BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Key pieces of Louisiana’s planned criminal justice overhaul were temporarily shelved Thursday after lawmakers said some Republicans threatened to trounce the proposals because Democrats are holding up an unrelated financing bill.
The House was expected to vote on six bills stemming from a task force’s recommendations aimed at decreasing the state’s highest-in-the-nation incarceration rate and saving millions of dollars annually.
All six bills, however, were being postponed, caught in the crossfire of a partisan budget dispute that has set the House chamber on edge.
“This is the most important thing we will do this session,” Rep. Tanner Magee told his House colleagues as he explained why the bills were being delayed. “But I think we need to come together as a body and let the wounds (from) this session heal a little bit.”
Magee, a Republican from Houma, is carrying a bill that would ease the fees and penalties that prisoners face when they are released.
The delayed criminal justice measures, which are backed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, also include New Orleans Rep. Walt Leger’s proposal to reinvest 70 percent of the estimated $262 million of savings over the next decade into efforts to keep ex-offenders from returning to a life of crime. The state would get to keep the remaining $78 million.
Leger, the House’s top-ranking Democrat, believes the criminal justice bills would have passed Thursday, but the debate would have been contentious, something he is hoping to avoid.
Republican leaders are upset with Democrats for holding up a measure that pays for state-financed construction projects, Leger said. Democrats stalled that bill Wednesday so they can try to force Republicans to negotiate a deal on state spending and tax proposals.
The criminal justice bills were rescheduled for House floor debate on Tuesday, after a long holiday weekend that could ease some legislative tension.
“No one has presented any issues with the bills,” Leger said. “The Republican leadership has indicated that they don’t intend for those bills to die and that they largely support them. We’re going to pass those bills on Tuesday.”
Three other significant bills backed by the task force have already passed through the Senate. Those bills are awaiting consideration by a House committee.
Only two weeks remain in the legislative session, which must end June 8.
___
House Bills: 116, 249, 489, 519, 680, 681: www.legis.la.gov
Please read our comment policy before commenting.