2theadvocate.com | News | WHAT PASSED, WHAT FAILED

What the Legislature did — and didn’t do

Published: Jun 24, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Louisiana lawmakers passed hundreds of bills before adjourning Monday. Here are summaries of some of them.

Some bills have not been signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal. New laws take effect Aug. 15 unless the bill says otherwise.

HB=House bill SB=Senate bill

To read the bills and their summaries, go to http://www.legis.state.la.us

For Advocate archives of legislative coverage, go to http://www.2theadvocate.com and search for Legislature.

Animals
PASSED

Increases the license fees for dogs and cats; requires individuals or businesses with more than five dogs for breeding and selling to procure kennel licenses; prohibits breeders from maintaining more than 75 dogs over the age of one year at any time for breeding purposes. HB1193.

Baton Rouge
PASSED

Establishes the Mayor’s Court of the City of Central. HB10.
Creates the Melrose Place Crime Prevention District in East Baton Rouge Parish. HB772.
Requires that certain members of community development district boards to be appointed rather than elected. HB905.

Business
PASSED

Creates the Financial Literacy and Education Commission in the state Treasury’s Office. The commission will develop, foster and coordinate actions necessary on a statewide basis to implement or improve financial literacy and education programs for basic personal income and household money management and planning skills in personal finance. SB405.
Changes the way the state handles workforce training. The legislation increases the Labor Department’s duties to include overseeing job training programs scattered across state agencies. The department also would get a new name, becoming the Louisiana Workforce Commission. HB1104.
Directs the commissioner of conservation to move expeditously to promulgate additional drilling safety regulations for wells drilled near Louisiana’s interstate highways. SCR82

Cell phone use while driving
PASSED

Ban text messaging while driving. The bill also bans handheld cell phone calls while driving for novice drivers with learner’s permits or intermediate licenses. SB137.
Forbid first-year, licensed drivers from using cell phones, with no exceptions for hands-free or Bluetooth devices. SB342.

FAILED

Prohibits the use, text messaging and e-mailing of wireless telephone and electronic communication devices while driving, with hands-free phone call exceptions. HB852.

Courts
PASSED

Sets out when a judge must recuse self from hearing civil matters. HB1386.
Set time limits and procedures for judges to hold pre-trial hearings regarding the qualifications and admissibility of testimony of expert witnesses in civil lawsuits. SB308.
Takes away much of the ability to sue for injuries caused by medical personnel during a declared state of emergency. SB330.
Bars most lawsuits seeking recompense for death or injuries at an “agritourism” — farm open to tourists — operation. HB633.

Constitutional amendments

Requires the Legislature to provide for temporary successors for legislators ordered to active duty. HB183.
Remove certain restrictions on the disposition of blighted property expropriated in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. SB295.

Criminal law and corrections
PASSED

Creates the crime of public display of a noose with the intent to intimidate. HB726.
Prohibits a “sex offender” from wearing a mask, hood or disguise during holiday events and from distributing candy or other gifts on Halloween to persons under 18 years of age. SB143.
Authorizes castration of persons convicted of a crime which classifies the convicted person as a “sex offender.” SB144.
Authorizes the Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission to make recommendations about closing the Jetson Youth Center-East Baton Rouge Parish Unit. SB749.

Education: colleges and universities
PASSED

Authorizes the public postsecondary education management boards to increase tuition and mandatory fee amounts for resident students. HB734.
Increases in tuition and nonresident attendance fee amounts for students at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. HB1145.
Increases in tuition and nonresident attendance fee amounts for students at the Southern University Law Center. HB1314.

