Legislative Session Update from the Governor’s Office 6/20/22

Legislative Session 2022 Governor Updates:

June 20, 2022- Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that he has vetoed the following bills from the 2022 Regular Legislative Session.

HB 35 would require the Secretary of State to conduct a supplemental annual canvas of voters, which is simply unnecessary and would make it easier to remove eligible voters from the rolls. 

HB 99 would establish the crime of resisting a police officer with force or violence as a new crime of violence and is antithetical to the 2017 Justice Reinvestment effort, which passed through the Legislature with strong bipartisan support. 

HB 421 would require any appointed levee commissioner or levee and drainage commissioner to have a high school diploma or equivalent and that any appointee must be “proficient in reading and writing in English.” The Senate confirmation process already provides for adequate checks and balances when considering the qualifications of nominated individuals. 

SB 141 would limit the applicability of Affordable Care Act protections to vaccination status only, which could serve to further complicate the already labyrinthine health insurance market and contributes to the false narrative that vaccines are anything other than safe and effective. 

SB 203 purports to create and “education savings account” for students not reading at grade level, but the bill does not establish any accounts for parents to save money for education and would potentially divert Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funds for students to attend non-public schools.

SB 224 violates Article 3, Section 2(A) of the Louisiana Constitution without a constitutional amendment. The companion amendment, SB 225, did not pass the legislature thus this bill cannot become law. 

SB 241 provided an important change in Louisiana law by allowing a taxpayer to challenge the correctness of a tax assessment before the Louisiana Tax Commission without the requirement for paying the taxes under the protest. However, the bill was amended to add language meant to benefit one taxpayer. 

SB 304 significantly decrease the rate of diminution of sentence that can be earned by any person convicted in the death of a peace officer or first responder killed in the line of duty. This bill would unfairly treat a person convicted of a crime of negligence the same as a person convicted of an intentional crime. 

SB 350 improperly denies discretion to the Parish Boards of Supervisors in determining whether a ballot is valid and is simply too prescriptive. 

SB 441 contains a provision that would only apply to certain public employees regarding for local offices, causing inexplicable and inequitable treatment of state workers. 

HB 54 is unnecessary and perpetuates the false narrative that the residents of Louisiana face vaccine mandates to access government services or attend schools and also seeks to undermine public confidence in safe and effective vaccines. 

HB 103 would have required any person over the age of seventeen who has been convicted of the offense of production or manufacturing of methamphetamine to register with local law enforcement. Substance abuse is a serious problem and we should be focusing on treatment resources rather than placing a scarlet letter on a person convicted of this sole drug offense.

HB 194 purports to create and “education savings account” for students not reading at grade level, but the bill does not establish any accounts for parents to save money for education and would potentially divert Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funds for students to attend non-public schools. 

HB 717 would potentially affect the preprint sent to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for the hospital payment reform planned by the Louisiana Department of Health. 

HB 953 purports to provide further protection for the free exercise of religion but could create a circumstance that puts churches and congregation in harm’s way in times of an emergency.

HB 969 violates Article 3, Section 18 (C) of the Louisiana Constitution, which makes it very clear that vetoed bills may only be considered in a veto session.HB 1059 would deprive the court of its discretion to revoke post-conviction bail and would also deprive the defendant of due process by mandating revocation based solely on arrest, for which the defendant would be presumed innocent until proven guilty.