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BATON ROUGE – The House gave final legislative approval to a bundle of budget bills on Thursday that include funds for $1,500 pay raises for K-12 teachers and $300 million for a new Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge.
The basic package had already cleared the House, but amendments made by the Senate had to be concurred on.
In one of the nine bills, the House advanced the $39 billion state operating budget on a bipartisan 88-7 vote, with one Democrat, Rep. Wilford Carter of Lake Charles, and six Republicans voting against the bill.
The Republicans were Reps. Raymond Garofalo of Chalmette, Kathy Edmonston of Gonzales, Barry Ivey of Central, Julie Emerson of Carenco, Danny McCormick of Oil City and Blake Miguez of Erath.
The six Republicans, representing the conservative faction of the legislature, raised concerns about one-time funds being used for recurring expenditures.
The Legislature found itself in a unique position this year. For years, the state faced budget problems, at times teetering on the edge of a fiscal cliff. Due to hundreds of millions of dollars in increased state revenues and billions in federal pandemic aid, Louisiana is flush with cash, giving lawmakers a once-in-a-political lifetime chance to fund their priorities.
Rep. Jerome Zeringue, R-Houma, shepherded the bills as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee with an eye toward limiting the use of some of the windfall to one-time outlays.
The passage of the bills two weeks before the end of the legislative session marks the first time in recent memory that the Legislature did not pass a budget in the final moments of session. It is widely speculated that the body is hoping to avoid coming back in for a veto session to override any line-item vetoes by Edwards.
Included in the overall allocations is $300 million for a new Mississippi River bridge. Edwards originally requested $500 million for the project, but legislators balked at throwing half a billion dollars at the project when a location for a bridge has not yet been selected.
The budget also includes funds for pay raises for state employees. Public school teachers are each in line for a $1,500 raise, alongside a $750 raise for support staff. After the Revenue Estimating Conference forecasted higher revenues for the upcoming fiscal year, Edwards asked for $2,000 raises for public school teachers. The Senate declined to go that high.
Higher education faculty will be receiving $21 million for raises, about 40% less than the Board of Regents requested. That would be enough for most faculty members to receive 3% raises, though each institution will decide how to divide up its share of money.
Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, pointed out that the budget includes funds to recruit faculty for priority programs, like cancer research.
Also getting raises are judges, healthcare workers and correctional workers.
The Legislature also set aside $100 million was for pet projects of lawmakers.
The bills put money back into the depleted unemployment benefits trust fund and the state’s rainy day fund.
While most of the debate centered on House Bill 1, which provides for the state operating budget, the House also concurred on several other budget bills, including House Bill 406, which provides for supplemental appropriations and House Bill 2, which provides for capital outlays.

Happy birthday Sharon Ackman and happy birthday Thursday to Joseph Ross from family, friends and Ira.

BATON ROUGE – After a lengthy debate, the Senate Judiciary A Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would allow adopted persons to obtain their original birth certificate.

House Bill 450, sponsored by Rep. Charles Owen, R-Fort Polk, would allow an adopted person 24 years or older to request an uncertified copy of his or her original birth certificate from the state registrar.

Under present law, an adopted person’s original birth certificate is sealed after a final decree of adoption and can only be opened by a motion of disclosure or a limited medical exception.

The bill provides an avenue for adopted people to receive a copy of their birth certificate without going through lengthy bureaucratic hurdles.

“What I want to do today is to give the people who are grown, and I’m talking about grown people 24 years of age or older, the right to simply ask the state to tell them what they know about them,” Owen said.

After intense deliberations and a great deal of public testimony, the Senate committee advanced the bill by a vote of 4-2.

Elise Lewis, who was adopted and serves in the Louisiana Coalition for Adoption Rights, spoke in support of the bill.

“The right of access should be restored so that adopted people are treated as equal to other citizens,” Lewis said. “This lack of equality robs us of our identity and then continues to treat us as perpetual children without dignity and respect.”

Paula Davis, a professor at the LSU School of Social Work, addressed birth parents concerned about unwanted contact from the adopted person.

“If a woman is concerned about an original birth certificate being released, there is a mechanism in place in which she can make her wishes known by completing a contact preference form,” Davis said.

An amendment added to the bill would allow birth parents to file a contact preference form that specifies whether and how they want to be contacted. This form would be included in an adopted person’s request for an original birth certificate.

Many of those who supported the bill pointed out that anonymity does not exist with new DNA technologies and social media.

Opposition centered on how the bill disregards the wishes of birth parents to remain anonymous and opens the possibility for unwanted reunions.

Rev. Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum, spoke in opposition to the bill, highlighting how the Louisiana Children’s Code codifies the right to privacy and how the bill does not consider the birth parents’ consent.

“I agree that what separates us from this bill, the opponents and the proponents, is a simple question of mutual consent,” Mills said. “The author of this bill said no thank you to that option.”

Article 1270 of the Louisiana Children’s Code specifies that the Legislature “fully recognizes the right to privacy and confidentiality” of biological parents whose children were adopted.

Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette raised concerns about the legality of prohibiting someone from obtaining their birth certificate.

“I don’t think that as a person reaching age majority that anybody can stop me from going down and getting my own birth certificate,” Cortez said, “I just don’t think they can do that. But again, these are legal questions that I’m going through.”

Owen closed the debate by adding that although the Louisiana Children’s Code recognizes privacy for birth parents, it also recognizes that some adults adopted as children have a strong interest in identifying information about their biological parents.

After advancing through the House and now the Senate committee, the bill will move next to the Senate floor.

BATON ROUGE – The House Committee on Education advanced a bill Tuesday that would adjust the boundaries of the school district in Central, a suburb of Baton Rouge, and exclude potential Black students.

Senate Bill 189, sponsored by Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, adjusts boundaries of the Central Community School System to exclude a planned subdivision, Belle Arbor.

The bill would affect 400 students, many of them from black families. Those students would instead be assigned to the East Baton Rouge school district, which is lower rated than Central schools.

The bill cleared the committee on a 5-4 vote, with committee chairman Rep. Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, casting the deciding vote. The vote was entirely along party lines.

An earlier version of the bill included two other neighborhoods, but those were amended out of the bill.

Belinda Davis, a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and a professor of political science at LSU, previously spoke against the bill.

Davis said that the areas that White is attempting to exclude were added to the school system because without them, the district would have been 90% white, making it susceptible to civil rights lawsuits.

Albert Samuels, a Central resident, called the bill an example of systemic racism.

"It seems that the only reason this bill is being pushed is because Sen. White think that this subdivision is going to be majority Black," Samuels said.

White disputed having any racial intent.

“This is not about race," White said. "It is about overcrowding our school system too fast."

The subdivision is slated to include about 180 homes on 52 acres.

White said that his intent is to prevent a surge of residents in the school system, which has about 4,800 students.

Several residents came to oppose the bill.

Keith Carmen told the committee that the area is seeking to be annexed by the City of Central. If that happened, the neighborhood could be in a position where it is in the city limits but not part of the school district, leaving the students stranded.

Carmen argued that the matter was a local issue that should be handled by local authorities.

Edgar Cage, an advocate for Together Louisiana, pointed out that no Central residents showed up to advocate for the bill, arguing that their absence should alarm the committee.

Rep. Ken Brass, D-Vacherie, asked White to consider pulling the bill and bringing it back in a year or two after discussing it with community members, as the subdivision is not slated to be built for two to three more years.

White declined, as he is term limited.

The bill already cleared the Senate 32-1 on April 13, with just Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, opposing it.

The bill now goes to the House floor, setting up a possible showdown in the waning days of the session.