BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A measure that would have barred local government entities from unintentionally paying women less than men for the same work was killed Thursday by the House labor committee.
The measure by Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, would have expanded the Louisiana Equal Pay for Women Act of 2013, which protects only state government employees from unintentional pay discrimination based on sex.
Committee members voted 7-5 against the idea after hearing no debate on the proposal.
Women’s organizations supported Murray’s bill, along with a more sweeping proposal by Sen. Karen Peterson, D-New Orleans, pending on the Senate floor that would bar unintentional pay discrimination based on sex in the private and public sector.
Intentional discrimination is already unlawful, but supporters argue it is not enough since it is difficult to prove intent. They argue that banning unintentional pay discrimination would combat the gender pay gap, which in Louisiana is wider than the national average.
Business organizations oppose measures targeting unintentional discrimination, arguing it would lead to frivolous lawsuits.
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Lawmakers in the House on Thursday rewrote and passed a Senate-approved bill to lengthen the possible jail time for heroin dealers in Louisiana.
Under the revamped version (Senate Bill 87), the minimum sentence for distribution of heroin would be increased from five years to 10 years. The maximum sentence for a first offense would remain 50 years, but would grow to 99 years for later convictions.
Critics of the measure said that allowing what is essentially a life sentence for drug dealing was too high a penalty.
“You don’t think that’s excessive?” asked Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge.
James said someone convicted of manslaughter can get a lesser sentence for killing someone than would be allowed for a heroin dealer under the bill.
Rep. Joe Lopinto, R-Metairie, who handled the proposal in the House, described the measure as a compromise with Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, who sought tougher penalties.
“I don’t have a problem with the 50 years, but we compromise in this body every day,” Lopinto said.
Claitor’s rewritten bill heads back to the Senate with a 54-33 vote of the House. The Senate will consider whether to agree to the changes or send it to a legislative compromise committee.
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Senators advanced a bill to repeal a 2008 law that prohibits state officials from issuing driver’s licenses with federally-mandated security features that raised privacy concerns.
Under federal law, REAL ID-compliant licenses will be required to board domestic airline flights by 2016. Without such an ID, passengers will be required to produce a passport or could be subject to intense questioning from airport security.
The Senate transportation committee agreed without objection to a proposal by Rep. Karen St. Germain, D-Pierre Part, that would adopt a two-tiered system, allowing those who want to get licenses with the security features to do so and those who don’t to decline.
“I want to make sure my constituents have every possible choice,” St. Germain said.
Opponent Sandy McDade, with the conservative Louisiana Power Coalition, said allowing compliance with REAL ID would put the federal government in charge of Louisiana’s driver’s license.
“I think it’s time to say no to the federal government,” she said, unsuccessfully urging senators to kill the bill.
The House already has agreed to the idea (House Bill 907), which moves next to the full Senate for consideration.
Col. Mike Edmonson, the head of Louisiana State Police, who supported the bill, said Louisiana needs to scan into a database and store the birth certificates of people with drivers’ licenses to move into compliance with the federal law.
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The Senate’s budget committee refused to give Louisiana’s public colleges new protection from budget cuts when they raise tuition on students.
Recently when schools have increased tuition and fees, Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature have stripped similar amounts of state general fund money from the higher education budget. Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, said that maneuver is inappropriate.
Leger proposed a constitutional amendment (House Bill 222) to ban the replacing of state funds with college tuition and fee hikes in the state budget, with exceptions during a deficit. The House agreed to the idea.
When he got to the Senate Finance Committee, Leger rewrote the proposal to set a floor of state funding for higher education. If lawmakers wanted to cut below that level, they’d face higher vote hurdles to do that slashing. It would take effect on July 1, 2016.
But senators said they disagreed with adding new dedications to the state budget, saying that makes it more difficult to cope with budget cuts when they are needed.
The Finance Committee voted 8-1 against the bill, killing it. Only Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, supported the proposal.
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In other legislative action:
-The Senate Education Committee refused to add more restrictions to the state education board’s ability to create new charter schools. The panel rejected a House-backed proposal (House Bill 703) by Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, that would prohibit the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from starting a new charter school in a school district graded with an A, B or C that already had denied the charter school application.
-Lawmakers have agreed to set a minimum prison term of five years for anyone convicted of the crime of home invasion who is armed with a weapon. The bill (Senate Bill 313) by Sen. Mack “Bodi” White, R-Baton Rouge, received final passage Thursday with a 80-8 vote of the House. The measure heads to Gov. Bobby Jindal.
-A highway overpass in Iberia Parish will be named the “George Rodrigue Memorial Overpass” in honor of the famed Blue Dog artist who died in December. The Senate gave final passage to the bill (House Bill 402) requiring the naming with a 33-0 vote Thursday. The measure by Rep. Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, goes next to the governor’s desk.
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Online:
Louisiana Legislature: www.legis.la.gov
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