HOUSE NOTES

Louisiana House of Representatives Communications Office 2014 Regular Session Week Eight, May 2, 2014

At adjournment on Wednesday, April 30, the 30th legislative day of the session, 1,271 House bills and 672 Senate bills had been introduced. The House has passed 516 House bills. Seventeen House bills and one Senate bill have completed the legislative process. Four House bills and one Senate bill have been signed by the governor. They are HB 18, HB 56, HB 131, HB 188 and SB 129. House Bill 1, the general appropriations bill, will be Special Order on Thursday, May 8. COMMON CORE/NEW ACADEMIC STANDARDS * House Bill 953, pending House floor action, provides that beginning with the 2016-2017 school year and thereafter, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) shall use the results of the statewide content standards for required subjects assessments as the basis for a distribution of school and district letter grades that shall not vary from the distribution of letter grades from 2012-2013; shall establish an academic support plan for certain failing public schools; and shall require a change in school governance only after such a plan has been implemented for one year. BESE would be prohibited from using the results of such assessments to require the

use of value-added data in the evaluation of educators. Additionally, BESE would be required to use such assessments based on nationally competitive standards to establish a statewide performance goal to be reached by 2025 and shall use such a goal as the basis for school and performance expectations. STUDENTS WITH EXCEPTIONALITIES * House Bill 993, pending consideration by the full House, provides requirements for eighth-grade lev el st ud ent s with exceptionalities. The student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) team would make determinations related to pupil progression and graduation requirements and for the development and review of an Individual Graduation Plan. Additionally, HB993 provides that a student who successfully completes his IEP requirements shall be issued a high school diploma. PLUMBING CODES * House Bill 1048, pending the Senate Commerce Committee, requires the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council (LSUCCC) to adopt the International Plumbing Code. Also under this proposed law, the performance of work substantially below

standards promulgated by the LSUCCC would be grounds for revocation, suspension or refusal to renew a license or endorsement. Additionally, in all cases of conflict between the rules and regulations within the state's sanitary code and the state health officer, the code provisions of HB1048 adopted and promulgated by the LSUCCC shall apply. OPTOMETRISTS/STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS House Concurrent Resolution 43, approved by the House, requests the La. State Board of Medical Examiners to study whether authorization to perform surgical procedures on the human eye could be extended to health professionals other than physicians, to engage and solicit input and perspective from the La. State Board of Optometry Examiners in conducting the study and to report findings and recommendations to the legislative committees on health and welfare on or before Nov. 1, 2014. The study shall include an examination of the policies of the state of Oklahoma authorizing performance of laser surgery procedures by optometrists and an evidence-based evaluation of the impacts on patient safety of those policies. ADOPTIONS/MEDICAL RECORDS * House Bill 1028, which passed the House 99-0, provides that an adoptee, age 25 and older, may have access to a noncertified copy of his original birth certificate upon consent of a birth parent; authorizes a birth parent to file a contact preference form with the voluntary registry; and requires a birth parent to file an updated statement of family history in certain circumstances. Additionally, HB1028 requires the Office of Children and Family Services to

conduct a one-year-long, nationwide campaign to inform the public that an adoptee who is 25 years old or older may obtain a noncertified copy of his original birth certificate, that the birth parent of an adoptee may file a contact preference form with the registry, that a birth parent may consent to or prohibit the release of the adoptee's original birth certificate or any identifying information, and that a birth parent is required to submit an updated statement of family history. TUITION * House Bill 222, pending House floor action, provides that in fiscal years in which the amount of tuition fees and self-generated revenues appropriated for higher education from tuition and mandatory fee amounts are greater than the fees appropriated from tuition in the prior fiscal year, the additional money cannot be replaced from the state general fund or from dedicated funds. HB222 additionally provides that in any fiscal year subsequent to a projected deficit and which the fees and self-generated revenues appropriated for higher education from tuition are greater than the appropriation of such funds in the prior fiscal year, state funding for higher education may not be reduced by more than 5% of the increase. HB222, a proposed constitutional amendment, would be submitted to voters at the statewide election held Nov. 4, 2014, and if passed, would become effective July 1, 2016. The ballot language of HB222 shall read as follows: "If state colleges and universities raise tuition, do you support an amendment prohibiting the legislature from reducing public funding to the colleges and universities up to the amount of the increase in tuition where no deficit in the state budget for that

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year is forecasted or if a state budget deficit is forecasted, prohibiting the legislature from decreasing the level of funding to colleges and universities by more than five percent of the public funding provided to the colleges and universities in the year of the tuition increase?" COASTAL PROTECTION * House Bill 490 a proposed constitutional amendment, would prohibit the transfer of monies from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund or the Budget Stabilization Fund for purposes other than those provided for by law. The ballot language shall read as follows: "Because the constitution currently prohibits any 'appropriation' be made from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund and the Budget Stabilization Fund that is inconsistent with the Coastal Protection Plan or the purposes of the Budget Stabilization Fund, do you support an amendment which would add to that prohibition that no 'transfer or removal of monies' shall be made from either fund which is inconsistent with the plan or purpose of the effected fund?" The proposed amendment has an effective date of July 1, 2015. INFRASTRUCTURE BANK * House Bill 628, pending consideration by the full House, is a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize the investment of public funds in a state infrastructure bank. The ballot language would read as follows: "Do you support an amendment to authorize the investment of public funds to capitalize a state infrastructure bank?"

TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND * House Bill 629, a proposed constitutional amendment, requires the first $50 million of excess mineral revenues above the base amount established in the present constitution for the Budget Stabilization Fund to be deposited into the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), instead. The deposit would be made each year beginning July 1, 2017, and end in the fiscal year that ends June 30, 2027. Additionally, t he p ro posed constitutional amendment provides that monies deposited into the TTF pursuant to proposed constitutional amendment shall be used in the same manner as all other monies in the TTF, unless a state infrastructure bank is established by law, then such monies shall be used to capitalize the bank. House Bill 629 awaits consideration by the full House. HORSE RACING * House Bill 1230, pending House final passage, provides for the distribution of funds to the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA). The proposed law provides that purse money shall be deemed earned when the race on which the wagers are placed is run. Purse money shall be deposited into the interestbearing account within 15 days of being earned. However, purse supplements (slot proceeds) are required be deposited into the account within 15 days of the date on which the monies are received by the licensee. The HBPA shall hold a perfected security interest in all funds that have been earned but not yet distributed. Undistributed purse money shall be held in trust for the benefit of the HBPA by the licensee until the funds are distributed. HB1230 also requires a licensee to

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have a fiduciary duty to the HBPA to preserve and account for such monies. Additionally, HB1230 provides that the HBPA shall be deemed to hold a perfected security interest on 15% of the annual net slot machine proceeds, and all such purse supplements shall be held in trust for the benefit of the HBPA by the licensee until the money is distributed. Again, the licensee is required to have a fiduciary duty to the HBPA to account for such purse supplements. LIQUID NATURAL GAS PIPELINE * House Bill 933, became substitute House Bill 1281, pending action on the House floor, requires the Commissioner of Conservation to promulgate rules, regulations and orders necessary to prepare a written declaration of the rights of a landowner whose immovable property may be acquired by expropriation or condemnation for the purpose of construction and operation of pipelines transmitting any form of hydrocarbon in a liquid or gaseous state and to maintain a registry of the acquiring entities. The declaration of rights would require the following: 1.) A description of the expropriation and condemnation procedure. 2.) The acquiring entity's obligations to the landowner. 3.) The landowner's right to compensation, to trial by a court and to appeal. Next, HB1281 requires the acquiring entity to provide the landowner with a printed copy of the declaration of rights and a written disclosure of the product the pipeline will transport, the agency or agencies that regulate the pipeline and the agency's or agencies' contact information when an entity makes first contact with a landowner whose immovable property may be acquired.

The proposed law requires the commissioner to make the registry of acquiring entities with the authority to expropriate or condemn for pipelines, and requires the registry to be available to the public, including access through the department's website. Also, the legislation would require the commissioner to cooperate with any state, federal or private entity, including the Public Service Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the United States Department of Transportation to ensure the distribution of the declaration of rights to the greatest extent possible or to maintain the registration of entities with accurate information. Finally, the Public Service Commission would be required to make and enforce all other needful rules and regulations, either general in their nature or applicable to particular oil fields, covering fully the duties of common carrier pipelines. NATURAL GAS PIPELINES * Senate Bill 525 provides that effective March 10, 2014, if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a proposal to abandon an interstate natural gas pipeline, then the portion of the pipeline within Louisiana shall be considered an intrastate natural gas pipeline and a public utility, and would be subject to the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. SB525 is pending House final passage. SNAP TASK FORCE * House Bill 1062 , approved unanimously in the House, creates the 12member Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Task Force to study and make recommendations to the Department of Children and Family Services concerning the

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electronic issuance of SNAP benefits, changes in federal regulations related to the electronic issuance of public benefits and to make recommendations concerning innovations to electronic benefits issuance policies and systems. RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT * House Bill 1271, which passed the House 93-0, dedicates local sales and property tax revenue to provide for a facilities preservation program for the Recovery School District in New Orleans. HB1271 provides for funding covering maintenance, emergency repairs and capital replacement, and provides for operation of the program by the school board and the Recovery School District with respect to schools each controls in the district. WAGES/WORKERS COMPENSATION * House Bill 1069, pending House floor action, provides for variable wage employment contracts. The proposed law provides that if an employee with a work-related injury has a written contract for hire, and that written contract for hire provides for variable wages dependent on the employee's activity, job description, job status, a temporal consideration or any other condition based on a variable wage rate, the employee's average weekly wage shall be calculated as the employee's actual earnings at the time of his injury. Any written employment contract that does not provide for the same wage rate for each pay period during the entire term of the contract shall be deemed a variable wage employment contract. The average weekly wage for a variable wage employment contract is calculated as follows: 1.) If the employee's actual contractual

wage rate is based on a day rate, then the employee's average weekly wage shall be calculated by multiplying the employee's actual contractual daily wage rate on the date of injury by seven days. 2.) If the employee's actual contractual wage rate at the time of injury is based on a weekly wage rate, then the employee's actual contractual weekly wage rate at the time of injury shall be the calculated average weekly wage. 3.) If the employee's actual contractual wage rate at the time of injury is based on a monthly wage rate, then the employee's average weekly wage shall be calculated by dividing the employee's actual monthly wage rate at the time of injury by four and three-tenths weeks. Finally, any written employment contract that does not provide for the same wage rate for each pay period during the entire term of the contract shall be deemed to be a variable wage employment contract.

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