BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The House voted 99-0 Monday for a proposal to ban employers and schools from demanding access to personal email, social media and other types of online accounts.
The bill (House Bill 340) by Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, would prohibit employers and public schools, including colleges and universities, from requesting information such as usernames, passwords or other authentication information that allows them to access personal online accounts.
It also would ban an employer from firing or disciplining someone or a school from expelling or disciplining a student for refusing to provide the information if requested.
The measure wouldn’t prohibit employers or schools from requesting access to information on company-owned devices.
The proposal heads next to the Senate for consideration.
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Louisiana would issue tax refunds via paper check, rather than debit card, if taxpayers don’t say how they want the refunds, under a bill that received support from the House in a 90-0 vote.
The measure (House Bill 436) by Rep. Jim Fannin, R-Jonesboro, would end the revenue department’s practice of giving prepaid debit cards to people who don’t spell out that they want to receive their tax refunds through direct deposit or check.
The prepaid Visa cards have generated complaints since they were introduced two years ago. People have said they don’t understand how to use the cards or were charged fees when they did.
Revenue Secretary Tim Barfield said the state saved money by shrinking the number of paper checks issued, but he said the proposal to switch the default tax refund method wouldn’t significantly increase his agency’s costs.
Fannin’s bill goes to the Senate for consideration.
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All of Louisiana’s parishes and municipalities would be able to create gun buyback programs that allow people to exchange weapons for gift certificates or other compensation, under a proposal that received the backing of the House in a 94-0 vote Monday.
New Orleans is the only city in Louisiana authorized to hold buyback programs, though Baton Rouge has done one for several years in which people turn over weapons in exchange for gas cards.
The bill (House Bill 272) by Rep. Alfred Williams, D-Baton Rouge, would authorize the program in Baton Rouge - and in any parish or municipality that wants to hold something similar in a no-questions-asked effort to get guns off the street.
The proposal moves to the Senate for debate.
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In other legislative action:
-The House unanimously agreed to cut the cost of a state hunting or fishing license for retired members of the military who live in Louisiana. Louisiana would charge a $5 fee for a retired military hunting and fishing license, under the proposal (House Bill 1072) by Rep. Jack Montoucet, D-Crowley. The licenses costs vary by type of hunting and fishing. Montoucet’s bill heads next to the Senate for consideration.
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Online:
Louisiana Legislature: www.legis.la.gov
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