Legislative regular session through Mar. 29, 2014

There still a week or so left for filing bills, and they continue to trickle in.

THE GOOD: HB 1059 by Rep. Kirk Talbot would prevent government for working as dues collectors for unions in local transit agencies; HB 1075 by Rep. Patrick Connick would close a loophole to discourage the most common form of littering; HB 1076 by Rep. John Schroder was adopted as a substitute for HB 946 that would make educational data collected by the state more secure.

THE BAD: HB 1049 by Rep. James Armes would have state employee ratepayers and taxpayers pay for surgery to correct morbid obesity from non-medical causes.

THE UGLY: SB 569 by Sen. Blade Morrish would create a special carve-out for a particular nursing home to be exempt from the state’s additional bed moratorium.

Committee action, Mar. 26: HB 141, HCR 15, HCR 6, HB 874

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 141 by Rep. Kevin Pearson would relax requirements for advertising retirement bills, which are in addition to others, in the official journal. He pointed out to the House and Governmental Affairs Committee that with today’s technology, there’s plenty of opportunity for these to be known and there’s no apparent reason why they should be treated specially. “It’s all about money,” he said, implying that the official state journal, the Baton Rouge Advocate, had the only real vested interest in retaining this law, and questioned how it helped the large number of retirees who live outside of Baton Rouge.

Rep. Gregory Miller asked who paid for this additional cost; Pearson said the legislator pays for it unless the retirement system agreed, and can do it out of a campaign account, which he estimated was around $40 a notice. He said he thought it appropriate that local bills be advertised in local official journals.

Rep. Johnny Berthelot said the reason for advertising them was to discourage special retirement exemptions from being slipped into law. Pearson said recent constitutional changes would serve the same purpose, and didn’t think they really had much of a discouraging effect. He also said very specific bills still came in regardless.

Legislative regular session through Mar. 22, 2014

THE UGLY: SB 561 by Sen. Troy Brown would have schools award “letters” or other honors to student participants in certain high school sports with three years of service; why is a law even necessary to regulate this practice?

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 388 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 62 passed the Senate

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 501 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 11 with minor amendment passed Senate committee.

SCORECARD:

Committee action, Mar. 18: SB 11

DID YOU KNOW?

SB 11 by Sen. Eric LaFleur would amend the Constitution to remove the age restriction of 70 for judges. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee A that federal judges have no age limit, and neither do any other Louisiana elected officials. District Judge Janice Clark testified, calling the limit “odious” and “discriminatory.”

Sen. Jack Donahue said many age 70-plus judges continue to work in the state judiciary, in temporary positions. He also pointed out it difficult for voters to be able to determine whether an elderly judge was capable of continuing, and that cases of judges slipping in performance rarely happen precisely because of the age limit. LaFleur said the Judiciary Commission can watch out for underperforming judges. Clark claimed judges were highly visible and the public would catch on whether they should be retired by the ballot box. Donahue said he would vote for the measure in committee but not on the floor.

Sen. Edwin Murray pointed out there could be a cost savings, because they could draw retirement pay later in life while a working judge essentially in his place would simultaneously draw a salary. Sen. Conrad Appel wondered how many had been disciplined for inactivity, and was told this presumably was handled now diplomatically. Sen. Rick Ward said many judges ought to be in their prime around when they hit 70.

Legislative regular session through Mar. 15, 2014

THE BAD: HB 1030 by Rep. Jeff Thompson would weaken political parties.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 588 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 62 passed Senate committee.

SCORECARD:

Total number of bills, House: 1032; total number of bills, Senate: 559.

Total number of good bills, House: 60; total number of good bills, Senate: 33.

Total number of bad bills, House: 94; total number of bad bills, Senate: 27.

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 2; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 1.

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 1; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 0.

Total House good bills passed by House committee: 1; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 1.

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

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

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

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.

Committee action, Mar. 12: HB 746, HB 185

DID YOU KNOW?

HB 746 by Rep. Helena Moreno would prohibit minors from using tanning beds commercially. She told the House Health and Welfare Committee it was a cancer prevention measure and other states have done it, and in some countries it was banned for anybody. Supporters talked about their unfortunate experiences with cancer they said could have come from tanning bed use, and a salon owner said the bill would align with industry practices discouraging minor use and alternative methods.

A technical amendment to clarify anybody younger than 18 would be banned was passed. After, Rep. Ricky Burford said he would vote against it, obviously not because these could cause cancer, but that this involved too much government involvement.

However, he was the only member present to vote against it when the vote was called.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly -- 2014 Regular Session prefiled bills

Welcome to the 2014 edition of the Louisiana Legislature Log. As always, we begin the year with the prefiled good, bad, and ugly bills of which the first two categories fill the bulk of the tracking list for this regular session. Of note, in the 10 years the Log has reviewed prefiled bills, this by far is the most that were deemed relevant, and significantly more bad than good bills also were cited.