Bills passed by Lafayette legislators this session will affect constituents including massage therapists, disabled veterans, postsecondary students with disabilities, teachers called to military duty, bingo players, fishing boat guides, members of the Krewe of Bonaparte and drunken school bus drivers.
With a hastily completed application, LCG met a Nov. 1 capital outlay request deadline, asking the state to help fund a $127 million replacement for the Heymann Performing Arts Center in the next budget cycle.
The two houses finally approved a tediously crafted conference report on a $5 billion capital outlay bill for next year’s bricks, mortar and cement projects.
The constitutional amendment will lower the cap on state income taxes to 4.75%.
The Senate moved aside contentious bills to advance legislation. The House approved a state holiday for Juneteenth.
Legislators are spending a lot of money on roads, bridges and pet projects. Lafayette Parish is a big winner there.
Under Bryant’s HR1, the House Criminal Justice Committee, of which he is a member, would conduct the study and report its findings to the Legislature at least 14 days before next year’s regular session.
The bill, HB274 by Rep. Stuart Bishop, R.-Lafayette, failed to pass Wednesday on a 66-26 vote, four votes short of the 70 needed for passage. It passed upon reconsideration Thursday by a landslide.
A crucial 14 members were not recorded voting on the constitutional amendment, including Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, who was absent Wednesday, and Rep. Vincent Pierre, D-Lafayette, who was present and had voted on other bills shortly before.
Included in the bill are three capital outlay projects for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette: $18 million for the Madison Hall renovations; $13.8 million for planning and construction of an engineering classroom building; and $13,350,000 for planning and construction of a health care education and training facility.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has vowed to veto any bill removing the training requirement, but both the House and Senate versions passed by more than a two-thirds vote.
The gist: Dozens gathered at a private home in Lafayette’s Quail Hollow neighborhood to get answers from public officials on efforts to relieve flooding in what was one of the hardest hit areas in the floods of August 2016. Begging for projects that would make inches of difference, residents were told there was meaningfully little […]
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