Legislators are pre-filing bills in preparation for the upcoming session.
Every year, legislators pre-file bills they want considered during the upcoming legislative session. Most of them never make it out of committee, and some are filed for purely political reasons.
To review the bills that are being pre-filed, you can go here and select a search option. If you search by committee, you can see all the bills that are filed for a particular topic, like crime or education or finance or health. That also gives you a list of both house and senate bills. Once you find a bill you’re interested in, you can click on the bill, then click on “text” to read it.
Here are some of general or Acadiana interest we found:
HB 6 by Rep. Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport, creates the crime of aggressive driving. If convicted of the crime, the person’s driver’s license would be suspended for six months and they would face up to six months in jail. A driver would be guilty of aggressive driving if they committed three of the following violations on the same trip: Speeding, running a red light or stop sign, passing vehicles by driving on the shoulder, making unsafe lane changes, following too closely, failuing to yield, failing to drive in their lane, failing to yield at an intersection, failing to signal, failing to yield at yield signs, and overtaking and passing a school bus when its caution or stop lights are blinking. To read the whole bill, click here.
HB59 by Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, would reduce the penalties for possession of marijuana. On a first offense, possession of 14 grams or less currently carries a fine and up to 15 days in jail. This bill would remove the jail time and set the maximum fine at $300. The bill would also make adjustments to possession charges with larger amounts. To read the whole bill, click here.
SB168 by Sen. Eric Lafleur, D-Ville Platte, would remove the right of the people of Basile to elect their police chief, and instead would give the power to appoint someone to that position to the Mayor. We reached out to Chief Allen Ivory Jr., who has been the elected chief for the past 28 years. He said he is aware that the bill might be filed, and said the town council discussed it, but never voted to ask for it. We reached out to the Louisiana Municipal Association to ask if an elected position could be abolished without a vote of the people, and a spokeswoman said a law can be passed to change an elected position to an appointed one. If a law isn’t passed, the voters do have to approve the change. To read the bill, click here.
SB134, by Sen. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, would re-name Interstate 10 “Who Dat Nation Highway” from the Mississippi to Texas state line. DOTD is direct to erect “appropriate” signage provided “local or private” money is available to pay for the signs. To read the bill, click here.
HB531, by Rep. Dustin Miller, D-Opelousas, would authorize the Opelousas Police Chief to carry out all discipline of anyone in his department, including termination, subject to the budget set by the Mayor and Alderman of the city. To read the bill, click here.
HB574 by Rep. Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, would authorize the Iberia Parish Tourist Commission to levy another 5.5 percent hotel occupancy tax on top of the existing four percent currently authorized. To read the bill, click here.
SB177 by Sen. Mack Bodi White Jr., R-Baton Rouge, would outlaw non-compete clauses for any doctor, nurse, advanced practice RN, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who has been practicing for at least five years in the city in question. To read the whole bill, click here.
HB349 by Rep. Thomas Carmody Jr., R-Shreveport, would set up ways for alcohol to be delivered in Louisiana. It’s a long and complicated bill, which covers food delivery services and grocery delivery services, and lays out conditions that would allow alcohol to be delivered by these services. To read the whole bill, click here.
HB207 by Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Houma, would require anyone giving immunizations to children to inform the child and/or parent prior to the shot of a list of things, including: the disease the vaccination is intended to prevent, its effectiveness, contraindications, possible side effects, the ingredients, and instructions for reporting to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. To read the whole bill, click here.
HB335 by Rep. Jerry Gisclair, D-Larose, would require any restaurant serving imported seafood to inform patrons that the meat is “of foreign origin.” Restaurants who use menus would be required to say what country they got their shrimp or crawfish from, in letters at least a half-inch high, on the menu. If the restaurant doesn’t use menus, it must post a sign at the entrance and in the dining room that’s at least 18 inches by 18 inches, and states with letters at least two inches high, stating where the seafood comes from. A violation of the law would be a violation of the state sanitary code. To read the whole bill, click here.
SB120, by Sen. John Milkovich, D-Shreveport, would require any report of bullying received by a school administrator to be reported to law enforcement if the behavior reported constitutes a risk to another person. The bill also would require the report be provided to the parent of the victim. School employees would be required to stop any bullying behavior they witness, and couldn’t be disciplined for removing a student who was bullying another. The bill also would allow school systems to transfer either the victim or the bully to another school. The bill also would protect school employees from being sued for trying to stop bullying – but it specifically allows them to be personally sued if they don’t try to stop it. To read the whole bill, click here.
HB470, by Rep. Cedric Glover, D-Shreveport, would merge Louisiana Tech University with LSU at Shreveport. To read the whole bill, click here.
SB129, by Sen. Yvonne Colomb, D-Baton Rouge, would forbid local governments from passing ordinances that prevented people from standing on street corners to collect donations. In order to be protected, the people doing the begging would have to be firefighters or police officers or members of a civic group that met certain criteria. The person begging can’t be younger than 18, and they have to wear reflective safety gear. Also, the organization they’re begging for must carry at least $500,000 in liability insurance, under the bill. To read the whole bill, click here.
