Final day legislative roundup: Rep tearfully withdraws domestic abuse bill
Democratic Rep. Malinda White of Bogalusa tearfully withdrew her domestic violence bill Thursday, a day after a verbal altercation with Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, on the House floor.
House Bill 159 would have expanded the definition of domestic abuse to include coercion and control by the abuser.
“I come today with a lot of heartache,” White said. “I’m disappointed we have to let down victims of domestic violence.”
White promised victims of abuse that she would bring the bill back up next year in an improved version.
Seabaugh raised questions about what the bill meant and did during the debate that led to the confrontation.
In an interview with The Advocate, Seabaugh said that as White was pulled away from him, “she said either I’m going to get my gun and finish this or let me get my gun and we’ll finish this.”
White later apologized to the House, saying she made comments to him in the heat of the moment that she should not have.
She said she had suffered abuse herself in the past and was triggered by his insistence that he did not understand the terms she was using in the bill.
Jobless pay
In the final hour of the session Thursday, the Legislature passed a bill that could slightly raise the state’s unemployment benefits, but only if the governor ends participation in the federal COVID-19 aid program that pays more.
House Bill 183 by Rep. Chad Brown, D-Plaquemine, would raise the state’s unemployment wage by $28 a week, starting next year. But Gov. John Bel Edwards must choose to end the extra federal unemployment benefits, which equates to $300, on July 31.
It is not clear if Edwards, a fellow Democrat, will sign the bill into law.
Louisiana has a maximum weekly unemployment benefit of $247. That ranks as the third-lowest state in the nation. The $28 raise will tie the state with Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida for the third-lowest benefit.
Brown received pushback from Democrats as he presented the bill in the House but was backed by conservative lobbyists who believe the added federal unemployment wage was stopping workers from returning to their jobs.
Ryan Nelsen
LSU Manship School News Service
Wrongfully
convicted
A bill to increase the amount paid to people who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes in Louisiana cleared the Legislature Thursday.
House Bill 92 by Rep. Joseph Marino, I-Gretna, increases compensation for people wrongfully convicted of crimes from $25,000 annually with a cap of $250,000 to $40,000 annually and a cap of $400,000.
The bill also would extend the deadline to file for the compensation.
At first, Marino asked for $50,000 per year, but the chambers agreed to $40,000 with the $400,000 cap.
The increased compensation would go into effect on July 1, 2022. Filers on or after the new effect date have the option to receive a lump sum payment of $250,000 instead of receiving $40,000 per year.
Many states — including Texas, Alabama and Florida — offer money to the wrongfully convicted.
In other action, a House resolution to create an Equal Justice Task Force to study the effects of the non-unanimous jury verdict law in Louisiana received final passage Thursday. The resolution, HR 197, was authored by Randal Gaines, D-Laplace.
It came after a House committee had bottled up a proposal to give new court hearings to 1,500 people who had been convicted of serious crimes by non-unanimous juries before Louisiana changed the law to require unanimous jury verdicts.
A resolution by Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, to study non-capital felony sentencing also passed the Legislature, as did a resolution by another lawmaker to study the use of facial recognition data by law enforcement officers.
Adrian Dubose
LSU Manship School News Service
Road money
A bill that would gradually move $300 million annually to roads and bridges moved to the governor’s desk Thursday as the legislative session came to an end.
House Bill 514 by Rep.Tanner Magee, R-Houma, passed the House 87-13.
The bill was originally authored as a sales tax bill for marjiuana but turned into the infrastructure bill.
The bill dedicates the existing tax on the sale and lease of motor vehicles to a state construction fund.
The bill will shift $300 million from the state’s general fund to transportation projects.
The Senate passed the bill 37-0. The bill now moves to the governor’s desk.
Jan Moller, the head of the Louisiana Budget Project, a public-interest research group, said his organization did not support the bill.
Money in the general fund supports health care and higher education, and the concern is that these programs could see their funding affected over time by the change.
Adrian Dubose
LSU Manship School News Service