HOUSE BILL 3 FALLS ONE VOTE SHORT OF PASSAGE

by Sheila McCant
Public Information Officer
House Bill 3, the Omnibus Bond Authorization Act which provides financing for the state's construction projects, came up for a second vote on the House Floor today. The bill was one vote short of the 70 votes needed to pass. Last Thursday, it was eight votes shy of the required two-thirds vote. In order to bring the bill to the floor for a third attempt at passage,a two-thirds vote is also required.

Tomorrow, the House Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and Rural Development Committee takes up SB 39 which creates the crime of cockfighting. The House has already passed a similiar bill, HB 108, which is on the calendar awaiting Senate floor action. The House Judiciary Committee will consider HB 120 which would prohibit the Governor's Office of Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security from establishing separate housing for sex offenders in a parish unless the local governing authority approves such housing by ordinance. A similar bill, HB 740, is also on the agenda.

Tomorrow's House Calendar includes a number of tax credit bills as well as HB 970, a comprehensive revision of the sex offender registration and notification provisions and HB 969 which creates the crime of prohibited sexual contact between an educator and student.