Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature - Halfway Point

[00:00:10] Welcome to The Pelican Brief with your host David Tatman

[00:00:16] Welcome to The Pelican Brief. I am your host David Tatman. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:00:35] In this episode we're going to talk about some of the major issues in the 2024 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature.

[00:00:42] We're going to talk public records, constitutional convention, the new city of St. George

[00:00:49] and the zombie school district. Sounds a little bit intimidating.

[00:00:54] So what's happening at the Louisiana State Capitol as we move through the regular session in 2024?

[00:01:00] So one of the big issues that has popped up is an issue dealing with public records

[00:01:06] and access to the Freedom of Information Act and public records request.

[00:01:11] So there's a bill, Senate Bill 482 by Senator Heather Cloud from Turkey Creek

[00:01:17] which provides for public records involved in the governor or his family

[00:01:23] and then public records broadly in which governmental decisions and policies are formulated.

[00:01:30] The legislation would apply to things like emails, messages and other records produced by officials while making government decision.

[00:01:39] So it has passed the Senate and governmental affairs committee

[00:01:44] and now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.

[00:01:48] The newspapers and the media are apoplectic about this bill.

[00:01:53] The world's going to end, the sky's falling, chicken little yada yada yada.

[00:01:59] The governor has argued that records from government agencies and deliberations have been weaponized to stifle deliberative speech.

[00:02:08] The opposition comes mostly from people who have a history of weaponizing public records

[00:02:14] and making those requests to attack elected officials that they don't agree with philosophically.

[00:02:21] One person has said publicly that they made 450 public records requests in one year.

[00:02:28] This is one person. Multiply that by the number of reporters in these so-called citizens advocacy groups

[00:02:36] and it gets out of hand. Let me tell you a little story, bring a personal touch to it.

[00:02:41] I served as president of the East Baton Rouge Power School Board for six of my 12 years

[00:02:47] and I can tell you that records, public records requests were weaponized.

[00:02:53] If you voted against a particular group or you voted in a different direction

[00:02:58] they would make these massive public records requests.

[00:03:02] There's a specific timeframe that you have to get those requests out.

[00:03:07] You can be in violation of state law. If you don't, that has to be changed.

[00:03:11] And the reality of it is it's very expensive and I'll tell you how expensive it was with the East Baton Rouge Power School System.

[00:03:17] We had to hire a full-time person just to answer the public records request.

[00:03:25] And then all of those requests have to be reviewed by council.

[00:03:30] So our council was heavily involved in those conversations and to make sure they weren't violating any other laws

[00:03:37] like for example if there were personnel decisions that were involved they would have to be redacted.

[00:03:43] I mean it was pretty complicated.

[00:03:45] And so I just share with you that in my personal experience and then in my political experience

[00:03:52] when I ran for school board for my third term a company out of California did public records request

[00:04:01] and try to actually get all of my information from my company and my dealings

[00:04:06] and look it was designed to try to find me doing something wrong so that if they wanted to run somebody against me

[00:04:14] it was sort of like what do you call it opposition research if you will.

[00:04:18] Of course I had to produce all that, some of that, I didn't have to produce all of it.

[00:04:24] I produced what was in the law but it was clearly harassment.

[00:04:28] And so I actually like this bill.

[00:04:31] I think to make a public records request, I think and this is probably unconstitutional but it's okay.

[00:04:38] We never let the constitution get in the way of a good law.

[00:04:41] They ought to have to put their driver's license up or some sort of identification of what is the public records request for,

[00:04:49] who's asking for it and what is it that they're looking for.

[00:04:52] I'd like to see that.

[00:04:53] I don't think there's anything wrong with that but that doesn't happen.

[00:04:56] And when it happened to me it was a company out of California that was basically a front group.

[00:05:00] So the bill passes Senate and governmental affairs committee overwhelmingly 6-2.

[00:05:05] It now goes to the Senate floor for final passage.

[00:05:08] Expect a lively debate.

[00:05:11] You know there used to be a saying when it came to the media and politicians.

[00:05:18] And it used to say you don't pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.

[00:05:23] And of course that's a reference to how powerful the press can be and how vindictive they can be.

[00:05:28] But things have changed.

[00:05:29] People don't read newspapers like they used to.

