Regular legislative session through Apr. 30, 2022

HB 461 was reported by substitute but the changes neutered the beneficial impact of the bill, and was removed from the list of good bills. The same happened to HB 665 except the content that made it bad was excised, so it was removed from the list of bad bills.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 12 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 53 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 80 passed House committee; HB 194 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 202 passed the House; HB 269 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 364 passed House committee; HB 494 passed House committee; HB 526 passed House committee; HB 554 passed House committee; HB 655 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 681 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 701 with major amendment passed the House; HB 865 passed House committee; HB 953 passed House committee; HB 969 passed House committee; HB 990 passed the House.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 190 passed the House; HB 195 passed House committee; HB 303 passed House committee; HB 649 passed House committee; HB 1012 with minor amendment passed House committee.

SCORECARD:
Total number of bills, House: 1066; total number of bills, Senate: 496.

Total number of good bills, House: 80; total number of good bills, Senate: 25.

 

Total number of bad bills, House: 53; total number of bad bills, Senate: 18.

 

Total House good bills heard in House committee: 37; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 14.

 

Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 29; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 19.

 

Total House good bills approved by House committee: 29; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 8.

 

Total House bad bills approved by House committee: 10; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 2.

 

Total House good bills approved by House: 13; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 5.

 

Total House bad bills approved by House: 3; 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.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 23, 2022

HB 807 was amended in committee to make it a benign bill and thus was removed from the list of bad bills. And SB 184 was withdrawn, so it also exits the list of bad bills.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 12 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 33 passed the House; HB 37 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 43 passed the House; HB 54 with minor amendment passed House committee and with major amendment passed the House; HB 202 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 412 passed House committee; HB 455 passed House committee; HB 544 passed House committee; HB 618 passed the House; HB 1059 with minor amendment passed the House; SB 44 passed the Senate; SB 104 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 144 with minor amendment passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 190 passed House committee; HB 209 was deferred involuntarily; HB 308 passed the House; HB 363 passed the House.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 16, 2022

Both houses are hitting their stride with a considerable increase in significant bills processed.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 12 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 33 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 37 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 43 passed House committee; HB 701 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 990 passed House committee; SB 4 with major amendment passed Senate committee; SB 141 passed the Senate; SB 143 passed Senate committee; SB 144 passed Senate committee; SB 258 passed the Senate; SB 350 passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 363 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 557 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 707 with minor amendment passed House committee.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 9, 2022

Bills came pouring in prior to the Tuesday filing deadline, and a number began moving.

THE GOOD: HB 917 by Rep. Beau Beaullieu would cut individual income taxes (similar bill HB 943); HB 928 by Rep. Mike Echols would prevent discrimination by health status; HB 947 would prevent electoral gamesmanship by elected officials (similar bill: SB 441); HB 953 by Rep. Alan Seabaugh would strengthen religious freedom protections for organizations; HB 969 by Seabaugh would clarify veto override procedures; HB 978 by Rep. Blake Miguez would prevent viewpoint discrimination in state contracting; HB 990 by Rep. Thomas Pressly would prohibit coronavirus vaccination mandates by state or local governments; HB 993 by Rep. Rick Edmonds would create conscience protections for counselors; HB 1014 by Rep. Ray Garofalo would prohibit employing harmful stereotypes as instructional material; HB 1031 by Rep. Barbara Freiberg would shore up revenues for transportation expenditures; HB 1056 by Rep. Valarie Hodges would monitor better voter registration; SB 415 by Sen. Barrow Peacock would bring greater transparency to litigation.

THE BAD: HB 945 by Rep. Stephanie Hilferty would create a too-generous paid leave option for state employees; HB 995 by Rep. Sam Jenkins would create a too-generous paid leave option for all (similar bill: HB 1003); HB 1012 by Rep. Rodney Lyons would add an unnecessary and costly Medicaid benefit; HB 1013 by Rep. Malinda White would add unneeded taxpayer expense with a state employee minimum wage; SB 451 by Sen. Gary Carter would impose additional taxpayer costs for expungement actions; SB 467 by Carter would waste taxpayer dollars on studying a wasteful passenger rail system; SB 468 by Sen. Gary Smith would unwisely discourage using the deterrent effect of capital punishment.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 2, 2022

Activity was a bit muted this week as the Legislature adjourned the session Tuesday to work in a veto session, which as it could have lasted five days necessitated standing down until the beginning of next week. Bill filing continued, as this is a general session.

THE GOOD: HB 884 by Rep. Beau Beaullieu would create a more realistic process for computing the state’s expenditure limit

THE BAD: HB 880 by Rep. Wilford Carter would institute an excessive state minimum wage; SB 403 by Sen. Joseph Bouie adds unnecessary costs to school districts and charter schools; SB 410 by Sen. Katrina Jackson unduly restricts discretionary personnel decisions by businesses.