2016 House Notes Regular Session Week 5

HOUSE NOTES
Louisiana House of Representatives

Communications Office
2016 Regular Legislative Session
Week Five, April 15, 2016
At adjournment on Thursday, April 14,

the 20 legislative day of the session, 1,097
House bills and 589 Senate bills had been
introduced.
Three hundred and seventy-eight
House bills have passed the full House.
A brief description of some of the bills
that generated public interest this week
follows.
the regulation of therapeutic marijuana.
th
AGRICULTURE
*
House Bill 335, pending House floor
action, provides for a registration fee of $500
for unmanned aerial drones.
*
action, adds the origin of certain foods and
shellfish to the list of items that may not be
misrepresented when being offered for sale to
consumers.
*
action, authorizes a pilot program to study the
growth and marketing of hemp.
*
action, establishes a $100,000 annual license
fee for the growth of medicinal marijuana, a
$10,000 application fee and a $100
administration and inspection fee.
The proposed law provides that the
Louisiana Department. of Agriculture and
Forestry receive 7% of gross therapeutic
marijuana sales and requires the department to
use the fees to fund expenses associated with
CIVIL LAW
*
House Bill 195, pending House final
passage, provides for changes in the period in
which medical malpractice claims filing fees
must be paid.
*
House Bill 212, which passed 90-0,
provides procedures for employers' lump-sum
payments to employees owing child support.
HB212 requires such employers to
notify the Department of Children and Family
Services of pending lump-sum payments if
that lump-sum payment is $300 or more.
*
passage, requires that the notice in a child
support action must be signed by the clerk of
court or deputy clerk and must be
accompanied by a certified copy of the
pleading that contains the following:
(1) The date of issuance.
(2) The title of the cause.
(3) The name of the person to whom it is
addressed.
(4) The title and location of the court issuing
it.
(5) Statements to the following effect:
(a) That the person served is being sued for
child support.
(b) That the person served may be entitled to
raise issues relating to child custody or
visitation, or both.
*
passage, provides for disclosure of
information to property owners whose
property is subject to expropriation.
*
provides for the calculation of child support in
the absence of a joint custody order for shared
custody if the court finds by a preponderance
of the evidence that shared custody exists.
*
passage, requires that the notice of a
proceeding to revoke the commission of a
notary public be given to the attorney general.
*
passage, extends the prescriptive period to file
suit on an action against a person for rape
from two to three years.
*
passage, provides that a religious organization,
an individual employee of a religious
organization or a clergy or minister may not
be required to perform a marriage ceremony if
doing so would cause the organization to
violate a sincerely held religious belief.
Additionally, HB597 provides that a
refusal to perform a marriage ceremony shall
not serve as the basis for a civil, criminal, or
other punitive action by the state or a political
subdivision.
COMMERCE
*
prohibits the sale or offer for sale of extended
service agreements for motor vehicles, either
by mail or by telephone.
*
passage, increases the 911 fee from 2 percent
to 4 percent of prepaid wireless services and
expands the base to include any voice, text,
video, image, data or other means of
connecting the user to 911 on a prepaid basis.
The base is also expanded to include any
consumer devices that provide 911 access.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
*
House Bill 68, which passed by a vote
of 94-0, authorizes the use of electronic
signatures on temporary restraining orders and
protective orders.
*
passage, adds current and retired attorney
generals to the list of officials who may carry
concealed weapons.
*
passage, repeals additional penalty provisions
applicable to a person in possession of a
firearm while committing a crime of violence
during the sale or distribution of a controlled
dangerous substance, but excepts the
possession of 14 grams or less of marijuana.
*
passage, increases penalties for possession of
a firearm used during the commission of a
crime of violence.
*
passage, provides for parole eligibility for
offenders convicted of crimes of violence and
creates the Program to Reduce Recidivism
Fund.
*
House Bill 708, which passed by a
vote of 84-9, provides for progressive mega
jackpot bingo.
*
passage, provides for the designation of
crimes of violence.
*
requires the Department of Public Safety and
Corrections to issue an economic hardship
license to a person whose driver's license is
suspended and has not been renewed because
of delinquent state taxes.
*
passage, reduces the 11-member Louisiana
Public Defender Board to nine members, and
further provides that the board shall dedicate
and disburse at least 65 percent of its annual
budget and its funds in the Louisiana Public
Page -2-
Defender Fund each fiscal year to the district

