TABLE OF CONTENTS. About the Organizations...Page 2. Introduction...Page 3. Employment & Housing...Page 7. Health Care...Page 13

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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Organizations...Page 2 Introduction...Page 3 Employment & Housing...Page 7 Health Care...Page 13 Domestic Violence...Page 18 Education...Page 21 Miscellaneous...Page 25 Who We Are...Page 28 A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 1

3 ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS Equality Louisiana Equality Louisiana advocates for policy and legislative change to achieve full lived and legal equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and to create a more fair and just Louisiana. The Equality Louisiana Coalition promotes full lived and legal equality of all LGBT people by building a strong and fully inclusive statewide movement through creative coalition work, grassroots organizing, and community education. Louisiana Progress Louisiana Progress is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting public policy that moves Louisiana ahead without leaving some of its people behind. They advocate policies that strengthen the middle class, protect the less advantaged, equalize opportunity, and ensure that businesses large and small have the tools they need to innovate, compete, and create well-paying, long-term jobs. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 2

4 INTRODUCTION Missed Opportunities - Collective Action The 2014 Louisiana Legislative Session will be remembered for two things: Missed Opportunities and Collective Action. The Problem We do not need to frame the obstacles and challenges that face the people of Louisiana, particularly women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Research already exists that paints an accurate picture. The three findings below frame the problems that the Louisiana Legislature had an opportunity to fix during the 2014 Legislative Session. Women In 2013, The Center for American Progress released a report titled The State of Women in America, that ranked Louisiana as the worst state for women in the United States. The study based this ranking on data regarding health, economic security and leadership. LGBT People The Human Rights Campaign s 2013 Municipal Equality Index examines the laws, policies and services of municipalities and rates them on the basis of their inclusivity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people who work, live and learn there. Baton Rouge, the capital city of Louisiana, received a score of 7 out of 100. The absence of any explicit protections for LGBT people on a state level demonstrates that Baton Rouge s score is not an outlier. Political Process Louisiana is the 2nd most corrupt state in the country according to a study by Liu and Mikesell published in the May/June issue of Public Administration Review. The authors define corruption as the misuse of public office for private gain. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 3

5 Missed Opportunities The damage done during the 2014 Louisiana Legislative Session is still being assessed, but we can say that the legislature did very little to improve the lives of the people of Louisiana. A more broad and diverse slate of progressive legislation was introduced in 2014 than in any other year in recent history. Elected officials were given opportunity after opportunity to improve the lives of all Louisianians, particularly people living in poverty, homeless people, people of color, women, and LGBT people. The vast majority of the time legislators missed these opportunities to serve their constituents by refusing to stand up for fairness and equality. Common sense and good judgment took a backseat to fear and political expediency. There were eight pieces of legislation that directly addressed issues of importance to the LGBT community, resulting in eight missed opportunities to help people. These issues included school policy, housing protections, employment protections, and removing unconstitutional laws from the books in Louisiana. Seven out of the eight bills died in committee. These eight bills represent the most ambitious attempt to pass protections for LGBT people in the history of Louisiana. In the pages of this report you will find information about legislation that could have made life better for the people of Louisiana by addressing issues like payday lending practices, unequal pay for women, criminalization of youth, a minimum wage that falls far below a living wage, and employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In each of these cases, the Louisiana Legislature missed their opportunity to take action and address these problems. When faced with legislation that would punish women, particularly women living in poverty, the legislature chose the wrong side of history. HB 388 by Representative Katrina Jackson, which limits access to reproductive health services and abortion under the guise of making these procedures and services safer for Louisiana women, is an example of this harmful legislation. Instead, legislators missed opportunities to stand up for the women of Louisiana by asking their colleagues to trust women. There is some good news in the pages of this report, such as the passage of HB 249 by Representative Ed Price, which made it easier for homeless families to gain access to childcare as well as a slate of bills championed by Representative Helena Moreno that provided additional services and protections for survivors of domestic violence. While acknowledging the primarily negative outcomes of the session, it is necessary that we look to these successes as a sign of the possibility of progress. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 4

