Tagged: state legislature

The Louisiana Legislature's top financial adviser is retiring.

Legislative Fiscal Officer Gordon Monk has worked in state government for 33 years. His last day will be Aug. 8. Monk told The Advocate (http://bit.ly/NztEFS) a contentious legislative session convinced him it was time to go.

The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget plans to name a temporary replacement on Monday. Lawmakers will pick a permanent fiscal officer when they are next in session, likely not until 2013.

A July legislative session to consider overturning Gov. Bobby Jindal's vetoes has been canceled.

Louisiana state senators overwhelmingly decided against holding the July 14 veto session, with 31 of the 39 senators turning in paperwork to scrap the session.

The veto session was automatically set when Jindal rejected 21 bills from the regular legislative session and used his line-item veto on the budget. It takes a majority written vote of either the House or Senate to cancel the session.

BATON ROUGE — Notification letters are being sent to Louisiana's lawmakers, advising them about the planned July 14 veto session and how to scrap the meeting if they don't want to hold it.

The veto session was automatically set when Gov. Bobby Jindal rejected bills from the regular legislative session that ended this month. A veto session would allow lawmakers to decide if they want to override some of the governor's decisions.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Lawmakers seeking to curtail drunken driving backed a string of proposals that toughen penalties, give law enforcement officers more methods to test for driver impairment and crack down on repeat offenders.

Six bills addressing intoxicated drivers have been signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Drunken car accidents are especially predominant in Louisiana. According to data from Louisiana State University, almost 300 people died in alcohol-related crashes last year.