At adjournment on Thursday, 83House bills and 14 Senate bills had beenpassed and adopted.

Eighty-one House bills have been sentto the governor for executive approval.

The governor has signed eight: HB93,HB173, HB227, HB243, HB417, HB491,HB665 and HB674.

A brief description of a few of the billsthat generated public interest this weekfollows.

ALGIERS* House Bill 744, which passed theHouse 82-18, changes the boundaries of theCity of New Orleans to allow for theincorporation of the 15th ward of OrleansParish as a municipality within OrleansParish, allows its residents to propose theincorporation and provides for a petition ofincorporation.

CIVIL ACTIONS* House Bill 497, pending Senate finalpassage, authorizes the award of court costsand reasonable attorney fees for an action for injury caused to a person or person's propertyby wanton and reckless disregard through acts of terror or terrorism.

Additionally, the defendant shall beawarded court costs and attorney fees if the

court determines that action alleging an act ofterror is frivolous or fraudulent.

CORPORATION FRANCHISE TAX* House Bill 828, which passed theHouse 67-34, phases out the corporationfranchise tax evenly over five years, beginningJan. 1, 2016.

EDUCATION* House Concurrent Resolution 18 ,which passed the House 100-0, provides forlegislative approval of the MinimumFoundation Program formula for FY 2015-16that determines and allocates the cost ofeducation to all public elementary andsecondary schools.

HCR18 will result in an estimatedincrease of $84.7 million for FY 15-16.* House Bill 376, pending House finalpassage, requires the Board of Regents todevelop an electronic notification process toassist public institutions of higher learning toreceive, administer or monitor federal grantsreceived by the state.

State agencies are required to notifythe Board of Regents of any available federalgrant programs.* Senate Bill 28, reported from theLegislative Bureau, requires public schools toinform students and parents of the after-schoolonline homework assistance service offered by

HOUSE NOTESLouisiana House of Representatives

Communications Office2015 Regular Session

Week Seven, May 29, 2015

the State Library.* Senate Bill 93, pending House finalpassage, allows the $25 per child educationtax credit only if the tuition expense deductionfor private school tuition is not taken.* Senate Bill 132, reported from theLegislative Bureau, authorizes four-yearcolleges and community colleges to enter intoreverse articulation or reverse transferagreements for the transfer of academic creditsfrom a four-year postsecondary institution toa community college for the purpose ofenabling a student to complete therequirements for an associate degree.

Additionally SB132 requires everyarticulation and transfer agreement tomaximize the number of academic orworkforce education credits awarded to U.S.Armed Forces veterans and provide for theirseamless transfer from one publicpostsecondary institution to another.* Senate Bill 284, pending House Waysand Means, creates the Student Assessmentfor a Valuable Education tax credit.

Under this proposed law, the Board ofRegents is required to implement a StudentAssessment for a Valuable Education (SAVE)Credit Program for each student enrolling at apublic institution of higher education. Eachstudent assessed shall be granted a SAVEcredit against income, sales and use, gasolineand special fuel taxes equal to the individualamount of a SAVE assessment. The amount ofeach credit must not exceed the averagehousehold tax liability in Louisiana for thetotal of such taxes as determined andpublished by the Department of Revenue nolater than June 30 of each fiscal year.

The SAVE credit is a transferable,non-refundable credit against the tax liabilityset forth above of a student, or his parent orlegal guardian, which must be transferred tothe board and used solely for each student

enrolled in a public institution of highereducation on and after July 1, 2015.

By June 30 of each fiscal year, theboard must certify to the department the totalheadcount enrollment at public institutions ofhigher education from the previous fall. Thedepartment then must determine the totalamount of the credit and transfer from thecurrent collections of taxes that amount to thetreasurer. Upon receipt of the funds, thetreasurer is directed to transfer or deposit thefunds into the Higher Education InitiativesFund.

The Board of Regents is required todistribute all funds appropriated from theHigher Education Initiatives Fund derivedfrom the SAVE Credit program to publicinstitutions of higher education.