6 Collective Action It would be easy for fair-minded Louisianians and committed community advocates to throw up their hands and surrender. However, people who are committed to fighting for a better state and for better lives for themselves, their friends, families, and neighbors are not the sort of people who back down when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. Last year s end-of-session report by Equality Louisiana and Louisiana Progress discussed the new allies and creative coalitions that had developed during the 2013 legislative session. Those coalitions stuck together to support each other this year and made some pivotal steps toward building a cohesive and effective progressive movement that is no longer afraid of each other s issues. Communication between organizations has increased, creating more substantial strategic and operational support for each other s priorities. We all saw the effect new allies can have on political debate. Representative Karen St. Germain s willingness to author the Louisiana Employment Nondiscrimination Act was a huge step forward for advocates for equality in Louisiana. Rep. St. Germain is known for being a moderate and practical legislator who holds a deep commitment to Catholic values and to improving the lives of the citizens of Louisiana. She has become a vocal and ardent supporter of LGBT employment protections and is ready to continue to fight as long as necessary. The defeat of Senator Barrow Peacock s Senate Bill 485 provides a great example of the power of collective action to impact the political process. The newly formed Equality Corps and Progress Action Network came together and aggressively asked Sen. Peacock to withdraw his proposed legislation that would have negatively impacted local ordinances that protect LGBT people from discrimination in Shreveport and New Orleans. Equality Louisiana s Equality Corps is a rapid response team that inundates legislators with calls and s from fair-minded citizens across the state to encourage them to vote for equality and against bigotry. The Progress Action Network is Louisiana Progress Action s group of community leaders who have committed to organizing groups of their friends and neighbors to take action to support progressive policies that move the state of Louisiana forward. In one week, the bill went from being introduced in the online bill tracking system to being withdrawn by the author. His assistant informed the leadership of Equality Louisiana and Louisiana Progress that they had received a tremendous volume of calls and s asking him to withdraw the bill. When she informed us that he had made the decision to pull the bill, she asked that we please make it stop. Collective action can make a difference, and this was proof. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 5

7 We believe that through avenues like the Equality Corps and the Progress Action Network we will take the next step in moving the needle toward justice in Louisiana. We are laying the groundwork for a legislative session where elected officials have no room but to take the opportunities they are given to make the state better. Equality Louisiana and Louisiana Progress have already begun the work of preparing for next year s legislative session and we both invite you to join us. If missed opportunities is the current problem facing Louisiana, then collective action is the only solution. We hope you will join us in the fight, Tucker Barry Managing Director, Equality Louisiana Bruce Parker Executive Director, Louisiana Progress A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 6

8 EMPLOYMENT & HOUSING Employment Nondiscrimination Act Louisiana is among the 29 states that do not currently provide employment protections for LGBT people. Governor Bobby Jindal failed to renew the executive order that Governor Kathleen Blanco signed protecting lesbian, gay and bisexual state employees from discrimination in state employment. The absence of these protections leaves public and private employees in Louisiana open to being discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression without legal recourse. In an attempt to change that, Representative Karen St. Germain introduced HB 887: The Louisiana Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA). This legislation would have made discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression illegal in Louisiana. In agreeing to author the bill and champion the freedom to work, Rep. St. Germain fundamentally changed the nature of the discussion about this legislation. She is the first white legislator from a rural community to author pro-equality legislation, when historically such attempts have been made by legislators from the New Orleans area or members of the black caucus exclusively. She is also a devout Catholic and is known as a moderate and practical legislator. Representative Walt Leger worked closely with Rep. St. Germain to gather support for the legislation during the months leading up to the session and provided vocal support during the session. Through Rep. St. Germain s leadership, the bill gained bipartisan support in the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee and appeared to be on the way to the floor of the House of Representatives. The morning of the hearing, the votes needed to pass the legislation out of committee were no longer there, and Rep. St. Germain made the decision to allow the supporters of the bill to testify and to then voluntarily defer the legislation in an attempt to regain the necessary votes to pass it. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 7

9 Testimony in support came from community advocates, business professionals, and young people who hope to start their lives in Louisiana without fear of being denied employment. The testimony was the most substantial given for a piece of legislation solely focused on LGBT issues in the last decade. Rep. St. Germain, Equality Louisiana, and Louisiana Progress have committed to bring the legislation back next year. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 8

