We are supporting bills that link to and support what people have said matters most.
The Urban League of Louisiana developed its Policy Agenda for the 2021 Legislative Session by listening to residents across the state of Louisiana through statewide events including the 2019 Listen and Learn Tour, the 2019 Policy Work Groups, and the 2019 and 2021 Empowerment and Policy Conferences. The policy priorities are organized by the areas most frequently mentioned and prioritized by African Americans during these events and are also cornerstones to the Urban League’s mission and work.
We are supporting bills that link to and support what people have said matters most.
HB 285 (Rep. James): Increases the amount of time a voter may remain in the voting machine from no more than three minutes to at least five minutes and authorizes election officials to allocate additional time in an equitable manner if the ballot is lengthy or complex.
HB 286 (Rep. Jones): Extends the early voting period from 18 days to seven days prior to an election rather than 14 days to seven days prior to an election.
HB 378 (Rep. Jenkins): Streamlines voter registration for people who are placed on probation but are not incarcerated.
SB 34 (Sen. Fields): Increases police accountability. Requires any law enforcement agency that utilizes body worn cameras to have a policy regarding the activation and deactivation; requires any law enforcement motor vehicle that is equipped with a dash camera that has the technology to automatically record upon the activation of the motor vehicle’s police emergency lights; prohibits the use of choke holds and carotid holds, with some exception; provides that no law enforcement officer shall seek, execute, or participate in the execution of a no-knock search warrant, except in specific cases.
HB 84 (Rep. Marcelle): Authorizes certain persons no longer under an order of imprisonment or on probation or parole for a felony to serve on a jury in civil and criminal cases.
HB 145 (Rep. Bryant): Provides same good time release options to people sentenced between 1997 and 2008.
HB 248 (Rep. James): Decreases probation and parole fees for certain offender
HB 46 (Rep. James): Citizens arrested for misdemeanors in Louisiana can spend up to 45 days in jail without even being charged with a crime. This legislation will reduce that to 5 days.
HB 106 (Rep. Carpenter): Requires a defense lawyer to advise a defendant of all consequences associated with a plea before a judge may enter that plea.
HB 254 (Rep. Nelson): Provides parole eligibility for all juveniles.
HB 60 (Rep. Brass): Extends the duration of the Dual Enrollment Framework Task Force, which will strengthen education opportunities for young people.
HB 304 (Rep. Lyons): Requires the State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to coordinate and report data relative to early childhood care and education and to consider this data when allocating certain funding; also requires the creation of a program for providing instructional materials for home use.
SB 10 (Sen. Fields): Requires mandatory kindergarten attendance and requires compulsory school attendance beginning at age 5.
SB 211 (Sen. Jackson): Requires in-service training for teachers and certain other school personnel on adverse childhood experiences and trauma-informed education.
HB 411 (Rep. Hughes): Provides a comprehensive revision of present law, applicable to all public schools, including charter schools; includes requirement for the Dept. of Education to publish data on disciplinary removals.
SB 214 (Sen. Jackson): Provides relative to individual graduation plans and high school curriculum options.
HB 136 (Rep. Carpenter): Provides relative to suspensions and expulsions of public school students, includes prohibiting suspension of students for uniform violations to apply to students in all grades (rather than just pre-K through 5th).
SB 86 (Sen. Foil): Requires the governing authority of each public school, including charter schools, to adopt policies relative to the installation and operation of cameras that record both video and audio in classrooms, upon the written request of a student’s parent or legal guardian.
HB 190 (Rep. Willard): Requires health insurance coverage for maternity services provided by certified nurse midwives, certified professional midwives, and doulas and further requires that Medicaid rates paid for health services delivered by midwives be at least equal to the Medicare rates for those services.
HCR 16 (Rep. Hughes): Requests the La. Department of Health to study the impact of COVID-19 on the public sector workforce of this state and to report findings of the study to the legislature on or before Feb. 1, 2022.
SB 133 (Sen. Barrow): Provides relative to the prioritization of health equity by the Louisiana Department of Health.
SB 215 (Sen. Barrow): Provides for the reasonable accommodations of employees who become temporarily disabled due to certain medical conditions.
HB 707 (formely HB 480) (Rep. Willard): Prohibits employment discrimination based on criminal history records and creates the Fair Chance Hiring Act. Everyone deserves a fair chance to work and support themselves and their families.
HB 189 (Rep. Phelps): Prohibits race discrimination based on natural hairstyles.
HB 374 (Rep. Duplessis): Creates greater protections to renters who were evicted as a result of COVID, while also giving landlords more accurate information during the screening process.
SB 105 (Sen. Boudreaux): Provides for the building of an African-American military service members monument in the Louisiana Veterans Memorial Park.
HB 382 (Rep. Newell): Provides relative to race and national origin discrimination in education, employment, public accommodations, and housing opportunities. This bill is centered around the eradication of race-based hair discrimination: discrimination on the basis of African descendants’ natural hair texture or protective hairstyles including braids, locs, twists or bantu knots.
You can submit a statement in advance by emailing members of a committee in advance. You can check the posted agenda for a meeting to find the exact deadline to submit a prepared statement in advance. Comments are typically due the day prior to the committee meeting in order to be distributed to the committee members in advance.