Louisiana Legislative Countdown 4.22.24

Despite the challenges we’ve endured (and continue to face) this legislative session, I am heartened by the resilience of our community and the powerful pushback we continue to demonstrate at the Capitol. As bills make their way through committees and onto the floor, it’s crucial to keep the faith, stay engaged, and talk about our fight with your own networks.

TL,DR; this week, lawmakers are poised to push through a lot of harmful legislation and consider rushing into a constitutional convention that could have major consequences for our rights and freedoms. As always, we’re holding out hope that logic and reason will prevail—and we need your voice!

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Good pushback against bad bills:

The future of good governance in Louisiana seemed mighty overcast last Wednesday when Sen. Heather Cloud’s SB482, which seeks to gut our public records law, passed out of Senate Governmental Affairs. True democracy requires oversight and accountability, and public records law is the linchpin of an informed citizenry. i. We know that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and this administration is not shy about its  desire for shade.

Iconic New Orleans investigative reporter Lee Zurik testified to the damage this bill stands to do if passed:

On the House floor, Rep. Denise Marcelle took a stand against anti-LGBTQ+ proposal HB121, the resurrected “Dead Name” bill. While these bills may ultimately become law, champion legislators and advocates will keep fighting to ensure dissent and reason are also on record.

Discussions about proposals for the constitutional convention formally began in committee last week. Despite hours of questioning, testimony, and debate, critical details and intentions for the proposed overhauling of our state’s governing document remain vague at best—other than the governor’s desire to hold the convention for just  two weeks, concurrently with the end of session. 

Rep. Delisha Boyd has been a constant source of  important questioning and demanding information proponents have thus far been unwilling or unable to provide.

Rep. Boyd stays busy standing up for her constituents, and we anticipate HB164, her bill to add rape and incest exceptions to the total abortion ban, will soon be scheduled in committee. For the second time in as many years, we can expect courageous survivors to publicly bare their deeply personal trauma alongside doctors and experts who will detail the horrific impacts of our state’s abortion ban. We will continue to shine a light on the cruelty and hypocrisy of this legislature. As always, you can help by contacting your representative to demand their support for survivors.

Each year, Louisiana funnels more than a million taxpayer dollars to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers that do not directly provide medical services. Rather, these centers use public funding to deceive and shame patients, pushing a medically inaccurate, typically religiously affiliated agenda with little to no oversight, accountability, or reporting requirements. Now, anti-abortion lawmakers want to allocate even more money to these harmful centers: $4-7 million each year from our state budget. Use Lift’s action alert to contact your legislator and express your opposition to HB256 ahead of its committee hearing Wednesday morning.

HB800 seeks to rush a  convention that could rewrite our state constitution without any input from Louisianans, potentially jeopardizing our rights, freedoms, and funding for critical state programming, including education. Urge legislators to vote NO and stop this dangerous proposal in its tracks.