Several new bills have been filed since the start of the regular session, including a bill that would make defamation a crime with penalties up to $500 in fines and six months in prison. The bill’s definition of defamation includes true statements if there is "malice" behind them.
Another bill would gut much of Louisiana’s public records law. It would block the public from viewing any records that reflect “advisory opinions, recommendations and deliberations” at all levels of government. Both bills were filed by Republicans.
And a new bill in the Senate seeks to get rid of gassing — or nitrogen hypoxia — as an execution method in Louisiana. Lawmakers added that method just earlier this year.
Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, D-Monroe, says she brought the bill at the request of a Jewish activist group that expressed offense to the method.