WikimediaBATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana House has agreed to prohibit abortions based on gender, despite questions about whether provisions in the bill that allow for lawsuits and damage claims go too far.
Rep. Lenar Whitney, a Houma Republican, described her bill Thursday as protecting “baby girls” from discrimination.
Rep. Walt Leger, a New Orleans Democrat, raised several concerns about language that would allow lawsuits and injunction requests against doctors who perform an abortion if gender discrimination is alleged.
He also said a requirement that a woman know the sex of the fetus if determinable seems to encourage lawsuits. Whitney denied that was her intention.
Despite his concerns, Leger was among 81 members of the House who voted to send the measure to the Senate for consideration. Only two House members voted against it.
House votes to ban hospitals from billing victims for exams
The Louisiana House unanimously agreed to ban hospitals from billing rape victims for their medical exams.
The proposal by Rep. Helena Moreno, a New Orleans Democrat, would allow health care providers to submit a claim for payment to a victim’s insurance company. But the insurer couldn’t require a victim to pay a deductible, co-pay or other share of the costs.
The hospital could bill remaining expenses not covered by insurance to a state crime victim’s board. A separate measure would tap into unclaimed gambling winnings to reimburse the board for the costs.
Lawmakers in the House sent the measure to the Senate for consideration with a 95-0 vote Wednesday. The bill is part of a larger package aimed at improving treatment for sexual assault victims.
Bill reducing sentences for pot possession clears La. House
With the narrowest of votes, the Louisiana House voted to lower the maximum sentence for repeat marijuana possession from 20 years to eight years.
The bill by Rep. Austin Badon, a New Orleans Democrat, moved to the Senate with a 53-36 vote. That was the minimum support needed to pass.
Law enforcement associations don’t oppose the bill, but Badon called it a tough vote because lawmakers could appear soft on crime in an election year.
The bill retains a six-month sentence for a first offense. But prison time for a second offense would drop from five to two years. A third conviction — which currently carries a 20-year maximum — would drop to a five-year maximum. A fourth conviction would have an 8-year sentence cap.
House agrees to financing mechanism for Medicaid expansion
House lawmakers gave quick, unanimous passage to a proposal that would help pay for a Medicaid expansion if Louisiana’s next governor wants to provide coverage to the working poor.
With a 96-0 vote Wednesday, the proposal by Republican House Speaker Chuck Kleckley was sent to the Senate for consideration.
Louisiana’s Legislature has repeatedly refused to expand Medicaid under the federal health overhaul. Gov. Bobby Jindal opposes expansion.
But if the next governor, to be elected this fall, wants to do the expansion, Kleckley’s legislation would provide a financing mechanism. Hospitals could pool their money to help pay Louisiana’s share of the cost for a Medicaid expansion, which would draw down billions in federal cash.
All four major gubernatorial candidates say they’d consider an expansion.
Equal pay bill wins passage from Louisiana Senate
Louisiana’s state senators chose anti-discrimination arguments over concerns about frivolous lawsuits Tuesday, narrowly backing an equal pay proposal in what has become an annual fight in the Legislature.
With a 21-16 vote, senators sent the measure by Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, to the House for consideration. But it is expected to run into problems there. The House labor committee killed two similar equal pay bills last month.
Murray’s bill describes the state’s policy as “all employees shall be compensated equally for work that is the same in kind and quality,” with no distinction made because of a person’s gender. It outlines a course for legal action if a worker claims to be underpaid.
The provisions would only apply to any employer with 50 full-time equivalent workers or more. It allows for different wage rates to be paid based on seniority, merit, production quality, experience, education and training level.
Supporters of the proposal point to data showing Louisiana women on average are paid only about 66 cents for every dollar a man earns, among the worst pay gaps in the country.
Murray said that although the state has a prohibition against pay discrimination on the books, “we just don’t have the teeth in the law to enforce it.” As for a federal law, he said it’s not strong enough to ensure protections against wage disparities.
Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, a bill supporter, said the state already has decided that it prohibits discrimination based on gender.
“This is the follow-through on the promise insofar as putting the enforcement mechanism behind it,” he said.
Critics said the measure would open new avenues for unjustified legal action against businesses. Pay discrimination would be banned whether it was intentional or unintentional, one of several areas of criticism for business organizations that say it could open the door to a flood of lawsuits.
Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, a commercial contractor, suggested an electrician working on a construction site could argue he should be paid the same rate as a plumber at the site and could file a lawsuit.
“This bill will allow you to file suit against me because I don’t pay electricians and plumbers the same,” Donahue said.
Murray replied that the two jobs wouldn’t meet the standard for similar work. But Donahue said if both workers had the same years of experience, they could claim the specialized trades are equivalent and try to take the pay dispute to court.
“I think it would be frivolous and it would be laughed out of court,” Murray said.