Louisiana Illuminator
Bill would allow industrial users to keep their employees on water regulation boards
The Louisiana Capitol Building, April 8, 2021. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator).
The Louisiana Legislature is close to approving a bill that would allow employees of industrial companies to sit on the groundwater district commissions that oversee the drinking water those companies use for commercial operations. The legislation would also retroactively void ethics violations five Baton Rouge-area groundwater district commissioners face over conflicts of interest.
The Senate has already approved Senate Bill 203, and it got out of the House Committee on House and Governmental Affairs without a single objection Wednesday. The House will next take up the proposal that has faced little opposition from lawmakers so far.
There are eight parks in Zachary and 14 in Central. But if Gov. John Bel Edwards signs the bill, BREC would no longer have control over what goes on in those parks.
Editorial Roundup: Louisiana
The Advocate. May 1, 2021.
Editorial: Of lions and lambs, and elephants and donkeys in State Capitol who can’t do math
A remarkable scene unfolded in the State Capitol: The lions of Americans for Prosperity sat at the witness table with the lambs of the Louisiana Budget Project or is that the other way around? to oppose a bad bill.
The conservative and liberal groups are more than often at odds. But a bill to undermine the state sales tax that pays for much of the general fund was too much for both.
Of course, that was about as far as the unusual went in the House Ways and Means Committee.
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A bill that would require Louisiana parents to send their children to kindergarten or provide a homeschool equivalent gained momentum Monday after a second Senate committee moved it forward.
Democratic Baton Rouge Sen. Cleo Fields Senate Bill 10 would make kindergarten mandatory for children who turn 5 before Sept. 30. Public schools are already required to offer kindergarten.
It advanced without objection, but not before a debate in which former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Woody Jenkins testified he believes data supports his position that kindergarten has no educational benefit and could create behavioral problems.
Fields bill was first moved favorably from the Senate Education Committee but required a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee Monday because it would increase costs for the state.
BATON ROUGE A bill to allow cameras in special education classrooms if parents or legal guardians request them is headed to the Senate floor.
Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, the author of Senate Bill 86, said he brought the bill forward on behalf of the Louisiana Developmental Disabilities Council and concerned parents.
The bill, which was approved by the Senate Education Committee Thursday, would require public and charter schools to create policies for the implementation of video and audio in special education classrooms.
The cameras would not be allowed near restrooms or anywhere where a child might be unclothed.
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Christian, a physician in Baton Rouge and the mother of a 21-year-old with autism, epilepsy and neuromuscular disorder, recounted her daughter’s experience with a school in East Baton Rouge Parish.