defender offices and their indigent defender
funds in the various judicial districts
throughout the state.
EDUCATION
*
passage, provides for the assignment of
students with exceptionalities to schools
closest to their home.
*
Senate Bill 174, pending the House
Committee on Education, provides that
amounts for all TOPS awards shall not
increase beyond the amount awarded in the
2016-17 academic year.
Additionally, SB174 retains the
requirement in present law that a student have
a minimum ACT score equal to or greater than
the state average, but never less than 20, but
specifies that the state average be truncated to
a whole number instead of being rounded to
the nearest whole number.
*
Senate Bill 329, pending the House
Committee on Education, increases the GPA
to 3.25 to receive the TOPS Performance
award and a 3.5 to receive the Honors award.
HEALTH & WELFARE
*
House Bill 594, which passed the
House 56-28, requires legislative
authorization for any waiver of SNAP work
requirements for able-bodied adults without
dependents.
*
House Concurrent Resolution 24,
pending House final passage, urges and
requests the office of behavioral health of the
Department of Health and Hospitals to raise
awareness of addictive disorders involving the
abuse of inhalants and to make efforts to
reduce the prevalence of inhalant abuse.
HCR24 dedicates public awareness
efforts resulting from this resolution to the
memory of the late Jordan Lambert Soileau of
Denham Springs.
*
Senate Bill 271, pending Senate final
passage, expands the list of medical
conditions for prescribed marijuana to include
cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human
immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune
deficiency syndrome, or a chronic or
debilitating disease or medical condition or its
treatment that produces cachexia or wasting
syndrome, seizure disorders, epilepsy, severe
muscle spasms, including those characteristic
of Crohns disease or multiple sclerosis.
HOUSE & GOVERNMENTAL
*
passage, provides for membership on the Joint
Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay by
adding two members of the House and two
members of the Senate, elected by the
respective bodies from each congressional
district.
Additionally, HB108 establishes
procedures for the election and removal of the
members. Further, no elected member of the
committee from the House may serve on the
House Ways and Means Committee, and no
elected member of the committee from the
Senate may serve on the Senate Revenue and
Fiscal Affairs Committee.
INSURANCE
*
House 97-0, provides for the implementation
of a provider fee on certain emergency ground
ambulance service providers and provides for
the disposition of the fee.
HB662 establishes a fee cap of 1.5%
of net operating revenue on such providers for
the first year. Next, HB662 provides the
procedure for changing the fee amount after
the first year and prohibits the subsequent
assessment from exceeding 3.5% of the net
operating revenue.
Page -3-
JUDICIARY
*
action, expands participation in the Veterans
Court program by excluding only those
defendants whose crime before the court is a
homicide or sex offense.
If the crime before the court is
domestic abuse battery or domestic abuse
aggravated assault, the defendant is required
to complete a court-monitored domestic abuse
intervention program and may not possess a
firearm while under the supervision of the
Veterans Court program or court-ordered
probation.
*
House 74-21, authorizes a schedule of fees to
be collected for processing court documents,
and adds a $50 recording fee for cancellation
of a mortgage, lien, or privilege which
includes one clerk-certified copy.
*
authorizes mayors to impose additional court
costs not to exceed $20 for each offense on
any defendant convicted of a violation of a
municipal ordinance, provided that $10 of
such court costs collected shall be remitted to
the local public defender's office.
LABOR
*
action, provides that an individual shall not be
disqualified from receiving unemployment
compensation benefits if he is otherwise
eligible to receive benefits, is the spouse of a
military service member, and resigns his
employment in order to relocate with his
spouse pursuant to an order of permanent
change of station.
MUNICIPAL
*
House Bill 834, which passed by a
vote of 90-0, provides for the temporary
deferral of court costs by state and local
governments and their agents, officers, and

employees.
*
House 95-0, authorizes the operation of golf
carts on roadways within Lake Fausse Point
State Park.
RETIREMENT
*
action, replaces the chairmen of the House and
Senate committees on retirement with the
speaker of the House of Representatives and
the president of the Senate as trustees on each
state and statewide retirement system board.
*
action, authorizes payment of a benefit
increase, funded by state retirement system
experience accounts, to certain retirees and
beneficiaries.
*
action, provides that retirement benefits for
members of the Registrar of Voters
Employees Retirement System first employed
prior to January 1, 2013, will be limited to
100% of a retiring members final average
compensation.
*
action, applies to the re-employment of retired
school nurses in positions covered by the
Teachers' Retirement System. HB 60 adds the
position of school nurse to the list of reemployment-eligible positions.
*
action, provides relative to the re-employment
of retired school psychologists in positions
covered by the Teachers' Retirement System.
HB 61 adds school psychologists to the list of
professions that are eligible for the less
stringent suspension of benefit rules
applicable to a retiree who is re-employed in
a Re-employment-Eligible Critical Shortage
Position.
Page -4-
TRANSPORTATION
*
passage, requires all bidders bidding on
public works projects in Jefferson Parish to
submit all bid forms to the governing authority
of Jefferson Parish prior to the opening of
bids.
*
passage, restricts the requirement of wearing
safety helmets to motorcycle operators and
riders to under 21 years of age.
*
House 90-11, provides for the issuance of
REAL ID-compliant identification cards,
separate from the issuance of drivers licenses.
HB702 additionally provides that the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) shall
not copy, scan, maintain, or share personal
identifying source documents or biometrics
obtained from any person in the process of
applying for the issuance or renewal of a
driver's license.
Further, all personal identifying source
documents shall be removed from the DMV
database and that of the contractor, and all
photographs of persons obtained by the
department prior to 2012 which are in the
possession of a contractor shall be purged
from the database of that contractor. Any
photographs of a person captured in the
process of a person applying for or renewing
a driver's license between July 7, 2008, and
the effective date of House Bill 702 may be
retained by the department but shall be
removed and purged from all databases and
systems of any contractor.
*
passage, authorizes specially-permitted
vehicles to travel at night on interstate
highways.
*
raises the penalty for seatbelt law
noncompliance to $50 for a first offense, $75
for a second offense, and $75 plus all court

costs for a third or any subsequent offense.
*
passage, provides that a temporary
instructional permit will be required for any
unlicensed student driver to participate in
behind-the-wheel instruction and is valid only
if the student driver is accompanied by a
driver education instructor.
*
passage, creates the "Louisiana The Energy
State" prestige license plate.
*
passage, re-designates the U.S. 190
Mississippi River Bridge as the "Huey P.
Long - O.K. Allen Bridge."
Page -5-

2016 House Notes Regular Session Week 5

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HOUSE NOTES

Louisiana House of Representatives

At adjournment on Thursday, April 14,

the regulation of therapeutic marijuana.

Defender Fund each fiscal year to the district

governments and their agents, officers, and

for a second offense, and $75 plus all court

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