News

Bills being filed ahead of regular session

by Jeremy Alford, LaPolitics

Wikimedia

Although the regular session doesn’t convene until March 14 and the new Legislature was just fully sworn in Jan. 11, lawmakers are already requesting and filing bills.

All of them have come from the House side so far and are available to review at www.legis.la.gov.

There are 11 bills total, out of hundreds that will eventually be introduced. Four deal with appropriating money for judgments delivered against the state while the others address firearm issues, criminal expungements and the open burning of certain waste.

The latter category refers to HB 11 by Reps. Gene Reynolds, D-Minden, and Terry Brown, No Party-Colfax, that would ban open burning as a method to dispose of explosive materials. The filing comes after an extensive battle with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the best disposal method for 7,800 tons of M6 propellant abandoned by Explo Systems.

Rep. Barry Ivey, R-Central, has a constitutional amendment in HB4 that would expand the definition of the right to keep and bear arms to include carrying a concealed handgun without a permit. The only exception would be if an individual is already prohibited from carrying a firearm under state law. Ivy is also sponsoring HB6, which seeks to do the same by statute.