Legislative briefs for June 11, 2008

• Advocate staff and wire reports
• Published: Jun 11, 2008 - Page: 6A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Senate panel backs Iberville race track
A House-passed bill that could lead to a thoroughbred horseracing track in Iberville Parish cleared another Senate hurdle Tuesday night.

The state Senate Finance Committee signed off on House Bill 937 sponsored by Rep. Karen St. Germain, D-Pierre Part, on a 6-2 vote. It goes to the full Senate for debate.

The legislation would allow Iberville voters to decide whether they want a racetrack, with slot machines and an off-track betting parlor in St. Gabriel on Nicholson Avenue Extended near the intersection with La. 3115. Opponents have said it would result in an expansion of gambling.

“This bill is not about the expansion of anything,” said St. Germain. “It’s about a referendum vote of people who should have the decision-making power to decide whether they want it or not.”

Submitting cards in opposition to HB937 were lobbyists for Evangeline Downs in Ope-lousas, the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and the Louisiana Casino Association.

St. Germain said she is trying to meet with Gov. Bobby Jindal who through a spokesman has said he opposes the measure. If he vetoes the bill, “he sends the message to them (voters) not me, not us as legislators,” she said.

Senate set to decide on noose legislation
Legislation that would ban publicly displaying nooses for intimidation is heading to the state Senate floor for a final vote.

The bill by state Rep. Rickey Hardy was approved without discussion or objection Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary C Committee.

House Bill 726 was written in reaction to the controversial Jena 6 case. A noose hung by white students at Jena High School was considered by some to be a catalyst in the beating of a white student and the subsequent arrests of six black students.

The bill would imprison people for up to a year for hanging a noose on public property or someone else’s property “with the intent to intimidate.”

If the bill is not amended, the Senate floor would be the bill’s last step before heading to the governor for his signature.

Kennedy pushes for project detail bill
State Treasurer John Kennedy was on the airwaves and in the mail touting a bill that would codify in law a requirement that legislative pet projects added to the budget each year include details about the organizations getting the cash.

Kennedy, who is running for the U.S. Senate this fall, was nowhere in the Capitol on Tuesday when a House committee stalled the bill.