Week two and things are happening, sort of…
Session activity came to a screeching halt as severe weather was predicted for last Thursday in the Baton Rouge region. Legislators canceled Thursday committee hearings and floor activity and headed home Wednesday night for an extended Easter weekend.
Both the House and Senate Committees this week reported a handful of mostly non-controversial bills for floor debate. All major fiscal issues remain in their committees of origin (particularly House Ways and Means and House Appropriations). See the article below for a bit more color on the week.
Bill filing deadline
April 17th marked the final bill-filing deadline for the 2019 regular session. Each member was permitted to file up to five additional bills after session started, and the final tally includes 610 House Bills, 34 House Concurrent Resolutions, 237 Senate Bills, and 40 Senate Concurrent Resolutions.
Tort reform
One controversial but pro-business piece of legislation is on the move:
HB 372
by Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge. This bill creates the “Omnibus Premium Reduction Act” and was reported favorably this week by the House Civil Law Committee by a vote of 5 – 2. The legislation does a few things of interest to many in the business community, namely:
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Lowers the jury trial threshold from $50,000.00 to $5,000.00
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Ends collateral source rule
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Removes direct action against an insurer
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Creates automatic rate review and contingent reduction
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Extends prescription for tort actions from 1 year to 2 years.
This bill is Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s (LABI) major issue for the session and has drawn the ire of plaintiffs’ attorneys from across the state. The bill is scheduled for action on the House floor today and the debate is expected to be lively.
Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco enters hospice
Please consider joining people across the state in praying this week for former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, D-Lafayette, who has entered hospice care for incurable cancer. Gov. Blanco was Louisiana's first and only female governor. She was diagnosed and treated for a rare eye cancer in 2011. It returned and spread to her liver in 2017. She served 24 years in elected office, including the state legislature, Public Service Commission, and as Lt. Governor.
- Article of interest -
Capitol Views: Reminders of a shortened session persist
Baton Rouge
Business Report
By Jeremy Alford
April 17, 2019
Lawmakers have until 6 p.m. to file legislation for the ongoing session, meaning any uneasy feelings at the Capitol tied to new bills will soon come to a close. As such, beginning Thursday morning, members of the House and Senate will only have to worry about amendments and skeleton bills.
Time has a way of creeping up on the legislative process, and the bill deadline is a solid reminder. So was today’s public testimony received by the House Appropriations Committee, which means budget hearings are nearing their end.
With the possibility of last-minute bills emerging this evening, a break for the Easter holiday later this week, policy distractions bouncing around and an adjournment of June 6, representatives and senators may find themselves approaching the month of May with a newfound sense of urgency.
As of this afternoon, 823 bills and 158 resolutions were in the files of the regular session, and four committees gathered earlier in the day to keep the flow of proposals moving. The action was mostly on the Senate side, with a sprinkling of transportation and education bills receiving their introductory hearings.
The flow of legislation slowed considerably as today’s filing deadline neared, with House and Senate members preparing to sit motionless during the chambers’ required annual ethics training. While the vast majority of the Legislature has experienced the training course, 10 true freshmen were expected to hear it for the first time.
It was mostly news from outside of the Capitol that stirred the building’s inhabitants—like word of former Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s transition to hospice care, a Louisiana abortion clinic’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state law and planning by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to rewrite the funding formula for K-12 schools.
