Jeremy Alford and David Jacobs: Next special session will focus on crime

The end of one special session brings the countdown to the next.
Between now and the regular session that begins in March, Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to recall lawmakers to Baton Rouge to focus on crime. Organizers were originally targeting Feb. 19 through March 6 for the policymaking gathering.
Promising to crack down on crime was a focus of Landry’s campaign and his inauguration speech. The administration has not yet announced any specific proposals, though some lawmakers have begun lobbying for their concerns.
The governor, to be sure, has in the past criticized the bipartisan criminal justice overhaul the Legislature enacted in 2017. But it’s doubtful the call will be confined to just those policy topics.
Most lawmakers are waiting to find out what will be included. Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, who chairs the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee, said he is not privy to the administration’s plans.
“This session has two things it can do: You can use a hammer, and you can use a velvet hammer. You have to use both,” he said. “You can’t just focus on putting people in jail.”
Muscarello, R-Hammond, plans to propose a pilot program, modeled after an Arizona initiative, that would require people with identified mental issues who are convicted of a crime to enter treatment as a condition of their probation or parole.
A group of women legislators has been pushing for greater attention for crime survivors.
“I’m trying to give some weight to sexual assaults committed,” said Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, “recognizing the way we handle victims and also the way the crimes are handled or not at all.”
As for the special session on election issues that was recently adjourned, Landry got some, but not all, of what he wanted.
His favored congressional map, which carves up Congressman Garret Graves’ district while largely protecting the other GOP incumbents, was approved.
But his call to reapportion the Louisiana Supreme Court’s districts didn’t make it through the process. And the closed party primary election proposal was scaled back and delayed until 2026.
Here’s what passed, and has since been signed into law by Landry:
— SB 8 by Sen. Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, to redraw congressional districts to create an additional Black-majority district
— HB 16 by Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, to appropriate $1.4 million for mailings related to congressional redistricting (Funding for party primaries was stripped out, since that money won’t be needed for two years)
— HB 17 by Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, to establish party primaries for Congress, Louisiana Supreme Court justices, the Public Service Commission and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (Unaffiliated voters can participate in the major party primary of their choice, but only in one per primary, and it provides for a second party primary if no one gets a majority in the first round)
The big question now is whether the congressional map will be challenged again. Freshman Rep. Mike Bayham, R-Chalmette, for one, sees a clear-cut racial gerrymander.
The new 6th District, which slashes across the state from Caddo Parish to the Capital Region, looks suspiciously like a district the Legislature created for the 1994 congressional election that the courts struck down, Bayham said, adding that the new plan splits his St. Bernard Parish in Chalmette.
“Litigation to challenge this map is being prepared and if anyone is interested in serving as a plaintiff in a statewide court challenge at no cost nor expense please contact me,” Bayham posted recently on his Facebook page.
For more Louisiana political news, visit www. LaPolitics.com or follow Alford on Twitter @ LaPoliticsNow.