without the ugly.

THE GOOD: HB 12 by Rep. Steve Carter would amend the Constitution to provide a local option for applying the homestead exemption (similar bills: HB 238, HB 439); HB 19 by Rep. Kevin Pearson would help pay down the state’s unfunded accrued liability; HB 28 by Rep. Barry Ivey would shore up the fiscal health of the state’s retirement systems; HB 31 by Rep. Philip Devillier would phase out the corporate franchise tax (similar bill: HB 523); HB 57 by Rep. Tanner Magee would amend the Constitution to centralize sales tax collection with the state; HB 72 by Rep. Tony Bacala would reduce government waste; HB 82 by Devillier would publicize costs associated with bond, debt and tax  elections; HB 136 by Rep. Steve Pylant would amend the Constitution to refigure the homestead exemption; HB 147 by Rep. Rick Edmonds would build in a margin of safety in budgeting; HB 195 by Devillier would make the capital outlay process more flexible and create more legislative input; HB 231 by Pearson would strengthen freedom to use waterways; HB 281 by Rep. Blake Miguez would strengthen Second Amendment safeguards; HB 372 by Rep. Kirk Talbot applies tort reform to vehicle insurance and provides the means to lower rates; HB 388 by Miguez would protect personal identifying information from public records dissemination; HB 404 by Rep. Clay Schexnayder would eliminate unneeded boards and commissions; HB 413 by Miguez would prevent discrimination by merchants of those in the firearms and ammunition business; HB 416 by Ivey would flatten individual income tax rates in a way unlikely to result in an overall tax increase (similar bill: HB 441); HB 425 by Rep. Katrina Jackson would amend to Constitution to ensure these exists no right to abortion or its funding; HB 453 by Miguez would regulate more precisely unionization of teachers; HB 484 by Rep. Raymond Crews would establish more reliable record-keeping by abortion providers; HB 503 by Edmonds would pare unnecessary occupational licensing burdens for ex-convicts; HB 546 by Rep. Larry Bagley would remove some vehicles from inspection requirements; SB 14 by Sen. Barrow Peacock would impose term limits on retirement systems trustees; SB 93 by Sen. Rick Ward would flatten corporate income tax rates in a way unlikely to result in an overall tax increase (similar bill: HB 451); SB 122 by Sen. Marty Chabert would eliminate the inventory tax; SB 135 by Sen. Conrad Appel would make the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board’s civil service system more manageable and flexible; SB 183 by Sen. Dan Claitor would bring more transparency to Tulane legislative Scholarships; SB 184 by Sen. John Milkovich would prohibit abortion in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detected; SB 201 by Sen. Beth Mizell would eliminate the unneeded state agency trying to flood Washington Parish; SB 204 by Sen. Karen Peterson would allow diversion of tax dollars from tourism-oriented agencies to general New Orleans purposes; SB 221 by Mizell would increase knowledge for women contemplating abortions.

THE BAD: HB 6 by Rep. Sam Jenkins would create unenforceable, intrusive, and dangerous traffic law; HB 46 by Rep. Joseph Bouie would corrupt the reapportionment process; HB 63 by Bouie would increase taxpayer costs in trying to solve a nonexistent problem (similar bill: HB 289); HB 96 by Pylant would create too much confusion and inefficiency in the state’s bureaucracy; HB 175 by Bouie would impose needless business costs based on imprecise technology; HB 178 by Jackson would amend the Constitution to lift unwisely the retirement age for judges; HB 202 by Rep. Gary Miller would try to reduce election costs in an inefficient manner; HB 215 by Rep. Terry Landry would eliminate capital punishment (similar bill: SB 112); HB 251 by Rep. Randal Gaines would injure the integrity of the election process (similar bill: SB 58); HB 293 by Rep. Ken Brass would permit more wasteful spending by constables; HB 302 by Bouie would impose needless bureaucracy, costs, and regulation on business; HB 310 by Rep. Wayne McMahen would weaken teacher quality; HB 338 by Rep. Pat Smith would redefine bullying policy in ways too restrictive and not restrictive enough; HB 358 by Rep. Ted James would make it too easy to hoot up for non-medical reasons (similar bills: HB 462, HB 509, HB 564); HB 420 by Rep. Walt Leger would increase rather than redistribute hotel taxes in New Orleans (similar bill: HB 521); HB 422 by Rep. Royce Duplessis would amend the Constitution to permit cities to reduce opportunities through a minimum wage increase; HB 435 by Terry Landry would amend the Constitution to set in motion a process to increase regularly legislative salaries; HB 470 by Rep. Cedric Glover would merge Louisiana State University in Shreveport into Louisiana Tech University; HB 472 by Glover would waste even more money on subsidizing film-making; HB 542 by Steve Carter would raise the gas tax at the pump; SB 4 by Sen. J.P. Morrell would amend the Constitution to create another needless sales tax exemption (similar bill: SB 5); SB 27 by Sen. Danny Martiny would trigger an unnecessary salary increase for judges; SB 63 by Sen. Yvonne Colomb would diminish retroactively self-governance determination; SB 79 by Sen. Troy Carter would amend the Constitution to erode selectively New Orleans’ tax base (similar bill: SB 80); SB 97 by Sen. Wesley Bishop would shield unnecessarily public records; SB 98 by Sen. Ed Price would relax too much expungement criteria; SB 128 by Milkovich would water down education standards; SB 136 by Morrell would restrict needlessly business personnel practices; SB 155 by Carter would amend the Constitution to cost jobs and productivity with a minimum wage increase; SB 174 by Sen. Ronnie Johns would make less flexible elderly affairs policy; SB 186 by Morrell would create a wasteful benefit paid for by business; SB 219 by Sen. Regina Barrow would needlessly exclude certain kinds of health care coverage.

No comments: