Lawmakers return to Baton Rouge today for a two-month legislative session with a statewide election right around the corner. Matt Doyle has the story…
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A bill that would raise the gas tax has advocates mobilizing for a legislative battle over the future of Louisiana’s roads and bridges. Matt Doyle has more.
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Governor John Bel Edwards focal point of the legislative session is pay raises for teachers and school support staff. Kevin Barnhart has the story.
Cut 3 (30) “I’m Kevin Barnhart”
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Louisiana’s supply of Hepatits C medication is about to drastically increase as the Louisiana Department of Health finalized a first in the nation deal with Asegua Therapeutics for “subscription model” access to the lifesaving treatment.
Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee says before the new arrangement, thousands of Hep C sufferers went untreated.
The “subscription model” will pay Asegua a flat fee every year for unlimited access to the medication roughly equal to the amount the state previously paid when ordering “a la carte”.
Gee says it’s a remarkable drug that can cure the deadly virus in almost everyone that receives the daily pill based treatment.
less than 3 percent of Medicaid patients with Hep C were treated last year.
37,000 Medicaid recipients and incarcerated people suffer from Hep C, and the program is aiming to treat 10,000 of them by the end of 2020. Gee says treating inmates will dramatically increase their likelihood of reintegrating into society.
The contract is expected to be in place by June 1st.
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The 2019 legislative session gets underway at noon. It was very contentious at the State Capitol last year as lawmakers struggled to pass a budget, because of a huge deficit. This year the budget is in better shape, but political analyst Bernie Pinsonat doesn’t expect the process of approving a new budget will go smoothly…
Legislators can file up to five non-fiscal bills in this session and Pinsonat says legalizing sports betting and a proposal to extend Harrah’s New Orleans Casino’s land license for another 30 years will be hotly debated
This session will feature another effort to raise the state’s gasoline tax, but Pinsonat says the proposal by Baton Rouge Representative Steve Carter will start the legislative process in the lower chamber…
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A proposal to raise the gas tax to fund bridge and road repair and expansion is shaping up to be one of the early battlegrounds in the revenue focused legislative session that kicks off today. Louisiana Coalition to Fix Our Roads President Eric Ponti backs the proposal to raise the tax by six cents in the first year, and 18 cents total over 10 years.
Americans for Prosperity State Director John Kay opposed a similar proposal in 2017 that failed to gain momentum, and says anti-tax crusaders will be back to stop this year’s push as well.
Kay says our roads do need more of an investment, but before the state considers a higher gasoline tax, it should dedicate the current 20-cent gas tax completely to infrastructure and not use a portion to pay for salaries within the department of transportation…
Representative Carter’s legislation guarantees that all new funds generated by the tax would go towards our roads, and Ponti says there’s already a mechanism in place to ensure that money isn’t used for other purposes….
The 2019 Louisiana Survey showed 69 percent were in favor of a five cent gas tax increase, but only 46 percent support for a 20 cent rise.
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One of the focal points of the legislative session is pay raises for teachers and school support staff. House Education Chairman Nancy Landry says it’s a priority that teachers get a pay raise and there is bipartisan agreement that teachers do not get enough.
Governor Edwards is behind a $1000 pay raise for teachers and a $500 raise for support staff. Edwards also supports an additional 39-million dollars in public school education funding. But Landry is not on board with that proposal…
Cut 15 (10) “…the urgency there.”
Landry says she’d rather see additional funding for early childhood education to help working families who can’t pay for high quality daycare.
Cut 16 (10) “…critical time period.”
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Big explosive offensive plays were lacking in LSU’s spring football game on Saturday, but the quarterbacks were sharp throwing short and intermediate passes to a variety of wide receivers. Starting quarterback Joe Burrow was 15 of 25 for 159 yards, one touchdown and one interception…
Burrow didn’t participate in spring football, because he didn’t arrive on the LSU campus until summertime. He says they didn’t show all of the offense on Saturday, but he’s still optimistic in its potential…
LSU took two of three from Texas A-and-M to move into a three-way tie for first place in the SEC West. The Tigers took the final game of the series on Saturday night with a nine to three win over the Aggies. Freshman pitcher Cole Henry had another impressive outing as he allowed two runs over eight innings and struck out nine. Coach Paul Mainieri…
LSU banged out 12 hits in the rubber match of the series, led by Zach Watson, who had four hits. Mainieri says his hitters performed well against one of the top pitching staffs in the country…