‘LaPolitics’: Attorney general, secretary of state pushing legislative agendas

Attorney General Liz Murrill and Secretary of State Nancy Landry, Louisiana’s highest-ranking women in elected office, are both pushing aggressive legislative agendas in the ongoing regular session.

Murrill, whose national profile is growing alongside her hold over the statewide scene, is doubling down on her tough-on-crime approach and asking lawmakers to give district courts jurisdiction over felony cases involving juveniles at least 15 years of age.

Landry, meanwhile, is working to fulfill her election promise to make Louisiana the No. 1 state in the nation for election integrity. The conservative Heritage Foundation has the state tied for second with Alabama, Florida and Georgia, all of which trail Tennessee.

The secretary has said she expects Louisiana to vault to the top position once it acquires a new, fully auditable voting system. In the meantime, her office is backing a package of about a half dozen legislative instruments.

The general’s agenda

Murrill has a lengthier legislative agenda than Landry, with Senate Bill 74 by Senate Labor Chair Alan Seabaugh receiving the most attention so far.

Seabaugh’s proposal is reminiscent of Amendment 3, which voters soundly rejected last year. That amendment would have allowed the Legislature to expand the list of offenses for which juveniles could be tried, and sentenced, as adults.

The updated version would give district courts jurisdiction over felony cases involving a juvenile defendant if the offense was committed when the person was at least 15 years old.

However, under SB74, cases still would fall under the Children’s Code, unless additional actions are taken to charge the juvenile as an adult. The change is meant to help juvenile courts “focus on misdemeanors, status offenses and rehabilitation of children,” according to the AG’s office.

Also on the AG’s agenda is House Bill 64 by Speaker Pro Tem Mike Johnson, which calls for the approval of the attorney general and the governor before the state or any political subdivision may enter into a federal consent decree. The bill is meant to protect the state “from expensive and long-running consent judgments that impose binding obligations on the state or municipal government.”

Issues such decrees can cover include policing (such as the one the New Orleans Police Department and the city entered into with the federal government in 2012), desegregation, and cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Lester Duhé, press secretary for the AG’s office, says the goal is to limit the power of unelected federal judges.

Other bills on Murrill’s agenda include:

• SB24 by Senate Health Chair Patrick McMath: Funds the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, limits the fund balance to $20 million and calls for using any additional money to pay for medical assistance programs.
• HB27 by Rep. Jay Gallé: Prohibits the release of inmates during a declared emergency without an individualized court order.
• SB39 by Senate Judiciary C Chair Jay Morris: Limits liability of public entities for false imprisonment of a sentenced offender.
• HB72 by Rep. Jason DeWitt: Meant to help the AG’s office collect debts, while allowing a 30-year prescriptive period for student loan debt, rather than the current three years.
• SB95 by Sen. Heather Cloud: Among other changes to rules regarding electronic monitoring services, increases the penalty for services that withhold or fail to report information, and prohibits those companies from providing services for five years.
• SB100 by Sen. Blake Miguez: Codifies language similar to Gov. Jeff Landry’s 2024 executive order on the costs of illegal immigration. Requires state agencies to report services or benefits that have been provided to “illegal aliens” and calculate the cost of services provided to people identified as such.
• HB101 by House Civil Law Chair Nicholas Muscarello: Shifts responsibility to defending civil suits over wrongful convictions from the state to the parish where the conviction was obtained.
• HB123 by Rep. Josh Carlson: Defines “court costs” to include electronic filing fees and removes the 30-day period within which to pay deferred court costs.
• HB193 by Rep. Beryl Amedee: If a prisoner fails to timely initiate or pursue a claim seeking administrative remedies within the deadlines established, their claim would be considered abandoned and any subsequent claim would be dismissed with prejudice.
• HB199 by Rep. Kathy Edmonston: Accused parties claiming indigence would have to submit an affidavit of present assets and support documents for the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the petition, notice of appeal or writ application; or a certified copy of their trust fund account statement if still incarcerated.
• HB303 by Rep. Mike Bayham: Codifies in statute the Fugitive Apprehension Unit within the Office of the Attorney General, which has operated since 2008.
• HB483 by Rep. Mark Wright: Establishes crypto ATMs.
• HB554 by Rep. Dixon McMakin: Calls for a “restriction code” on state-issued IDs to noncitizens who are legal residents.
• HB560 by Rep. Peter Egan: Clarifies the attorney general’s first right of action against Medicaid fraud and lays out the conditions a facility or managed care organization must meet to qualify or remain certified. Murrill’s office says the bill would put Louisiana into federal compliance, allowing for more federal match dollars.
• HB572 by Rep. Brian Glorioso: Among other changes regarding post-conviction relief, provides that if a sentence does not fall within the sentencing range authorized by law, the court may correct it within one year after conviction. There is no time limit under current law.

The SOS package

For her part, Landry will be pushing the following bills this session:

• SB109 by Seabaugh: A constitutional amendment to ban foreign funding of candidates or ballot measures. (Federal law already bans foreigners contributing directly to political candidates and SuperPACs, but in 2021 the Federal Election Commission ruled that ballot initiatives are not “elections” under existing federal law, and therefore the foreign donation prohibition doesn’t apply. At least 10 states have passed similar bans.)
• HB590 by Rep. Annie Spell: The statutory companion to enforce SB109, should it pass.
• SB90 by Senate Education Chair Rick Edmonds: Bans wagering on elections.
• While not yet filed, Edmonds is expected to author a resolution calling for a procedural audit by the Legislative Auditor’s office every four years.
• HB206 by Rep. Michael Melerine: Calls for legislative approval of consent decrees signed by the secretary of state on election matters. (The goal is to ensure that no future secretary of state can bypass the legislative process by entering into consent decrees with third party groups, which has happened in other states.)
• HB351 by Johnson: Assesses court costs and attorney’s fees for knowingly attesting to false information in a “Notice of Candidacy.”
• HB223: by Rep. Jessica Domangue: Increases election commissioner pay.

—They said it: “Rep. Echols, you’re not the only one that objected to your bill. There’s a plethora, which is the word for today, a plethora of people objecting to your bill. It’s basically everybody.” – House Speaker Pro Tem Mike Johnson, during a floor session in which a member’s objection tabled the bill for the day; Echols’ bill is HB 317

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on X, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.