Lafayette closes up a big era in Baton Rouge
When the legislative session ends next week, it’ll sunset a period of big influence for Lafayette in Baton Rouge.
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Louisiana Legislature 2023
Powerful legislative leaders from Lafayette steer sizable state dollars to home parish
Lafayette Parish has an advantage over nearly every other community. It has a larger number of representatives and senators in the legislative leadership positions.
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Mills, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, started receiving immediate backlash on social media after casting the deciding vote on proposed ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors, killing the bill for the year.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Louisiana House leaders steer millions of dollars in pet projects to their home parishes
Lafayette Parish is set to take home the second largest share of earmark dollars claimed for local projects.
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Senate Bill 7, by Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, would require libraries to create a card system so parents could prevent their children from checking out books deemed inappropriate. Libraries would also have to adopt policy language to limit minors’ access to material that describes “sexual conduct,” which the bill defines in five ensuing paragraphs.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Bill to allow library board members to be fired without cause killed in committee
The bill sought to codify an attorney general opinion that library board members could be fired at the will of the governing authority that appointed them.
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The bill is much broader than a similar measure passed in Florida and would apply to all K-12 grades, whereas Florida’s law applies only through the third grade. The proposal applies to any school employee or volunteer, and it covers discussions in the classroom and during any extracurricular activity.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Violating the zone of protection would be a misdemeanor, and violators could be fined $500, be sentenced to 60 days in jail or both.
Source: Verite
Under the proposal, school employees or volunteers would not be allowed to use a student’s preferred pronoun that differs from the gender listed on their birth certificate unless a student’s parent provides written permission. Even if a parent does provide permission, the bill would allow a teacher to ignore it based on religious or moral reasons.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Louisiana House budget plan eliminates teacher pay raise, pays down retirement debt instead
The spending plan retains university faculty pay raise, reduces early childhood education slots.
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State lawmakers advanced two proposals Wednesday that would prohibit the use of certain language when referring to LGBTQ+ people.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Two Louisiana state senators said the Legislature was hoodwinked into legalizing a consumable hemp product market with enough THC levels to make users high, likening it to recreational marijuana.
Source: The Advertiser