Legislative Session starts Monday in Baton Rouge

For those who represent Vermilion Parish, as well as the other 63 parishes around the state, the next three months will be busy.
The Louisiana State Legislature is set to begin its 85-day general session this Monday. Those who will be in Baton Rouge working on behalf of Vermilion will be Sen. Jonathan Perry, Rep. Bob Hensgens, Rep. Simone Champagne and Rep. Nancy Landry. Each does represent portions of other parishes.
Hensgens, along with Vermilion, represents portions of Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes. This will be his fourth session. He said this represents a great opportunity.
“I very much look forward to it every year,” Hensgens said. “You get to get back together with everybody and get some good work done. “We should have a session that is pretty light on huge controversies. Of course you could always come across some.
“Each year is different from others, but I am looking forward to the session.”
Hensgens has prefiled three bills. That includes House Bill 21 that would authorize a retired member of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana who does not have a valid teaching certificate to return to work as a substitute instructor and continue to receive retirement benefits.
“We are still in negotiation on that one,” Hensgens said of details that will be worked out during the next several weeks.”
Like her colleague, Champagne, who also represents part of Iberia Parish, said she is ready for what the next several weeks will bring.
“I am looking forward to the session,” Champagne said. “This is a general session so we won’t be dealing with taxes. I am the vice chair of Appropriations and I am looking forward to digging into the budget.
“As always, we will not be short of controversial issues and I look forward to the debates.”
Champagne said she will also continue to focus on an area of great meaning to many of her constituents.
“I will continue to concentrate on Coastal issues with my legislation,” Champagne said.
Two of the 13 bills prefiled by Champagne pertain to coastal funding. House Bill 148 would require that monies received by the state from violations of certain federal and state laws associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill be deposited into the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund. House Bill 408 would authorize the legislative auditor to audit projects related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
“Protecting dollars meant to protect our coastline is of utmost importance,” Champagne said.
Part of Perry’s focus during the session will be on protecting drivers. Perry spoke to several groups leading up to the start of session. He spoke to the Maurice Board of Alderman in February and informed that changes to the state’s DWI laws is on his agenda. House Bill 277, one of three bills prefiled by Perry, would provide changes to those laws.
“Most of my bills’ focus will be on strengthening DWI laws,” Perry said. “I do that every, single session. Some pass and some don’t. This bill (277) is a neutral bill and is simply re-writing it and putting it in better order.
“It doesn’t seem like much on its face, but these are the type of things that could potentially lower auto insurance.”
Perry said he is not against drinking. He is simply interested in not seeing it cost lives.
“As a former police officer and prosecutor,” Perry said, “I will not tell anyone not do drink. There is just never a reason to do get behind a wheel (after you have been drinking).”
Landry, who also represents Lafayette Parish, joined Perry at the Maurice meeting. Landry prefiled 20 bills, a large portion of which pertains to education.
“We think that some big issues coming up are going to be in education,” Landry said. “Common Core is going to be a big issue.”
There will be plenty of discussion on many issues. Along with their own bills, senators and reps will have their hands full.
“We have the ability to sponsor an unlimited amount of bills this year,” Hensgens said. “Last year we could only do five non-fiscal bills. This year we can do as many as a we want. We are going to be going through thousands of bills. Hopefully we will only be bringing hundreds to the house from committee.
“We have a lot of work to do in the committee rooms.”
Other issues could come up during the session beyond what exists going into Monday. The deadline to prefile bills passed on Feb. 28. Each legislator is allowed five late-entry bills.
“If one of our constituents has an issue they can still bring it up,” Hensgens said. “It is harder for a staff to write a good bill in a week. We have some unbelievable staffers, but if they are trying to write them in a short period of time, you may end up with something that is not its best. The best time to bring up an issue is around November. That way it will come out nice and clean.
“It is not uncommon to hear from a constituent after the session starts, though.”
Hensgens said Friday morning that he is ready for whatever Monday and the next 84 days bring.
“I am ready to go and I think most of us are,” Hensgens said. “It’s doing the people’s work and I enjoy it.”