Regular legislative session through May 1, 2023

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 5 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 8 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 9 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 47 passed House committee; HB 62 passed House committee and the House; HB 81 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 98 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 166 passed House committee and the House; HB 170 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 188 with minor amendment passed the House; HB 208 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 212 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 291 passed the House; HB 321 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 340 with minor amendment passed House committee; HB 466 passed House committee; HB 529 passed House committee; HB 558 with minor amendment passed House committee; SB 1 with major amendment passed Senate committee; SB 7 passed Senate committee; SB 19 with minor amendment passed Senate committee; SB 159 passed Senate committee; SB 201 with minor amendment passed the Senate.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: HB 24 was deferred involuntarily; HB 242 passed House committee; HB 562 with major amendment passed House committee; HB 621 was deferred involuntarily; SB 11 passed Senate committee.

SCORECARD:

Regular legislative session through Apr. 23, 2023

Bill filing is complete, and so final additions to good and bad bills occurred.

THE GOOD: HB 615 by Rep. Valarie Hodges would assess a fee on remittances to foreign countries dedicated to English as a second language instruction.

THE BAD: HB 621 by Rep. Mack Cormier would tax selectively college football game tickets to fund state-subsidized train travel; HB 626 by Rep. Rodney Lyons makes taxpayers subsidize lost/relocated-out-of-state jobs; HB 641 by Rep. Stuart Bishop repeals tax exceptions without lowering rates that induces tax increases; SB 226 by Sen. Jacob Luneau would make permanent an earned income tax credit of ten percent.

Regular legislative session through Apr. 16, 2023

As is typical, for more meaningful bills things get off to a slow start. HB 322 did receive a committee hearing and was transformed into a benign bill, thus causing its removal from the bad bill list.

SCORECARD:
Total number of bills, House: 609; total number of bills, Senate: 220.

Total number of good bills, House: 59; total number of good bills, Senate: 20.

 

Total number of bad bills, House: 35; total number of bad bills, Senate: 9.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Total House bad bills approved 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.

Good, Bad, and Ugly bills for the 2023 Regular Session

Welcome to the 2023 Regular Session version of the Louisiana Legislature Log. As always, it begins with a recitation of good, bad, and ugly bills prefiled in advance of the Louisiana Legislature’s regular session.

THE GOOD: HB 5 by Rep. Larry Frieman would make fathers of established paternity pay half of child-bearing expenses borne by the mother unmarried to him; HB 8 by Rep. Dodie Horton would require display of the national motto “In God We Trust” in every elementary and secondary education classroom; HB 9 by Rep. Rhonda Butler would give students with disabilities school choice; HB 12 by Rep. Richard Nelson would require most students failing reading in third grade to repeat; HB 16 by Rep. Laurie Schlegel would discourage chronic burglary; HB 25 by Rep. Paul Hollis would induce greater accountability from parish library boards of control; HB 47 by Nelson would amend the Constitution to allocate a quarter of declared nonrecurring revenues to reducing unfunded accrued liabilities; HB 51 by Jonathan Goudeau would provide more accountability for receiving unemployment insurance payments (similar bill: HB 456); HB 62 by Rep. Tony Bacala would start rolling off early the 0.45 percent temporary sales tax (similar bills: HB 71, HB 170; HB 257); HB 66 by Rep. Debbie Villio would discourage criminal behavior by people under corrections supervision (similar bills: HB 70, HB 149, HB 151, HB 188); HB 81 by Rep. Raymond Crews would protect school personnel from harassment and children from unscrupulous activists; HB 98 by Rep. Lance Harris would expand school choice for all children; HB 131 by Rep. Danny McCormick would expand firearm concealed carry (similar bill: HB 234); HB 146 by Rep. Mark Wright would create a flat income tax (similar bills: HB 147, HB 241, HB 303); HB 152 by Rep. Beryl Amedee would amend the Constitution to codify parents’ rights; HB 156 by Rep. Philip Devillier would reduce outlay from the Motion Picture Investors Tax Credit (similar bill: HB 214); HB 159 by Rep. Les Farnum provides for a supplemental annual canvass of voters; HB 166 by Bacala would improve budgeting; HB 173 by Devillier would phase individual and trust income taxes; HB 182 by Rep. Kathy Edmonston would level the field for vaccinations; HB 203 by Devillier would amend out of the Constitution the property tax exemption for food for home consumption, certain utilities for residential use, and prescription drugs (with HB 204 putting that into statute); HB 208 by Rep. Alan Seabaugh would make it more difficult for young adults to evade responsibility for committing crimes (similar bill: SB 159); HB 212 by Hollis would change recall standards from a proportion of the electorate to a proportion of the previous vote; HB 246 by DeVillier would phase out corporate income taxes; HB 263 by Rep. Ryan Bourriaque would level the playing field for alcohol manufacturers (similar bill: HS 524); HB 278 by Rep. Jack McFarland would amend the Constitution to increase mineral revenues to parishes and mandate much of that be spent on transportation; HB 291 by Rep. Chuck Owen would ensure visitation rights to institutionalized clients; HB 304 by Rep. Joe Orgeron would prevent candidates resigning office from then filling the vacancy (similar bill: HB 362); HB 307 by Rep. Zee Zeringue would prevent overpayment of officials’ lodging, meals, and incidental expenses; HB 311 by Rep. Blake Miguez would prevent outsourcing of elections to foreign or private concerns; HB 315 by Chuck Owen would create more opportunity for public schools to instruct in the basics; HB 321 by Vilio would increase transparency about criminal investigation and prosecution; HB 326 by Nelson would improve teacher education (similar bill: SB 163); HB 340 by Rep. Troy Romero would reform unemployment compensation to increase encouragement of employment; HB 417 by Rep. Brett Geymann would bring a better long-term outlook to budgeting (similar bills: HB 418, HB 451); HB 437 by Nelson would create a flat corporate income tax; HB 461 by Rep. Mary DuBuisson clarifies into statute legal pregnancy termination not abortion; HB 463 by Rep. Gabe Firment would prohibit sex reassignment surgery on minors; HB 466 by Horton would prohibit school employee discussion of sexual identity outside of state content standards except as part of counseling with parental consent; HB 507 by Rep. Rick Edmonds would reduce taxpayer costs for public notice printing; HB 529 by Edmonds would increase pharmacy options for some state and local employees; HB 558 by Rep. Beau Beaullieu would create a single entry system for merchants paying state and local sales taxes.