Louisiana Legislature

The House natural resources committee was divided on Tuesday after hearing the first round of bills that would tighten restrictions on carbon capture projects in Louisiana.Republican lawmakers from the Florida Parishes filed nine bills this session in response to local backlash against a major project that would store carbon dioxide about a mile beneath Lake Maurepas, a recreational and cultural hub for the area. On Tuesday, the committee heard five of those bills.

Louisiana is on the cusp of a carbon capture bonanza. For many, that is cause for concern. In turn, lawmakers from across the Florida Parishes — especially those representing Livingston, Tangipahoa and St. Helena — have filed nine bills to respond to their residents’ concerns. It’s the most legislation filed on issues related to carbon capture and storage since the state first legalized it by passing the Louisiana Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act in 2009, to little fanfare.

A Pennsylvania company and global leader in carbon capture technology hired 25 lobbyists ahead of the Louisiana Legislature’s regular lawmaking session this year as the business faces a slew of bills meant to push back on its “blue hydrogen” plant proposed for Ascension Parish.

In an unusual move, the Louisiana House voted Tuesday to revive a controversial bill that would ban public school teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.

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 became the latest state to file a Florida-style “Don’t Say Gay” bill when state Rep. Dodie Horton (R-Haughton) introduced new legislation Thursday on the house floor.

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a congressional map backed by Republican legislative leaders that includes only one majority-Black congressional district, two days after the Louisiana Senate approved a similar measure.

The state’s four-member Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) adopted a revenue projection on Tuesday, which showed the state collected far more in individual income taxes, general sales taxes and corporate taxes than economists predicted last year when it remained unclear what impact the pandemic would have on the economy and the state’s finances.

Louisiana’s once-in-a-decade restricting session will officially begin Feb. 1, state lawmakers announced Tuesday.

Louisiana state lawmakers and family members of individuals who died in Louisiana State Police custody expressed growing frustration with the agency’s public overtures about increasing transparency and accountability for bad actors within their ranks.