HEALTH/THERAPEUTIC MARIJUANA* Senate Bill 143, reported from theLegislative Bureau, provides for thetherapeutic use and the development of rulesand regulations relative to prescribedmarijuana.

HIGHWAYS* House Bill 80, pending House finalpassage, creates the Better Highways andHigher Education Fund and dedicates anagreed-upon estimated amount of state salesand use taxes collected from vendors locatedout-of-state on Internet, mail order, or othersales into the state to be deposited on receiptinto the state treasury and credited to thespecial highways and higher education fund.

Fifty percent shall be appropriated tothe Transportation Trust Fund to be usedexclusively for construction and maintenancecosts in the Highway Priority Program.

Fifty percent shall be appropriated tothe Board of Supervisors for use by theUniversity of Louisiana System, the Board of

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Supervisors of Louisiana State University andAgricultural and Mechanical College, theBoard of Supervisors Southern Universityand Agricultural and Mechanical College, theBoard of Supervisors of Community andTechnical Colleges and their respectiveinstitutions, the Louisiana Universities MarineConsortium and the Office of StudentFinancial Assistance.

MENTAL HEALTH* House Bill 307, pending House finalpassage, prohibits an insurer, including anentity contracted with the state for theprovision of Medicaid services and the Officeof Group Benefits, from denying payment forinpatient behavioral health services providedto a person admitted under an emergencycertificate on the basis of medical necessity.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS* Senate Bill 115, reported from theLegislative Bureau, provides that a physicianassistant is authorized to prescribe controlledsubstances, may request, receive, and sign forsample drugs and may distribute sample drugsto patients.

SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS* Senate Concurrent Resolution 92 ,pending House final passage, directs the stateBoard of Elementary and SecondaryEducation and the state Department ofEducation to establish policies and proceduresto evaluate school bus driver training curriculaused by private providers and to certify privateproviders who deliver department-sanctionedtraining to school bus drivers.

SERVICE CONTRACTS* House Bill 30, pending House finalpassage, provides that beginning July 1, 2015,through July 1, 2018, all contracts for

professional, personal and consulting serviceswith a total dollar value of $40,000 or moreper year that are funded solely with StateGeneral Funds or the Overcollections Fundand are for discretionary purposes shall bereported to the Joint Legislative Committee onthe Budget (JCLB) for review and approval.

HB30 creates the Higher EducationFinancing Fund and deposits into the fund allcash balances identified and reported by thecommissioner of administration on a quarterlybasis as being from unexpended andunencumbered State General Fund orOvercollections Fund appropriations forcontracts for professional, personal, andconsulting services under the jurisdiction ofthe Office of Contractual Review notapproved by the JLCB.

SPECIAL FUELS TAX* Senate Bill 271, pending HouseAppropriations, determines a method oftaxation that applies to compressed naturalgas, liquefied natural gas or liquefiedpetroleum gas in relation to the tax on a gallonof gasoline or diesel for the operation of motorvehicles, and specifies that for purposes oflevying the 16-per-gallon tax:

1) The gasoline gallon equivalent shallbe 5.660 lbs. of compressed natural gas.

2) The diesel gallon equivalent shall be6.060 lbs. of liquified natural gas.

3) The gasoline gallon equivalent shallbe 3.066 lbs. of liquified petroleum gas.

The effective date of SB271 is July 1,2015.

TAX/TAX CREDITS* House Bill 70, pending House finalpassage, increases the amount of the earnedincome tax credit from 3.5 % to 7% of thefederal credit amount.* House Bill 798, pending House final

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passage, limits eligibility for the additional 5%motion picture investor tax credit for theLouisiana resident payroll to those companieswith an office based greater than 40 milesfrom New Orleans City Hall. This legislationwould become effective with productionsapproved by July 1, 2015.

TRANSPORTATION* House Bill 778, which is pendingreconsideration, imposes a one-cent state salesand use tax for ten years dedicated to theconstruction of highways and bridges and tocapitalize the Louisiana State TransportationInfrastructure Bank.

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