Raising smoking age to 21 in Louisiana one of many bills set for next legislative session
The Louisiana Legislature is convening again in five weeks, and while the focus of the 2019 regular session will be on finances, legislators also have been prefiling bills that address other issues, such as raising the legal age to smoke, loosening the homestead tax exemption and criminalizing being a jerk behind the wheel.
Lawmakers say they don’t expect much as legislators seeking re-election in the fall will shy away from controversy going into the final session before the Oct. 12 election. Voters will select all 105 members in the Louisiana House of Representatives and 39 state senators as well as the governor and all other agency heads.
But as they leave the lower chamber, a couple of the representatives who will be attending their final session because of term limits are going with bills that could make a significant impact.
Baton Rouge Republican Rep. Steve Carter says he wants to challenge a sacred cow by giving local jurisdictions more sway over the homestead exemption, which has been politically untouchable since enacted in 1934.
Read more: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_a4144e10-3f82-11e9-93db-c3c7b5e0a145.html