HOUSE NOTES

Louisiana House of Representatives

Communications Office
2016 Regular Legislative Session
Week Four, April 8, 2016

At adjournment on Thursday, April 7,

the 16 legislative day of the session, 1,053
House bills and 558 Senate bills had been
introduced.
Two hundred and seventy-seven
House bills have passed the full House and
await Senate action.
A brief description of some of the bills
that generated public interest this week
follows.
th

AGRICULTURE
*
House Bill 524, which passed 55-39,
provides for a maximum penalty of up to
$10,000 for failure to provide records for
petroleum products sold.
CIVIL LAW
*
House Bill 145, which passed the
House 101-0, provides for the issuance of a
certificate of employability by a re-entry
division of court under certain circumstances.
*
House Bill 146, which passed the
House 99-1, provides for a limitation of
liability for any mentor of an offender on
probation under the supervision of any court
division for any injury or loss caused or
suffered by an offender in the training
program.
Additionally, HB146 provides a
limitation of liability for the court and any

officer, agent, or employee of the court from

liability for any injury or loss to the offender,
the mentor, or any third party for the actions
of the mentor or the offender.
*
House Bill 334, which passed 59-35,
provides for penalties and the enforcement of
the terms of valid public and private contracts.
COMMERCE
*
House Bill 714, which passed the
House 92-0, provides for revisions to the
Business Corporation Act.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
*
House Bill 142, pending House floor
action, provides that a person who has
obtained an expungement for a felony
conviction or has been pardoned by the
governor shall not be considered ineligible to
obtain a concealed handgun permit unless the
pardon expressly prohibits the person from
shipping, transporting, possessing or receiving
firearms.
*
House Bill 546, pending House floor
action, creates the crime of homestead
exemption fraud.
*
House Bill 635, which passed the
House 95-0, adds the use of unmanned aircraft
systems as an element of certain crimes
involving the invasion of privacy.
*
House Bill 693, pending House floor
action, adds parks, playgrounds and

recreational facilities to the prohibition of

carrying firearms on school property.
*
House Bill 818, reported by substitute,
provides for the composition of the Louisiana
Public Defender Board and provides that the
board shall dedicate and disburse 75 percent
of the entirety of its annual budget and its
funds in the Louisiana Public Defender Fund
each fiscal year to the district defender offices
and their indigent defender funds in the
various judicial districts throughout the state.
*
House Bill 926, pending House floor
action, increases criminal penalties for using
combinations of heroin and fentanyl.
*
House Bill 197, which passed 98-0,
creates the crime of failure to properly operate
a child day care center and provides for
penalties and graduated fines.
The Department of Education is
required to investigate violations and to
submit all evidence and findings to law
enforcement.
*
House Bill 267, which passed the
House 87-8, decreases penalties for crimes
involving the possession of drug paraphernalia
to make those penalties consistent with
penalties for possession of marijuana.
*
House Bill 304, which passed the
House 96-0, exempts all veterans of the armed
forces from all fees associated with the
five-year or lifetime concealed carry permit.
*
House Bill 385, which passed the
House 97-0, creates the crime of providing a
false declaration of residence for bail.
Additionally, HB385 provides for
penalties of two years imprisonment and fines
of $500 up to $5,000. The offender is also
required to reimburse the sheriff, clerk of
court or agent for costs of attempting to notice
the defendant at the address provided on his
bond or declaration of residence at $25 per
attempt.
*
House Bill 582, which passed 88-0,

provides for the crime of aggravated assault

upon a peace officer.
EDUCATION
*
House Bill 97, which passed the House
100-0, requires the state child protection tollfree hotline number to be posted on the
website of every public school and charter
school.
*
House Bill 438, pending House final
passage, creates a new Taylor Opportunity
Program for Students award, the TOPS-Tech
Transfer Award.
*
House Bill 881, pending House floor
action, requires each public post-secondary
education management board to report
annually to the Joint Legislative Committee
on the Budget and publish on its website
specified information related to all research
projects and initiatives.
*
House Bill 906, pending House floor
action, requires each public post-secondary
education institution to designate a homeless
and foster student liaison within its financial
aid office who is responsible for applying the
provisions of the federal Higher Education
Act pertaining to these youth and for assisting
such students.
HEALTH & WELFARE
*
House Bill 171, which passed the
House 98-0, requires birthing centers,
hospitals and licensed midwives to offer
information to parents of newborns on shaken
baby syndrome and sudden unexpected infant
death.
*
House Bill 232, pending House final
passage, provides a limitation of liability for
manufacturers of investigational drugs,
biological products, or devices prescribed to
certain terminally ill patients; and for any
person or entity involved in the care of such
patients.