FAILED

Turning control of tuition and fees from the Legislature to the higher education governing boards. HB677.
Allow students over the age 21 to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. HB199

Education: elementary and secondary schools
PASSED

Creates the Louisiana Science Education Act that revamps the way evolution is taught in public schools by allowing science teachers in public schools to use supplemental materials that challenge Darwin’s theory of evolution. SB733.
Phases in universal access to schooling 4-year-olds in the LA 4 Early Childhood Program and for participation by non-school system providers of early childhood education. SB286.
Prohibits wearing or possessing body armor on school property. HB1153.
Requests BESE to adopt a policy requiring local school boards to require students committing certain offenses to wear a hot pink jump suit. SR117.
MFP formula for Fiscal Year 2008-2009, increases basic state aid to public schools by 3 percent, or $90 million. It also helps finance pay raises of $1,019 for public school teachers. HCR 207.

FAILED

A bill to water down a state test that fourth and eighth-graders have to pass. Students have to pass the test, called LEAP, and meet other requirements to move to the fifth and ninth grades. HB1306.
A bill to require high school athletes and others to carry a grade-point average of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale died. HB128.

Ethics
PASSED

Allows a person who is an executive branch lobbyist and a legislative lobbyist to file one registration form and disclosure report. HB844.
Requires the Board of Ethics to identify person filing a complaint. HB906.
Reduce the amount of personal finances members of government boards and commissions must reveal. SB718.
Defines lobbyists to help determine who is required to register and report expenditures under new disclosure laws. SB449.
Legislation fixing problems in laws approved during the ethics special session won passage but with a new provision to help a legislator avoid a conflict of interest and nepotism situation. SB769.

Environment and pollution
PASSED

Changes how to determine failing to attain the national primary ambient air quality standard for ozone and requires the fee is not more than $5,000 or an amount set by state Department of Environmental Quality. HB539.
Prohibits any waste facility from operating within 10,000 feet of an airport. SB196.

Families and children
PASSED

Urges the family court of East Baton Rouge Parish to institute a pilot program for the calculation of child support obligations in multiple support cases. HR156.
Adds CASA volunteers to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse. SB77.
Creates the Child Poverty Prevention Council of Louisiana to pursue programs to reduce child poverty in the state by 50 percent over the next 10 years. SB660.

FAILED

Language added to a child support measure that would allow for people winning more than $1,200 from slot machine and cash gaming winnings to be checked against a state database to ensure they don’t owe child support. HB341

Firearms
PASSED

Provides that the powers granted the governor and local governmental officials during disasters or emergencies do not authorize the seizure or confiscation of a firearm except when a peace officer may disarm an individual if the officer reasonably feels endangered. SB410.

Gambling and horse racing
PASSED

Video bingo machines would not be able to contain entertainment displays simulating slot reels or card games. The legislation also would allow video bingo operations to be renewed twice following passage of an ordinance or resolution or election outlawing them in a parish or municipality. HB280.
Iberville Parish voters would be able to decide whether they want a horse-racing track with pari-mutuel betting, slot machines and off-track betting. HB937.
Allows the issuance of alcohol permits to certain facilities which are leased for the purpose of conducting charitable games of chance. SB773.

Health care
PASSED

Prohibits use of public funds for human cloning. HB370.
Establishes a program to fund forgiveness of student loans for physicians in rural areas. HB1071.
Louisiana residents will get more information about the cost, quality and performance of health-care providers. The Louisiana Consumers’ Right to Know Act will provide an online independent data base with relevant information. SB287.

Insurance
PASSED

Requires health insurance coverage of prosthetic devices and prosthetic services. HB318.
Requires health insurance coverage of the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders in individuals under 21 years of age. HB958.
Provides that the 10 percent surcharge on rates charged by the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. shall not apply in St. Mary Parish. HB302.
Increases the minimum limits for compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance. HB1312.
Requires insurance companies to issue proof of coverage that accurately reflects the insured’s effective dates of coverage and the actual dates for which a premium has been received from the insured. SB16.

Land, housing and real estate
PASSED

Authorizes parish and municipal ordinances to secure or condemn and demolish and remove structures that endanger the public health and welfare, including payment of costs, and provides for National Guard assistance. HB1297.
Allows the state fire marshal to take over inspection duties for commercial buildings in parishes north of Interstate 10 with less than 40,000 people. About 20 parishes are in that category. HB1308.