10 Equal Pay for Equal Work Equal Pay bills were of particular prominence this legislative session. SB 334 by Senator Karen Carter Peterson was the most comprehensive bill put forth and would have amended current law to provide that private sector, local government, and political subdivision employers be subject to the same prohibitions for unintentional employment discrimination that presently exist for the public sector. SB 334 passed through the Committee of Senate and Governmental Affairs before being stalled on the Senate floor. The bill was never called for a vote in the Senate, effectively killing it. A major victory for pay equity advocates was the defeat of Representative Julie Stoke s HB 956, which would have required employees to prove the precise intent, or motive, of the pay discrimination they were subjected to. Pay discrimination, intentional or not, should be rendered illegal and immediately remedied wherever it occurs. However, despite the ultimate defeat of HB 956, Representative Joe Lopinto introduced an amendment to Senator Jack Donahue s SB 359 wage bill that essentially reinstated the consequences of HB 956. The amendment also provided that any factor besides sex could be used to defend pay inequity between equally qualified employees, effectively weakening existing law in place. The bill has been signed by Gov. Jindal as Act 750. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 9

11 Raising the Wage One of the biggest issues of the 2014 Legislative Session was minimum wage. With Congress attempting to pass an increase in the minimum wage, many legislators advocated for the same in our state. Louisiana presently has no minimum wage on the books, but rather follows federal guidelines. Senator Ben Nevers attempted to pass a constitutional amendment with SB 123 that would have established a minimum wage for our state. It never made it out of the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations. Representative Herbert Dixon s HB 589 would have established a minimum wage that was $0.05 higher than the national minimum wage. The House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations involuntarily deferred HB 589. Representative Jared Brossett attempted to pass HB 382, which would have established a minimum wage of $10.10 for Louisiana. It too was involuntarily deferred in the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 10

12 License to Discriminate Senator Barrow Peacock introduced a bill, SB 485, to directly attack the recently passed Be Fair Shreveport ordinance, which brought Shreveport s nondiscrimination policies in line with those of dozens of states and hundreds of cities around the country. The bill would have prohibited local governments from establishing protections against discrimination that are not already explicitly included in state law. Less than 24 hours after we activated our supporters, the LGBT community saw our first win for the 2014 Legislative Session. Sen. Peacock agreed to pull his License to Discriminate bill. This win is a testament to what the progressive community can do when we all work together to the power of creative coalitions. Joined by strong and active local allies like People Acting for Change and Equality (PACE), EQLA and Louisiana Progress proved once again that Louisianians believe in fairness and do not support discrimination of any kind. This bill, however, was by no means unique. Since 2011, Tennessee, Montana, Nebraska, Michigan, and Oklahoma have all considered similar measures, almost all in response to major cities passing inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances. Only Tennessee has actually passed such a law; they have failed everywhere else. Fair Housing It is legal in 32 states to evict a person from their home because they are gay or transgender. A 2013 survey from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that same-sex couples experience less favorable treatment than heterosexual couples when seeking a home. Heterosexual couples were favored over gay male couples by 15.9% and were favored over lesbian couples by 15.6%. In the transgender community, the statistics are even more sobering. According to the recent National Transgender Discrimination survey, 19% of transgender people reported having been refused a home or apartment, and 11% were evicted because of their gender identity and gender expression. Two bills introduced this year would have provided housing protections for LGBT people. Equality Louisiana, Louisiana Progress and the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center worked with Representative Brossett to introduce HB 804, which would have protected LGBT people from discrimination in the renting or selling of a home. Despite 93.7% of Louisiana citizens supporting fair treatment for LGBT people in housing, the House Committee on Commerce rejected HB 804 with a 13-5 vote. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 11

13 Equality Louisiana and Louisiana Progress worked with Representative Patricia Haynes Smith to introduce HB 871, a bill that would have protected LGBT people, housing voucher recipients, and exoffenders from housing discrimination. A broad coalition of homeless, prison reform, and LGBT groups joined to advocate for the passage of HB 871. Although this coalition was the first of its kind in the area of housing, the Commerce committee rejected HB 871 with a 13-3 vote. Ensuring access to fair and affordable housing is essential for people to have the freedom to choose where to establish their families. We will continue to fight for fair housing protections for LGBT people with all of our coalition members and allies so that every person has a place to call home in Louisiana. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 12