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*
House Bill 386, which passed the
House 89-5, extends the mandatory waiting
period between certain required pre-abortion
procedures and the performance of an
abortion.
*
House Bill 488, which passed 87-0,
provides that only physicians licensed to
practice medicine in Louisiana and who are
board certified in obstetrics and gynecology or
family medicine or who are enrolled in a
residency program for obstetrics and
gynecology or family medicine and who only
perform or induce an abortion under the direct
supervision of a physician who is
board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology or
family medicine may perform an abortion in
Louisiana.
*
House Bill 662, pending House final
passage, provides a fee on emergency ground
ambulance service providers.
HB662 defines an emergency ground
ambulance service provider as a private, for
profit, nonpublic, non-federal provider of
emergency ground ambulance service that is
contracted with a unit of local or parish
government of Louisiana for the provision of
911 emergency ground ambulance
transportation on a regular 24 hour per day
and 7 days a week basis.
JUDICIARY
*
House Bill 331, which passed 99-0,
provides clarification regarding any document
in a civil action filed with the clerk of court
by facsimile transmission.
*
House Bill 347, which passed 101-0,
authorizes the 14th, 21st and 32nd Judicial
District Courts to assign a certain division of
their courts as a re-entry division.
Additionally, the reentry division of
court shall establish a workforce development
sentencing program, which shall establish
guidelines for the issuance of sentences

providing inmate rehabilitation and workforce

development.
NATURAL RESOURCES
*
House Bill 188, which passed the
House 96-0, adds alligator to the Louisiana
Catch and Cook Program.
*
House Bill 241, pending House final
passage, allows, rather than requires, the
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
to utilize the Department of Natural
Resources, office of management and finance
for accounting and budgetary control,
procurement and contractual management,
data processing, management and program
analysis, and personnel management and
grants management.
*
House Bill 423, which passed the
House 90-0, requires any wholesale/retail
dealer who purchases reptiles or amphibians
to complete and return a commercial receipt
form to the Department of Wildlife and
Fisheries.
*
House Bill 640, pending House final
passage, authorizes the Coastal Protection and
Restoration Authority Board to develop a
natural resource damages restoration bank
program and oil spill compensation schedule.
RETIREMENT
*
House Bill 12, which passed the House
96-1, provides that the state treasurer and the
commissioner of administration or their
designees serve as voting members of the
Municipal Employees' Retirement System
Board of Trustees.
*
House Bill 17, which passed the House
98-0, authorizes the Louisiana Local
Government Environmental Facilities and
Community Development Authority to
participate in the Municipal Employees
Retirement System.
*
House Bill 22, which passed the House

Page -3-

98-0, establishes a funding deposit account for

the Firefighters' Retirement System and
authorizes the board of trustees of the system
to modify required employer contribution
rates to fund the account.
*
House Bill 23, which passed the House
98-0, repeals rules relative to trustee elections
and instead, requires the Municipal
Employees' Retirement System board to
establish rules and regulation for the retention
and certification of ballots received during
elections.
*
House Bill 24, which passed the
House 97-0, provides that no member of
Firefighters Retirement System is eligible for
a disability benefit if his disability is a direct
or indirect result of a condition that existed
prior to his employment.
Additionally, if a members disability
occurs because his service exacerbates an
injury sustained prior to his employment as a
firefighter, the injury will be considered to be
an injury resulting from a pre-existing
condition and the member will not be entitled
to disability benefits.
*
Under House Bill 25, subject to call,
if a retiree returns to work, is working full or
part time, and is employed in any capacity for
a fire department covered by the Firefighters'
Retirement System regardless of whether or
not the position is covered by FRS then the
re-hired retirees benefit will be suspended,
the employer and the re-hired employee will
contribute to FRS based on re-employment
income only if the employee is re-employed
on a full-time basis and the employee will
earn FRS service credits.
Additionally, the re-employed retiree
will not be able to change his benefit option
when he eventually resumes retirement status.
*
House Bill 26, which passed the House
100-0, provides relative to appeals of
disability eligibility decisions in the

Firefighters' Retirement System.

*
House Bill 27, which passed the House
95-0, provides the Board of Trustees of the
Firefighters Retirement System the authority
to pay interest on the underpayment of
benefits attributable to administrative error.
*
House Bill 38, which passed the House
97-0, provides for re-enrollment in the
Firefighters' Retirement System by employees
covered by Social Security.
*
House Bill 40, which passed the House
95-0, provides to the re-employment of
retirees in the Municipal Employees'
Retirement System.
*
House Bill 275, a proposed
constitutional amendment which passed the
House 79-19, prohibits a person convicted of
a felony from holding elective or appointive
office.
TRANSPORTATION
*
House Bill 109 which passed the
House 95-1, provides for multiple hang tags
for persons with mobility impairments.
*
House Bill 407, reported by substitute
House Bill 1057, pending House final
passage, provides that the Secretary of the
Department of Transportation and
Development (DOTD) may determine that a
condition of a road transfer from the state
highway system to a parish or municipal
system may be payment of an amount no
greater than the present value of the projected
four-year maintenance cost of the road to be
transferred.
Further, HB407 authorizes such
payments to be deducted from DOTD's capital
outlay budget for the year in which the
payment is made with the reasonable
expectation that the department will be
relieved of liabilities equal to or greater than
the amount of the payment.
*
House Bill 641, pending House final

Page -4-

passage, exempts World War II veterans from

payment of tolls on the Tomey J. Doucet
Bridge after they have completed certification
for the exemption.
WAYS & MEANS
*
House Bill 236, which passed the
House 102-0, provides for a 90-day grace
period to remit sales and use taxes related to
motor vehicles for persons separating from
active duty military service.

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