Lawmakers have yet to approve a budget for next fiscal year, and the regular session ends in just a few days. Jeremy Alford with LaPolitics.com says in the budget’s current posture, TOPS and safety net hospitals are underfunded. He says lawmakers will have to raise more revenue in the special session to reduce cuts to these programs. He says lawmakers will likely try to raise between $300 and $450 million.
Alford says the next special session will begin just 30 minutes after adjournment for the regular session on Monday at 6 PM.
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating a body that was found in the yard of a residence in Natalbany. Police say the scene is being treated as a homicide. But it has not been determined if this discovery is related to yesterday’s double homicide. State Police have been called in to assist in the investigation.
A bill that would prohibit abortions because the fetus has a genetic abnormality moves closer to final legislative passage. Baton Rouge Sen. Dan Claitor spoke out against the legislation because he says it goes against a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion.Claitor says when becoming a Senator he took an oath to follow the U.S. Constitution.
The Senate voted in favor of the bill 29-6 and it heads back to the House for approval of minor changes.
The House approved a measure to require fourth through sixth graders in public schools to recite a passage from the Declaration of Independence every day. Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton voted against the bill because she says Thomas Jefferson, who authored the document, owned slaves.
Despite opposition, the measure now heads to the Senate.