Louisiana Legislature

Less than a week after Louisiana lawmakers rejected legislation that would explicitly allow people who end their pregnancies to be charged with homicide, a House committee advanced a different criminalization bill that abortion rights advocates say could lead to the same outcome.

Members of the state’s Senate Finance Committee worked over the weekend to advance the state’s nearly $40 billion operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.Capitol Access reporter Paul Braun joined WWNO Host Karl Lengel to discuss the latest version of the state spending plans.

A controversial abortion bill that would have allowed the state of Louisiana to charge doctors who perform abortions and people who undergo the procedure with murder died on the House floor Thursday after Republican state lawmakers gutted the bill at the request of establishment anti-abortion organizations.

Ahead of its Thursday vote, a controversial proposal that would allow Louisiana to prosecute people who undergo or perform abortions as murderers faces an uncertain fate after anti-abortion groups came out against the legislation.

As the United States braces for the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade and an end to the constitutional protection of abortion rights, Louisiana lawmakers are advancing legislation that would bolster their ability to criminally punish doctors and individuals who violate the state’s abortion restrictions.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia have bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, a practice the American Academy of Pediatrics considers ineffective and inhumane. But Wednesday, a state House committee rejected legislation attempting to add Louisiana to that list.

Louisiana state lawmakers advanced legislation Tuesday that would funnel all 17-year-olds accused of crimes into the adult criminal justice system. Attorney General Jeff Landry and some state prosecutors are pushing for the change less than two years after “Raise the Age” legislation formally ended the practice in Louisiana.

A House Committee shot down a bill Monday that would have rolled back law enforcement officers’ qualified immunity from civil lawsuits. The effort was part of a nationwide push to empower victims of police violence and hold bad actors accountable in civil courts when criminal courts fall short. But many of the law enforcement groups that considered paring down the legal protections for officers last year reversed course.

Today, the state House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to advance a package of spending bills, including the operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. But the House version of the bill has drawn some criticism from Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Louisiana’s medical marijuana program has seen a huge increase in demand. In recent years, state lawmakers removed some of the tight restrictions on who qualifies for the drug and who can prescribe it, but tight limitations on the number of growers and pharmacies that sell the drug, and a complex regulatory structure, have led to frustrating supply chain issues for patients.Lawmakers took aim at some of those systems with legislation considered by the House Health and Welfare Committee Monday.