[00:05:32] They get their news from a variety of sources and oftentimes those sources are particular to what they want to hear.

[00:05:43] So the mainstream media and our local newspapers clearly have bias.

[00:05:48] You can read it.

[00:05:49] I do.

[00:05:50] I think if you would disagree with that it's no longer news.

[00:05:53] It's propaganda.

[00:05:54] I don't know if you've ever read the story about NPR and about how they only hired reporters who were Democrats.

[00:06:02] I have nothing against Democrats.

[00:06:04] I have a child who's a Democrat.

[00:06:06] I love Democrats.

[00:06:07] I have good friends that are Democrats.

[00:06:09] But don't we think that from a news perspective it would be good to have a variety of opinions and positions on things?

[00:06:16] I don't know.

[00:06:17] So the media will actually have to work to get news stories if this bill passes.

[00:06:22] Perhaps they'll actually have to work hard enough to get the stories right.

[00:06:26] So we shall see.

[00:06:27] So let's move on to a different subject matter.

[00:06:30] Let's talk Louisiana's 2024 constitutional convention.

[00:06:35] We're going to start calling it by a nickname maybe like CC24 or con con.

[00:06:40] Although con con seems kind of not good.

[00:06:43] The word con doesn't have a really positive connotation.

[00:06:46] So we'll just go with CC24.

[00:06:48] But I wanted to clarify something that I had reported on on a previous show relative to the proposed CC24.

[00:06:56] So in a previous show I said that they would end the session early to start the constitutional convention.

[00:07:02] That is actually not what they're talking about doing.

[00:07:05] So HB 800 by Representative Bobo.

[00:07:08] Bobo yay out of New Iberia has now passed the House and governmental affairs committee by a vote of nine.

[00:07:15] Yes to five days.

[00:07:17] The legislation was amended and I'm going to talk a little bit about those amendments because it's in a different posture than when I originally talked about this.

[00:07:27] So so this would provide the amendments put in the constitutional convention construct specific vote requirements.

[00:07:37] Making the House Senate and gubernatorial appointees separate bodies that would act as a tri-cameral body.

[00:07:46] So whatever was passed would have to pass each of those different bodies.

[00:07:51] In addition to that there is retention of certain articles that would not be touched by the constitutional convention specifically articles one two three and four.

[00:08:03] So let's go through those.

[00:08:05] Article one is the declaration of rights things like property rights and so on and so forth.

[00:08:10] Article two is the distribution of power so that talks about how government is run.

[00:08:15] Article three is a legislative branch and article four is the executive branch under the bill as it's currently postured.

[00:08:24] The those four parts of the Constitution wouldn't be touched by the constitutional convention.

[00:08:30] They'd be in essence protected to say what they say now who is in play.

[00:08:35] Well let's see the judiciary and the entire judicial part of the government local governments would be in play revenue and finance issues about how state government is funded.

[00:08:47] Education would be up for debate.

[00:08:51] Natural resources would also be up for changes in the constitutional convention and of course maybe the biggest elephant in the room is the civil service system in Louisiana.

[00:09:01] There were some changes to the bill prior to when the bill was originally introduced the deadline submission for submission was July 15th.

[00:09:13] I would change that now that this would be submitted by June 3rd 2024 but it does allow a provision that allows for an extension by the body if they choose to to July 15th which was the original deadline to submit the new Constitution of war consideration.

[00:09:35] It also provides a couple of other items that it makes it clear that the AG the attorney general or Liz's designee as the legal advisor to the process.

[00:09:47] It also provides that there are no violations of dual office holding you know being a legislator and being on the constitutional convention and so on.

[00:09:56] And then it added a provision that protects any judges who participate in the constitutional convention that they could hear cases that were based on the new Constitution without need of recusal.

[00:10:11] So the House and governmental affairs chairman and the author also clarified the plan was not to end the session early as I said early the plan is to begin CC 24 while the legislature is still in.

[00:10:23] So you'd literally have the constitutional convention going on while the other regular set while the rest of the regular session is going it would run concurrently for about the approximately the last two weeks.

