BusinessReport.com

The Legislature's regular session will commence at month’s end and, as usual, there's a confluence of lawmakers ready to throw the book and kitchen sink at crime-related issues – due chiefly to tough promises made on the campaign trail last year. There’s the "Pay-Your-Way Bill" by Rep. Damon Baldone, a Houma Democrat, which promises to generate hours of gab on talk radio. It would require inmates in work-release programs to use their wages to pay for their entire incarceration, from meals to boarding. Big Tobacco, meanwhile, will hire top-dollar lobbyists for another measure by Rep. Walker Hines, a New Orleans Democrat, which would make it a criminal act to sell cigarettes to anyone under 21. Creating new crimes, in fact, is sort of a pasttime for the Legislature, and the hobby will only gain momentum in the session. There are hordes of bills that create the crimes of battery of an adult protective services worker, criminal damage to rental property, home invasion, harboring an illegal alien, creating fake IDs, vandalism by graffiti, forged insurance documents and much more. There are also other bills that would raise the minimum mandatory sentences for felons possessing firearms and those convicted of armed robbery. It’s an annual debate in the Legislature—that is, how to be tough on crime without overcrowding jails. To that end, there are likewise broad-based bills being pushed by Rep. Elbert Guillory, an Opelousas Democrat, which would prohibit sentence suspensions from the bench from being applied to a long list of crimes. And as a part of that delicate balancing act, Rep. Rickey Hardy, a Democrat from Lafayette, is also proposing legislation that would allow certain drug offenders to swap jail time for military time. The session is scheduled to begin March 31 and must end no later than June 23.--Jeremy Alford