One of several bills aimed at making life more affordable in Louisiana advanced from the House Commerce Committee Tuesday. New Orleans Democratic Rep. Alonzo Knox’s bill, HB 478, to require utility companies to refund overcharges to customers on the next billing cycle was amended to give them a 90-day timeline for reimbursements. The bill now heads to the Full House.
After heated discussion, a bill to require TOPS recipients to repay their scholarship if they fail to maintain their grades failed to clear the House Tuesday. Recipients would have been responsible for paying back the semester they lost their scholarship to the Board of Regents. The bill, HB 385, did not have the backing of the Board of Regents.
And a bill to allow the legislature to remove certain judges for malfeasance, gross misconduct, or incompetence committed while in office cleared the full Senate along party lines. The bill requires a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to remove a judge. The bill, SB 479 heads to a House committee.
