The House votes unanimously to give K-12 teachers a 1,000 dollar pay raise, support personnel a 500 dollar pay raise, and approves 39 million dollars in new public-school funding. Monroe Representative Katrina Jackson says the state is long overdue for an increase in education spending.
The pay raises plus additional funding will cost the state an extra 140 million dollars a year.
The Senate passes legislation legalizing industrial hemp production and CBD oil, but the upper chamber packed it with new amendments, so the proposal still needs House approval. Franklin Senator Bret Allain says farmers are itching to grow hemp, as the prices for rice, cotton, and soybeans are currently low.
The Senate amends a proposal to let medical marijuana patients use cannabis inhalers that results in the measure’s favorable passage. New Orleans Senator JP Morrell spoke in favor of the bill, saying providing a remedy for debilitating issues when other drugs fail to help is the fair thing to do.
Cut 13 (11) “…suffer in silence.”
Following the 31-7 favorable vote, the bill is heading back to the House.
On a 58-29 vote, the House approves a bill that prohibits Louisiana food manufacturers from labeling a food cauliflower rice if it doesn’t contain rice. Monroe Representative Katrina Jackson voted for the bill because she says the labeling is confusing
Cut 10 (10) “…alternative products.”
Opponents don’t buy that argument, and don’t see how consumers could be confused by a product called cauliflower rice.