Louisiana Legislative Countdown 4.8.24

We are officially A MONTH into the 2024 regular legislative session with two more months to go. Many new bills were filed last week, so read on for the topline priorities and information you need. Thanks for keeping up with us, especially when it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Don’t forget to share this form with friends, families, and colleagues who need these updates in their own inboxes.

What you may have missed last week:

Let’s lead with good news: Rep. Aimee Freeman’s HB 310, which seeks to provide free period products in Louisiana schools, passed out of the Education Committee and now heads to Appropriations. This bill has stopped just short of the finish line each year, so here’s hoping the clock won’t run out this session. Read more here.

While we cross our fingers that lawmakers will approve funding to ensure Louisiana students can access menstrual products, they’ve been busy filing bills to increase the power of the governor,  decimate access to public records, and restrict the First Amendment right to protest. Their priorities are clear, and they don’t include protecting or providing for their constituents.

But hope remains as a bipartisan group of (mostly women) legislators filed a bill to protect access to IVF treatment. This effort comes on the heels of nationwide threats to IVF from so-called fetal personhood legislation, as we saw play out recently in Alabama when the state supreme court declared frozen embryos to be “children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. Stay tuned as we learn more and follow this bill.

What is up this week:

 This morning, Monday, April 8th beginning at 9 am, there are several significant bills being heard in House Civil Law, including legal protections for IVF providers, expanded protections for same-sex marriages, and an anti-trans measure to rigidly define “sex” in state law by a person’s sex assigned at birth. Stream the meeting feed for HCR-5.  

Zombie bill alert: Harmful anti-LGBTQ+ legislation from last year, “Don’t Say Gay” and “Dead Name” bills, are back and scheduled in committee Wednesday, April 10. Get updates and action alerts from our friends at LA Trans Advocates with their legislative tracker.

One way to take action:

 After last month’s deferment, Rep. Delisha Boyd’s Right to Contraception Act, HB 395, is back on the House Health and Welfare Committee schedule tomorrow, Tuesday, April 9.Please use our advocacy form to contact your representative urging their support, even if you previously sent one. We have a chance to advance this critically important bill out of committee and to the full House for a vote, but we need your help!