Louisiana lawmakers will start the regular legislative session on April 10. In the meantime, they’ve been filing bills on issues ranging from theft to abortion. Here’s some proposed laws you might want to keep your eyes on.
Car insurers couldn’t use gender as a factor for rates
A law introduced by state Sen. Jay Luneau, a Democrat from Alexandria, would prohibit car insurers from using gender as a risk factor in determining rates. Present law bars companies from using “race, color, creed, or national origin” to determine rates.
Luneau told BR Proud that car insurers unfairly discriminate against women by giving them higher rates than men. The state senator proposed the same bill in 2020 but faced opposition from insurers and the state insurance commission, according to BR Proud.
Requiring defibrillators in every school
State Sen. Cleo Fields, a Democrat from Baton Rouge, proposed a bill that would require every school to have an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
These devices are used on people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, which is among the leading causes of death in the United States, according to the Red Cross. The heart can only be restored to its normal rhythm by an AED, according to the Red Cross.
Field’s law would require each college or university to have an AED easily accessible in its athletic department. Postsecondary, elementary, middle and high schools would all be required to have an AED on their premises.
There would have to be a trained AED user at any interscholastic sporting competition at any level.
Restricting children’s access to library materials
Children’s access to library materials has become a point of controversy in Louisiana, spurred on by Attorney General Jeff Landry, who set up a “Protecting Minors” tip line in 2022 to collect complaints about librarians and other school staff.
The tip line has fielded thousands of memes and joke responses. Some library professionals feel the tip line and similar efforts are solutions in search of a problem, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.
State Sen. Heather Miley Cloud, a Republican from Turkey Creek, proposed a law in step with Landry.
“Many libraries lack adequate policies addressing the access of minors to sexually explicit materials,” the law reads. “In furtherance of this fundamental right, it is the intent of the legislature to require libraries to adopt and implement policy language to limit the access of minors to sexually explicit materials.”
The law would require libraries to adopt policies “to limit the access of minors to sexually explicit material.” That policy would include “a library card system that allows a parent or guardian to select a library card that indicates whether a minor is permitted to check out sexually explicit material physically available in the library.”
