April 2016  
Legislative Session Update
April 22, 2015

Falconer bills take flight

Brand new state Rep. Reid Falconer, AIA, R-Mandeville, who is an architect and developer, authored two bills relevant to the architecture community. Those bills are HB 472, which deals with the Louisiana Architecture Education and Research Fund, and HB 532, which deals with the powers and authority of the Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners. Both bills made it out of House Commerce and passed off the House floor this past week. Thanks to Rep. Falconer for rapidly becoming one of AIA-LA's newest champions and strong, positive voice for architecture in the legislature.

Session at a snail's pace

Week six of the regular session wrapped up on April 22nd and looming ominously behind fights involving issues like motorcycle helmets and pastor protection is the notion that a large budget deficit remains. Not a lot of major matters are getting much attention this session-a sign that legislator fatigue appears to be setting in.

Second Special Session? 

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced recently that he's eyeing a second special session to begin June 7 th, which is the day after the current regular session must adjourn sine die.  Many legislators - particularly a large contingent of House Republicans - have said they prefer a fall special session (if one is even necessary). One of the primary reasons legislators prefer a later session date is to make sure tax changes from both last year's regular session and this year's earlier special session do not result in considerably more revenue than anticipated. Another reason many freshman and veteran legislators don't want to immediately go into another special session is because they have been in Baton Rouge since January.

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