14 HEALTH CARE Medicaid Expansion Dozens of bills were filed this year in support of Medicaid expansion. However, the most promising of them all was Senator Ben Nevers SB 96, which proposed a constitutional amendment that would have directed the Department of Health and Hospitals to administer Medicaid to every resident of Louisiana whose income was at or below 138% of the federal poverty level, effective January 1, This amendment would have been voted on in a statewide election held November 4, A constitutional amendment for Medicaid expansion would not have been able to be vetoed by the Governor, making this the best shot Louisiana had at providing over 242,000 citizens with access to Medicaid. Senator Nevers worked with organizations around the state to fight for this amendment. It was heard in the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, where doctors, citizens, and even former Louisiana Congressman John Breaux gave over four hours of supportive testimony. Despite this tremendous show of public support, Senator Dan Claitor voted to defer the bill, effectively killing it in committee. With so much hope placed on SB 96, its failure to pass favorably was a devastating blow. A Woman s Right to Choose Abortion regulations were a main focus of the 2014 Legislative Session. Two bills in particular will infringe on a woman s right to make her own health decisions with medically accurate information and safe access to legal abortion. Representative Barry Ivey s HB 1262 requires that materials on psychological impacts of abortion, illegal coercion, abuse, and human trafficking be provided to women 24 hours in advance of an elective abortion. Additionally, the law requires the Department of Health and Hospitals to have a website promoting the content of these materials. Numerous studies have demonstrated that no psychological damage results from elective abortions. Anti-choice proponents create the false information contained in these materials for the sole purpose of scaring women out of making the reproductive health choice that is right for them. HB 1262 has been signed by the Governor as Act 569. The most egregious anti-abortion bill this session was Representative Katrina Jackson s HB 388. This bill requires doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic. This bill will immediately shut down the majority A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 13

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16 of our abortion clinics in the state. It leaves no abortion clinic between New Orleans and Shreveport. It forces private practitioners who perform five or more abortions a year to register as abortion service providers, and their name, location, and status as an abortion service provider will become public information. This potentially threatens their safety and, as a result, may cause them to stop providing abortion services altogether. This bill also treats the administration of RU-486 exactly the same as a surgical abortion, mandating the same restrictions that apply to surgical abortions such as the 24-hour waiting period. Health care advocates spent the better part of the session working tirelessly to defeat HB 388. Thousands of calls and s were made to legislators asking them to vote no, but ultimately anti-choice proponents won. The Governor signed the bill as Act 620. The Human Incubator Bill Pregnant women saw their right and the rights of their family members to make end-of-life decisions greatly eroded. Louisiana law generally permits a patient or her family members to direct doctors to remove her from life support if she suffers from a terminal and irreversible condition. As introduced and passed by the House, HB 1274 sponsored by Representative Austin Badon, instructs that if there is any ambiguity as to whether a pregnant patient should remain on life support, then she must be kept on life support to sustain the fetus. Specifically, the preservation of the fetus must take precedence if an obstetrician determines that the pregnant woman s life can reasonably be maintained in such a way as to permit the continuing development and live birth of the fetus. 2 The Senate added amendments that would have ensured that the rights of family members to make end-of-life-decisions would remain paramount. But, they were rejected by the House and were not included in the conference committee s report. The conference committee instead limited the legislation to situations where the probable postfertilization age of the fetus is at least 20 weeks. Its report was overwhelmingly adopted by both the House and the A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 15

