House Notes

Louisiana House of Representatives

2016 Regular Legislative Session
Communications Office
Week eleven, May 27, 2016

Upon adjournment of the 45th day of

the 2016 Regular Legislative Session, 1,327
House bills and 767 Senate bills had been
introduced.
The House has passed 827 House bills.
Three hundred sixty-five bills have
been sent to the governor, and he has signed
183.
A brief description of some of the bills
that have generated public interest this week
follows.
AGRICULTURE
*
House Bill 1099, pending Senate floor
action, provides oversight to the Department
of Agriculture and Forestry for the production
of marijuana for therapeutic use and requires
the department to collect all fees associated
with the license to fund expenses associated
with the regulation of therapeutic marijuana.
APPROPRIATIONS
*
House Bill 940, which passed the
House 83-0, requires that student
identification cards issued by post-secondary
education institutions contain the elements
required for voting purposes. The provisions
of HB940 become effective January 1, 2019.
*
Senate Bill 49, which passed 95-7,

requires approval of the Joint Legislative

Committee on the Budget before certain salary
increases in the executive branch in the last 90
days of an administration are effective.
*
Senate Bill 201, pending the
Legislature Bureau, is a proposed
constitutional amendment that allows the
reduction of constitutionally protected
expenditures and dedications to eliminate a
projected deficit in an ensuing fiscal year.
*
Senate Bill 253, pending House final
passage, provides that in any fiscal year
monies that are not appropriated for the
payment of certain legacy costs of any
privatized hospitals that were formerly part of
the LSU Health Sciences Center at
Shreveport, LSU Health Sciences Center at
New Orleans and the LSU Health Care
Services Division shall be the responsibility of
the Division of Administration.
SB253 specifies that the appropriations
for legacy costs and associated personnel shall
not be reduced in the event of a budget deficit
or fiscal emergency.
*
Senate Bill 443, pending House final
passage, provides for mandatory meetings and
duties of the Health and Social Services
Estimating Conference for purposes of
developing budget forecasts, reviews and

recommendations for the Medicaid program.

SB443 requires that the information
include the number of Medicaid enrollees, the
categories under which Medicaid eligibles
enroll, the utilization of healthcare services
within the Medicaid program and growth in
cost of services, provider reimbursement
methodologies and other factors considered
developing per-member-per-month premiums
paid to managed care companies.
CIVIL LAW
*
Senate Bill 80, pending House final
passage, is a proposed constitutional
amendment that provides that each
constitutionally created post-secondary
education management board shall have the
authority to establish the tuition and fee
amounts charged by institutions under its
supervision and management, without
legislative approval.
COMMERCE
*
Senate Bill 338, pending House final
passage, provides for the protection of
vulnerable adults from financial exploitation.
*
Senate Bill 251, pending House final
passage, prohibits certain Wi-Fi "hotspot"
blocking.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
*
House Concurrent Resolution 135,
pending House and Governmental, creates the
Louisiana Probation and Parole Officer
Compensation Study Commission.
*
House Bill 1146, which awaits the
governor's pen, authorizes limited disclosure
of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses,
online screen names, and other online
identities of persons required to register as a
sex offender, and provides procedures that
allows the information to be requested by the
public.

*
Senate Bill 141, pending House final
passage, provides for the crime of unlawful
use of an unmanned aircraft system and adds
the operation of an unmanned drones in the air
space over immovable property owned by
another with the intent to conduct surveillance
to criminal trespass.
*
Senate Bill 171, subject to call - House
final passage, creates the crime of infliction of
serious injury or death on a public road user
when his injury or death is directly caused by
an offender engaged in the operation of a
motor vehicle in a careless manner.
SB171 provides for fines, suspension
of driving privileges, imprisonment, a court
ordered motor vehicle accident prevention
program and community service.
EDUCATION
*
House Bill 887, which passed 91-2,
creates the Thrive Academy as an
independent, residential school in Baton
Rouge as a pilot school for certain at-risk
students in grades six through 12.
HB887 describes "at-risk student" as
a student who meets at least one of the
following:
(a) Is eligible for health benefits under
Medicaid.
(b) Is in the eighth grade or below and is
reading two or more grade levels below grade
level..
(c) Has a documented history of truancy.
(d) Is in foster care pursuant to placement
through the Department of Children and
Family Services.
(e) Meets the criteria for a homeless student as
defined in the federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act.
*
Senate Bill 260, which passed 78-12,
eliminates local charter authorizers from the
definition of "chartering authority" and
removes the authority of local charter

