Tagged: state legislature

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana lawmakers have agreed to shorten voting hours on most election days, and Gov. Bobby Jindal must decide whether to accept the bill. Currently, poll hours run from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The measure pushed by Secretary of State Tom Schedler will push back the opening to 7 a.m. on Saturday elections. The change will start in 2013. 

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Senate's budget-writing committee refused to agree to deep cuts pushed by House Republicans for next year's $25 billion state operating budget.

Senators on the Finance Committee restored an estimated $350 million to next year's 2012-13 spending plans. 

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Senate's budget-writing committee refused to agree to deep cuts pushed by House Republicans for next year's $25 million state operating budget.

Senators on the Finance Committee restored an estimated $350 million to next year's 2012-13 spending plans. They added back the one-time money removed by a bloc of conservative House Republicans, and they also tapped into available health care financing and plugged in further piecemeal dollars.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana House has agreed to rewrite the state's constitutional protections for weapon owners, striking a provision that gives the Legislature explicit authority to limit concealed handguns. Critics say the plan could lead to the nullification of most of Louisiana's gun limits.