Motor vehicles
PASSED

Directs the Department of Public Safety and Corrections not to implement the federal REAL ID Act of 2005. Created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, REAL ID is a law that establishes minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and personal identification cards, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Web site. The ID cards would allow citizens to board a federally regulated airplane or access a federal facility or a nuclear power plant, the site states. HB715.
Provides relative to the transportation and storage of a firearm in a privately-owned motor vehicle. SB51.

FAILED

A bill to ban mandatory motorcycle safety helmets. It would have made helmets optional for motorcycle users 18 and older. HB1295.
A measure that was intended to suspend gas and special fuels taxes over the July 4 weekend was held up in a House committee when legislators realized it would not work as anticipated. HCR75.

Pay raises
PASSED

Provides for a pay raise for legislators. Legislators’ base pay would jump from $16,800 to $37,500 — giving them a nearly $60,000 pay package. The base pay would go up annually automatically with the Consumer Price Index with no vote required on legislative pay. SB672.
Increases salary for the members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. The five commissioner’s pay would increase from $45,000 to $75,000. HB939.

Retirement
PASSED

Payment of interest on DROP account balances for DROP participants in the Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana. HB89.

FAILED

Public school teachers and employees would forfeit their pensions if found guilty of a sex crime against a student, was still on the House calendar Monday when the session ended. HB1013.
Forbids Firefighters’ Retirement System from investing in companies that have facilities or employees in Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria. HB231.

Money bills
PASSED

Approved $30.1 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. HB1.
Approved a $4.9 billion construction budget for the state fiscal year that starts July 1. HB2.
Provides for revenue sharing distribution of $90 million for parish and local government for Fiscal Year 2008-2009. HB1288.
Reduce individual income tax rates and brackets, and restores the full deduction for excess federal itemized personal deductions, to the same amounts as provided for prior to the enactment of the Stelly Plan (Act 51 of 2002). Allows taxpayers to start seeing savings in 2009. Single tax filers would have to make $95,000 a year to get the maximum savings of $500. Married tax filers with a $150,000 combined income would save $1,000. SB87.

State government
PASSED

Require ICF Emergency Management Services to disclose all of its subcontractors to the Legislative Audit Advisory Council. HB910.
Appropriates funds for expenses of the Legislature for Fiscal Year 2008-2009. HB1294.
Urges the Louisiana State Law Institute to study the replacement of all politically incorrect terms in law. HCR205.

FAILED

Doubled the monthly vouchered expense allowance for Louisiana senators and gives them a second legislative office employee. SB653.

Telecommunications
PASSED

Prohibits telephone call or automated call to advocate support or opposition of a candidates or elected official unless the source of the call is identified. HB1044.
Provides for the Consumer Choice Television Act, which was billed as competition for cable television. Allows telecommunications companies to file for a statewide cable and Internet franchise rather than with local governments. SB807.

Tourism, food, state symbols
PASSED

Declares Aug. 29 of each year a state holiday in observance of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. HB5
Makes the fleur-de-lis the official state symbol. HB455
Transfers appointing authority from governor to lieutenant governor to name appointments of boards and commissions. HB503.
Transfers the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana to the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. SB180

Transportation, public works
PASSED

Directs the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of State Police, to study the nature of accidents involving log trucks and causes of these accidents. SB657
Authorizes certain port commissions to enter into contracts, leases, and other agreements for 99 years. SB713.
State Department of Economic Development to decide whether construction of a $4.4 billion airport near Donaldsonville is feasible. If economic development officials conclude that the airport is not feasible the Louisiana Airport Authority, which has been pushing the issue since 1992, will be abolished. SB212.

FAILED

A bill that backers said would end small-town speed traps. HB105.
Ban oil and gas exploration or drilling within 1,000 feet of an interstate highway died. SB442.


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