BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Key pieces of Louisiana’s planned criminal justice overhaul passed the House on Tuesday, five days after they were unexpectedly shelved amid a wider political feud.
House lawmakers approved five bills that are part of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ push to decrease Louisiana’s highest-in-the-nation incarceration rate and save millions annually.
The passage of the bills bodes well for their chances of becoming law before the session ends June 8, as the proposals were expected to have a tougher time in the House than the Senate, which is less conservative.
Among the measures now headed to the Senate include Rep. Walt Leger’s proposal to reinvest 70 percent of the estimated $262 million of savings over the next decade into efforts to keep lawbreakers from re-offending. The state would get to keep the remaining $78 million.
“What this package is doing is telling taxpayers that we are going to use their money responsibly,” Leger said. “With the passage of these bills, we could leave our dubious spot of 50th in the nation in incarceration.”
Leger’s proposal passed 97-0, but other measures aimed at easing the financial burden offenders faced a tougher challenge.
Despite having been a member of the task force whose recommendations had resulted in 10 bills being considered by in the Legislature, Republican Rep. Sherman Mack led the opposition against much of the legislation Tuesday, arguing that victims were being overlooked.
Among the measures the Albany disapproved of was Rep. Joe Marino’s proposal to prevent inmates’ child support obligations from continuing to accrue while offenders are behind bars. Such a proposal, Mack said, would deprive children and the offender’s partner of money they deserve.
Marino argued that an offender is much more likely to return to a life of crime if he or she is facing a huge debt they cannot pay off.
Marino removed his bill from consideration and said he would bring it back up after he has a chance to address some of his colleagues’ concerns.
Rep. Helena Moreno also hit roadblocks when it came time to discuss her proposal that drug felons be no longer barred from receiving food stamps. That penalty was the product of ill-advised legislation from the 1990’s that all but six states have since removed, Moreno said. All other felons are eligible for the benefits.
The New Orleans Democrat’s bill passed 77-17, but only after Rep. Steve Pylant, a Winnsboro sheriff, amended it to mandate that the offenders pass drug tests to maintain their eligibility for the benefits.
“I have no problem helping these people but I don’t want them to take any funds and use them to buy drugs,” Pylant said.
Some lawmakers said Pylant’s proposal would be counterproductive, as it would make drug offenders pay for these tests at a time when they are already struggling financially and at risk of re-offending.
“Why would we single out people who are trying to get back on their feet?” Rep. Katrina Jackson of Monroe said. “What happened to forgiveness? When do we forgive a person and let them live their lives?”
The six bills addressed Tuesday had been pulled from the House floor Thursday after some Republicans threatened to trounce the proposals because Democrats were holding up an unrelated financing bill.
Three other Edwards-backed criminal justice bills have passed through the Senate and are awaiting consideration by a House committee. Those proposals are largely focused on reducing sentencing lengths and expanding opportunities for probation and parole.
If the measures all pass, Edwards expects Louisiana’s prison population to be reduced by 10 percent over the next decade.
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House Bills: 116, 249, 489, 519, 680, 681: www.legis.la.gov
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