[00:10:36] And the structure will bring forth that try camera format that we talked about. So right now we have a dual camera with House and Senate in the legislative process this would be try camera so it would have to pass the House the Senate and the governor's

[00:10:50] appointments each body in the convention would have to approve it there's also consideration of the language that would extend the amount of time I think that's going to change and be fluid.

[00:11:02] HB 800 is now on the floor the fate of the legislation on the floor I think is probably pretty solid although we tell you that it was a slam dunk before it may be a little bit more difficult.

[00:11:17] Now there are people who are thinking that maybe that's a little too quick to do it.

[00:11:23] Keep in mind that the last time we held a constitution the enabling legislation was passed in the spring of 72. The convention was convened in the on January 5 of 73 and the Constitution finished up with an election in the fall of 74 so it took over two years

[00:11:42] this effort appears to attempt to get this done within a couple of weeks. We shall see so keep keep your eye out the bill is HB 800 is now on the House floor there is an expectation that could be heard this week we will see

[00:12:01] so in other news shifting right as it would be right at the time when it would be appropriate or timely the Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the city of St. George can move forward with their incorporation

[00:12:21] so the Louisiana Supreme Court in a 4-3 vote rejected all the lower court rulings giving the green light for the formation of what will be Louisiana's eighth largest municipality.

[00:12:34] This is a huge win for the proponents of the city of St. George and in my opinion a loss for the city of Baton Rouge but the city of St. George is legal it provides the constitutional appropriate right to self determination

[00:12:55] and it's just in time for that announcement than the question is could the city of St. George school district become a reality so funny you should ask House bill 6 by representative Emily Shenever of Baton Rouge would grant any legislatively created public school school system

[00:13:17] the same treatment and authority granted to parishes for the purpose of the minimum foundation program funding and local taxing authority in English the legislation would remove the legal barriers that make it difficult to create a new public school system in Louisiana

[00:13:37] because of that it could bring life to the breakaway district in Southeast Baton Rouge which was first approved legislatively by through the city of St. George movement they call it the zombie school district so something that existed but is not funded

[00:13:56] so this bill that House bill 6 that representative Emily Shenever if pass by the legislature would go to voters and in essence the bill would give the power to create new school districts to the legislature and take out the step where you have to have a constitutional amendment that is

[00:14:16] approved statewide is approved within this the confines of the East Baton Rouge parish voters and within the school district itself so the Southeast school district was approved through the legislature but never funded through the MFB the bill would change that this House bill 6 if pass by the legislature and approved by the governor it would be on the November ballot for consideration

[00:14:43] and if that happens the Southeast Baton Rouge community school system would begin in July of 2025 it would be the 70th school district in the state keep an eye on this one because the bill has so many layers to consider and take a look at the map of the city of St. George incorporation

[00:15:08] and then take a look at the Southeast Baton Rouge community school system map and you will find that they are not they're not a lot aligned and they don't have to be you can have a city that outlines a school district that doesn't necessarily fit the municipality lines

[00:15:26] and so you can look to other school districts that have been that have been approved central Baker Zachary and so on take a look at that because it's going there are many layers to this and there's a lot of things are going to have to be done but congratulations to the proponents of the city of St. George and I look forward to having a further conversation about this is going to be really interesting

[00:15:52] so in other news that many of our followers have been very very interested in is insurance reform the insurance reform package moving through the legislative process that has been led by our insurance commissioner Tim temple is moving through the process and it will definitely have an impact on property insurance markets in Louisiana now they're not going to promise a rate decrease and neither am I but I will tell you that if they don't have to be there

[00:16:22] if this package passes as we believe that it will pass you're going to see and you're going to see an impact within a year of on property rates and more importantly property insurance availability it's very exciting now the bills that impact auto insurance are not moving as easily this week will be a pivotal point in the process the senate judiciary a committee which took testimony on all of those bills

[00:16:52] and the bill board lawyers will vote on the package that has been promoted by lobby or what we call lobby is the Louisiana association of business and industry so this is a classic fight between the business community and the bill board lawyers keep your eye on this one it'll be interesting to see what role the governor plays into this process

[00:17:16] episode for this week thanks thank you so much for listening love my love my followers representative Joe Orzaron one of my biggest fans out there and other people who are listening look at let me know I'll give you a shout out lots of people listen to it but Joe's always we have discussions about our show and he's been a supporter since day one you can follow us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter

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