17 the Senate. Governor Jindal has signed the bill into law, with no Act number assigned at the release of this report. Now, a woman will be forced to remain on life support, despite the wishes of her family, and even if she has a living will or do-not-resuscitate order, if she is carrying a fetus 20 weeks or more after fertilization. Representative Badon has suggested that the law would nonetheless permit the woman to be taken off of life support where she has a do-not-resuscitate order explicitly stating that it is to be applied even when she is pregnant, though the legislation does not provide for this specifically. HIV/AIDS Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is by far the largest insurance provider in the state, providing some form of group or individual health plan to 1.3 million Louisiana residents. Thus, BCBS s decision in late 2013 to stop accepting payments from the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program represents a major hardship for low-income Louisiana residents living with HIV/AIDS who rely on those funds to pay for lifesaving medical care. In February, the national LGBT advocacy organization Lambda Legal filed a federal classaction lawsuit against BCBS to force them to change this policy on the grounds that it illegally discriminates against people living with HIV/AIDS, which is forbidden by the Affordable Care Act. The ultimate outcome of that case is still pending, but it has resulted in a temporary agreement for BCBS to continue accepting Ryan White funds through November. At about the same time as the temporary agreement was reached in court, several bills were filed in the Legislature that would require insurers to accept payments from certain federal programs or grants, including the Ryan White program. One of these, SB 403 by Senator Fred Mills, passed both chambers of the Legislature unanimously and was signed by Gov. Jindal as Act 491. Beginning August 1, 2014, it will ensure that the approximately 1,400 people affected by BCBS s policy change will not be denied care. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 16

18 Surrogacy Louisiana is one of many states that lack a regulatory framework to give legal recognition to children conceived by surrogacy. Currently, only the person who gives birth to a child is legally recognized as the child s parent, and the intended parents of a child so conceived must petition for adoption. HB 187 by Representative Joe Lopinto would have given legal recognition to a strictly defined category of gestational surrogacy contracts arrangements in which each member of a married heterosexual couple donates gametes and the pregnancy is carried by a surrogate who receives no compensation other than medical expenses and lost wages. Both the surrogate and intended parents would be forced to disclose sensitive legal and medical information to the Department of Health and Hospitals to ensure their compliance with the law. HB 187 would criminalize any other surrogacy arrangement under R.S. 14:286, the sale of minor children statute, putting same-sex couples, single people, or couples in which one or both partners cannot donate gametes in danger of prison for attempting to conceive a child. The intrusive data collection and provisions for criminal penalties were added at the behest of the Louisiana Family Forum. Despite being allowed to rewrite the bill to their liking, Family Forum still requested a veto from Gov. Jindal on the grounds that allowing surrogacy allows the destruction of embryos through the in vitro fertilization process, and further that surrogacy encourages unmarried women to become pregnant. With Gov. Jindal s veto, surrogacy remains unrecognized, but not criminalized, in Louisiana. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 17

19 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE This year, the Legislature finally undertook a serious effort to expand the legal rights of survivors of domestic violence. Housing The issue of secure housing for survivors of domestic abuse is of paramount importance, particularly due to the 16% cuts in state funding to domestic violence programs in our state in Those cuts have resulted in a 17% increase in the monthly number of women accessing emergency homeless shelters in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. Domestic violence is a major cause of homelessness among women and children in Louisiana, and many survivors are discriminated against in the housing market as a direct result of the abuse they ve experienced. Providing housing protections for survivors will help ensure that they are able to rebuild their lives free from violence. Senator Sharon Weston Broome s bill SB 233 as it was originally written would have added survivors of domestic violence as a protected class under the Louisiana Equal Housing Opportunity Act. It was amended substantially before failing final passage by the House of Representatives. The amendments adopted included a definition of family or household member as used in the definition of domestic abuse that excluded unmarried partners from protections under the law. In order to receive protections under the proposed law as amended, the survivor s abuser would have to have been a spouse, former spouse, parent, child, stepparent, stepchild, foster parent, foster child, grandparent, or grandchild. We know that domestic violence occurs within relationships not represented in this list. Louisiana consistently ranks among the states with the highest rates of domestic violence, including women who are murdered by their abusive partners, making these laws all the more important for our state. We look forward to working with lawmakers on housing protections for survivors of domestic violence in the coming years. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 18