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authorizers to enter into charters, thus

providing that only local school boards and
BESE have this authority.
*
Senate Bill 262, which passed by a
vote of 86-0, removes provisions extending
suspension of accountability impacts for the
2017-18 and 2018-19 school years.
*
Senate Bill 275, which passed the
House 88-1, requires that cursive writing be
taught in all public and charter schools. The
bill was amended to delay the implementation
of SB275 until July 1, 2017.
*
Senate Bill 303, which passed the
House 96-0, provides for Office of Juvenile
Justice schools to be included in the state
school and district accountability program and
provides for specific criteria and timelines for
the purpose of providing education services to
youthful offenders.
*
Senate Bill 329, which has completed
the legislative process, raises the minimum
cumulative grade point average for the TOPS
Performance award to a GPA 3.25 and the
Honors award to a minimum GPA of 3.50.
*
Senate Bill 470, which passed 96-7,
provides that in the event the Legislature fails
to appropriate sufficient money to fund all
awards made to students who qualify for a
TOPS award, the administering agency shall
equitably reduce the amount of all program
awards, including the stipends for the
Performance and Honors awards, by an equal
percentage on a pro rata basis. SB470
additionally provides that if the number of
students eligible to receive a TOPS award is
reduced, post-secondary institutions may bill
a student for the full amount of tuition, unless
the student is granted a tuition waiver.
HEALTH
*
House Concurrent Resolution 108,
which has completed the legislative process,
requests the Department of Health and

Hospitals to create a Medicaid transformation

plan and to convene a task force to advise the
department in the development of the plan.
*
House Resolution 173, pending House
final passage, urges the Department of Health
and Hospitals not to establish freestanding
emergency departments as a type of licensed
facility in this state.
*
Senate Concurrent Resolution 87,
pending House final passage, requests the
Louisiana Board of Pharmacy to study and
make recommendations regarding the use of
the terms "speciality drug" and "special
pharmacy."
*
Senate Bill 131, pending House final
passage, provides that an individual's cost for
pharmacy services shall not be greater than the
amount that would be paid by all other
payment sources for such services.
*
Senate Bill 180, which awaits the
governor's pen, provides exemption from
prosecution for anyone lawfully in possession
of medical marijuana.
*
Senate Bill 291, which passed the
House 65-33, provides for patient access to
physical therapy without a prescription or
referral from a physician.
*
Senate Bill 360, which passed the
House 99-0,, makes technical changes to the
statutory requirements for the Louisiana
Physician Order for Scope of Treatment and
specifies that LaPOST complements an
Advance Directive and is not intended to
replace that document.
*
Senate Bill 376, which has completed
the Legislature, creates the Louisiana Family
Caregiver Act.
*
Senate Bill 473, which passed 84-0,
provides for the Louisiana Health Insurance
Premium Payment Program within the
Medicaid program to assist with employer
sponsored insurance coverage.

Page -3-

HOUSE AND GOVERNMENTAL

*
House Resolution 11, pending House
final passage, provides that the motion for
final passage, the motion to concur in Senate
amendments and the motion to adopt a
conference committee report on the Capital
Outlay Bill shall not be in order unless the
amount of new funding for the projects
contained within the bill is equal to or less
than the amount of financing available to fund
such projects.
*
House Concurrent Resolution 122,
pending House final passage, requests the
governor to take action to restore voting rights
to incarcerated individuals who are eligible to
vote.
*
Senate Bill 474, which passed the
House 101-0, names the Edgar G. "Sonny"
Mouton, Jr. Sports and Entertainment Plaza in
Lafayette.
*
House Bill 1102, which has completed
the legislative process, prohibits genetic
gestational carrier contracts and certain
gestational carrier contracts, provides for the
enforcement of gestational carrier contracts,
and provides for data collection of certain
information relative to gestational carrier
contracts.
*
Senate Concurrent Resolution 52,
concurred in by a vote of 62-36, calls for a
convention of the states to amend the United
States Constitution.
MUNICIPAL
*
Senate Bill 277, pending Senate
concurrence, requires Peace Officer Standards
and Training program certification of the
Department of Culture, Recreation and
Tourism security officers at state museums
and provides for a Poverty Point State Historic
Site Archaeologist.

TRANSPORTATION
*
House Concurrent Resolution 129,
pending House final passage, requests the
Louisiana State Law Institute to study the
issue of preferences in favor of Louisiana
contractors for contracts related to integrated
coastal protection projects contracts and to
report the findings to the Senate and
committees on transportation, highways and
public works and the member of the House of
Representatives representing District 52.
*
Senate Bill 91, which passed 70-29,
increases penalties for texting or using social
media while driving, to $500 for a first
violation and $1,000 for each subsequent
violation.
Minors face a fine of $250 for a first
violation and for each subsequent violation, a
fine of $500 and a 60-day drivers license
suspension.
For a text messaging and social
networking violation in a school zone, the
offender will be fined $500 and for each
subsequent violation, a fine of $1,000
including a 60-day drivers license suspension.
SB91 also provides for the dispositions
of fines, including $25 from all fines shall be
distributed to the indigent defender fund of the
judicial district in which the citation was
issued.
*
Senate Bill 227, which passed the
House 97-0, provides for the issuance of the
REAL ID compliant driver's license and
special identification cards.
If a person applying for a driver's
license or special identification card pursuant
to present law does not elect to apply for a
license or special identification card that
complies with REAL ID standards, that person
is otherwise eligible to be issued a license or
special identification card.
SB227 was amended to include that
the Department of Motor Vehicles shall not

Page -4-

participate in any programs that exchange or

allow the access of facial biometric data of
Louisiana citizens obtained in the issuance or
renewal of a Louisiana driver's license to
agencies, governments, or contractors of other
states or nations without a court order.
*
Senate Bill 357, which has completed
the legislative process, requires notification or
signs posted indicating that a red light camera
is present.

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