Capitol Access

The race to replace Cedric Richmond in Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District is finally set, with 15 candidates qualifying, most of them from New Orleans. Baton Rouge activist Gary Chambers, who is best known for his fiery criticism of local elected officials, is mounting his own congressional bid.

State lawmakers have approved an emergency plan for Louisiana elections taking place in February and later this spring.

Republican state lawmakers narrowly passed a bill Tuesday that would rein in Gov. John Bel Edwards’ emergency powers, accomplishing the top item on their to- do list for this special session. But lawmakers’ efforts may be rendered moot by the Democratic governor’s veto pen.

Louisianans headed to the polls in record numbers during the first two days of early, in-person voting for the upcoming presidential election.

Today, the Louisiana Workforce Commission will start receiving money from the federal government to shore up the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and keep weekly benefits flowing.

Another measure aimed at limiting Gov. John Bel Edwards’ authority to impose and enforce coronavirus restrictions advanced in the Louisiana Legislature on Monday.

The Louisiana Legislature met briefly Monday to officially kick off the second special session of the year. But as Paul Braun reports, the real work starts today.

Louisiana state lawmakers are headed back to the Capitol for the second special legislative session of the year. They’re giving themselves 30 days to address Hurricane Laura recovery, the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, and the nearly-empty Unemployment Trust Fund.

This week a federal judge issued a ruling that would require Louisiana to expand access to mail-in ballots during this fall’s presidential election. The ruling came from a lawsuit that pit voting rights advocates and Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards against Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin.

All Louisianans currently receiving state unemployment benefits will likely be eligible for the partial extension of weekly federal benefits authorized by executive actions taken by President Donald Trump over the weekend, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards. The governor made the announcement Thursday, two days after he said nearly half of the state’s unemployed workers would be ineligible for the weekly $300 payments on top of state unemployment benefits.

You don't have to look far to find controversy around mask mandates and business closures. Just scroll through social media or take a trip to the grocery store in Louisiana, multiple groups of business owners have filed lawsuits, challenging Gov. John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus restrictions.

After three months of delays, Louisiana's presidential primary election is underway. It's coming in the midst of a resurgence of the coronavirus and public reckoning around racial inequity.

The first special legislative session of 2020 is in the books. In the final day, state lawmakers passed bills that would shield schools from civil liability during the coronavirus pandemic, expand business tax breaks, and enact “historic” tort reform legislation.

Louisiana lawmakers spent the penultimate day of the special session ducking in an out of backroom negotiations as they finalized the language of tort reform legislation, proposed tax breaks, coronavirus response measures and the state operating budget.

On Thursday, state senators quietly granted final legislative approval on a measure establishing a task force to study policing practices and excessive uses of force against people of color. The results of the study will lay the groundwork for broader police reform legislation next year. The resolution was a direct response to the police killing of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who died after a White police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The measure sailed through...

The Senate Finance Committee rolled out its version of the state budget Wednesday and proposed temporarily halting pay raises for state employees to prepare for possible mid-year budget adjustments. Holding off on pay raises until October would save the state $60 million. Senate Finance Chairman Bodi White says if the economy improves by then-- or if Congress passes another relief bill-- that $60 million would go back to state agencies and state employees would get their raises. If not, the...

With less than a week left in the special session, the Senate Finance Committee is to vote on the state operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. They’re expected to amend the spending plan to account for a slew of House-passed tax breaks and business incentives aimed at stimulating the struggling economy. Cuts for casinos, oil and gas producers-- businesses large and small-- and all in the name of coronavirus relief. Together they would take hundreds of millions of dollars out of state...

State Treasurer John Schroder briefed members of the Joint Budget Committee Monday morning on his plan for doling out $300 million of CARES Act money to small businesses affected by the coronavirus. Schroder says as many as 450,000 Louisiana businesses could qualify for the relief grants through the Louisiana Main Street Recovery Program. The maximum payout is $15,000. Any businesses that received federal aid through the Paycheck Protection Program or the U.S. Small Business Administration...

Gov. John Bel Edwards has a press conference scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon. He is expected to announce whether the state is ready to move into the third phase of reopening. The last time he addressed the public, the outlook was not good. Cases and hospitalizations were trending upward several regions of the state—mostly from community spread. Since then state health officials have identified a series of clusters tied to so-called “super-spreader events.” Friday afternoon, The Louisiana...

On Thursday, the Louisiana House of Representatives approved the capital outlay bill -- the list of state construction projects to be funded in the coming year-- then minutes later voted down the bill that would pay for it . It required a two-thirds vote-- 70 yeas. It got 65 . The failure gives outnumbered Democratic lawmakers and Gov. John Bel Edwards a little bit more leverage as the two parties fight over how to spend $347 million surplus dollars from the 2019 fiscal year. Edwards wants...