20 A Five-Bill Package A broad coalition of advocacy groups spearheaded by the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence worked with Representative Helena Moreno and Senator J. P. Morrell to introduce a broad package of bills touching on everything from restrictions on gun ownership to spousal support granted in divorces. Incredibly, despite an overall pro-gun, anti-women s rights sentiment in the Legislature, all of the bills passed with dozens of co-authors, and all were signed into law by Governor Jindal. In a session distinguished mainly by the lack of action on any major policy concern and the maintenance of an abysmal status quo, the successful passage of the following five bills is a significant win for Louisiana families. HB 747 (Act 194): This act adds domestic abuse aggravated assault to the list of crimes designated by the legislature as crimes of violence, which can carry harsher penalties and qualify for fewer kinds of sentencing reductions. It further requires that offenders must participate in a courtmonitored domestic abuse intervention program in order to qualify for probation, and provides strict requirements for the content of such a program. It also adds domestic violence-related crimes to the list of crimes for which an offender may not be released from jail on their own recognizance. HB 753 (Act 195): This act limits the possession and carrying of firearms by persons against whom protective orders have been issued pursuant to domestic abuse. It prohibits any such person from possessing a firearm for the duration of the protective order if the court finds that they represent a credible threat to the safety of a family or household member. Further, this act forbids persons convicted of domestic abuse battery from possessing a firearm or carrying a concealed weapon for a period of 10 years from the completion of their sentence, with possible penalties of 1-5 years in prison and a $500-1,000 fine for violations. SB 291 (Act 315): This act allows exemplary damages to be awarded to victims of domestic abuse upon proof that injuries suffered were caused by a wanton and reckless disregard for the rights and safety of a family or household member. It permits damages to be awarded regardless of whether criminal charges were brought against the abuser, and imposes penalties for frivolous or fraudulent accusations. SB 292 (Act 316): This act makes it easier to get a divorce in cases where domestic abuse has occurred. It removes the current mandatory 180-day waiting period and allows an immediate divorce to be granted when a spouse or child has been physically or sexually abused or when a protective order or injunction has been issued against a spouse. The new law also requires courts A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 19

21 to consider domestic abuse when awarding final spousal support and authorizes support awards greater than the current limit of one-third of the annual income of the abuser in cases where the spouse seeking support was the victim of abuse. Courts will be required to consider criminal convictions when determining whether domestic abuse occurred and will be permitted to order evaluations of both parties (by independent mental health professionals) in the absence of criminal convictions. HB 750 (Act 317): This act makes it easier and faster to obtain a protective or restraining order in cases of domestic violence. It requires that judges forward protective orders to the clerk of court on the day of issue, that clerks of court transmit the order to the Louisiana Protective Order Registry no later than the next business day, and that clerks of court provide copies of protective orders to the chief law enforcement officer of the parish in which the protected person resides. The proposed law requires that law enforcement officers take immediate and more definitive action against persons in violation of a protective order and provides increased penalties for violating such an order. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 20

22 EDUCATION Anti-Bullying Task Force To ensure that Louisiana s public schools provide adequate services to children in need, Representative Barbara Norton proposed HB 758 to create a task force within the Department of Health and Hospitals to develop a plan to address the mental health needs of children involved in bullying incidents. The task force would have consisted of legislators, state officials such as the secretaries of Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Children and Family Services, education professionals currently active in public schools, and professionals from organizations such as the Louisiana School Counselor Association and National Association of Social Workers. The task force would have been required to meet every 60 days to make a thorough study of the best ways to provide counseling and other treatment services to both youths who are the targets of bullying and youths who bully others, and to make recommendations to the legislature and state agencies for fiscally responsible ways to provide such services. This bill was defeated on a close vote of 6-7 in the House Health and Welfare committee. Bullying Data Collection The existing state law on bullying requires mandatory annual training for all school staff members on how to recognize and respond to acts of bullying. According to data compiled by the State Department of Education and reported to a legislative task force on bullying prevention in 2013, most schools are currently fulfilling this training requirement, but surveys and informal conversations reveal that school employees feel that training materials are not always relevant to local needs. SB 370 by Senator J.P. Morrell would have established procedures for collecting statistics regarding bullying incidents in public schools, including data that is already reported to the United States Department of Education s Civil Rights Data Collection Program. This would have better informed the public about the prevalence and typical nature of bullying incidents in local schools, and provided information to be used in staff trainings to give a better sense of what kinds of bullying incidents occur at individual schools. In order to preserve student and family privacy, no personally identifying information about any student would have been reported publicly. Privacy concerns regarding mandatory A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 21

23 parental notification of bullying incidents would also have been addressed through a provision allowing principals to take student safety into account when deciding whether to notify parents about bullying incidents. The bill was defeated 5-1 in the Senate Education Committee. Safe and Successful Students Act Representative Patricia Haynes Smith with the support of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, Equality Louisiana, and Louisiana Progress attempted to once again address the high rate of suspensions and the high incidence of bullying in Louisiana schools with HB 777: The Safe and Successful Students Act. The legislation was not brought before committee this year. Representative Smith along with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and Louisiana Progress determined that the legislation would not pass committee and chose to instead focus on a policy change initiative. This initiative would, over the next year, attempt to help local school districts and charter schools to adopt some of the policies that are included in the legislation. This legislation is the result of years of work by Representative Smith and these three community organizations along with the other members of the Stop Bullying Louisiana Coalition. Representative Smith remains committed to reintroducing the legislation as long as necessary. For data about the necessity of reforming disciplinary practices in Louisiana schools see last year s end of session report. HB 646: The Safe and Successful Students Act: Required restorative practices and other measures in response to most disciplinary incidents Provided clear guidelines for the appropriate use of in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, and expulsion Required four hours of bullying prevention related professional development for school employees in their first year, and two hours per year for continuing employees Improved the bullying investigation process; providing that principals may refrain from notifying parents if it may result in harm to a student; requiring that if parents are not present at a bullying-related interview, an adult neutral party must attend A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 22

24 Although suspension and expulsion may remain appropriate disciplinary measures in some cases, especially when other intervention measures have not worked, the data demonstrates that the widespread use of exclusionary discipline has some serious flaws such as: Out-of-school suspension rates show significant disparate impacts based on race, gender, and disabilities. Louisiana spends almost ten times more on each incarcerated youth than it does on each student in public school. Restorative approaches have been proven to more effectively respond to behavior problems and prevent future problems by focusing on accountability, community safety, and competency development. Stronger communities and more safe and successful students result from discipline that is based in restorative justice approaches. This legislation draws on best practices from across the country in an attempt to address the continued funneling of youth out of the education system and into the criminal justice system in Louisiana. Sexual Education Besides the poor outlook on STDs, Louisiana ranks number six out of 5o states and Washington, D.C. for teen (ages 15-19) birth rates. Over 60% of Louisiana pregnancies are unplanned. HB 369 by Rep. Smith sought to address this crisis by requiring sexual health education in all Louisiana public schools, including charters. Elementary and secondary schools would have been required to provide medically accurate and age appropriate sexual health instruction on an annual basis. All sexual education materials would have been made available to parents and the law would have required the Board of Elementary and Secondary According to a report produced by the 2013 House Concurrent Resolution 90 task force, in 2012: Over 20,000 chlamydia cases in Louisiana were reported among youth ages 13-24, representing 73% of the total chlamydia infections reported Over 6,000 gonorrhea cases in Louisiana were reported among youth ages 13-24, representing 69% of the total gonorrhea infections reported One quarter of the new HIV infections in Louisiana reported were among youth ages A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 23

25 Education to set curriculum guidelines and determine qualifications for potential instructors. HB 369 ultimately died in the House Education Committee. By contrast, HB 305 by Representative Frank Hoffman will further erode students access to medically accurate sexual health information by prohibiting people and organizations affiliated with abortion providers from distributing instruction or materials on any health topic, including human sexuality and family planning, in all public schools, including charters that receive state funding. The bill was signed by Gov. Jindal as Act 617 after passing both chambers of the Legislature. Changes to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey Although Louisiana is well known for astonishingly high rates of sexually transmitted infections among youth (see Sexual Education section above), legislators have historically been unwilling to collect or report statistics on risk behaviors among public school students. Existing law prohibits public school students from being surveyed about morality, religion, or sexual behavior. This has the principal effect of forbidding certain questions from the Centers for Disease Control s annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey from being asked, and prevents any other data from being collected that might relate to sexual health. HB 393 by Rep. Smith would have authorized the Louisiana Department of Education to survey students regarding risk behaviors associated with chronic health conditions, including those related to sexual health. After narrowly passing the House Education Committee, the bill failed on the House floor A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 24

26 MISCELLANEOUS Louisiana Nondiscrimination Act (LANA) Forum For Equality led the charge on the Louisiana Nondiscrimination Act (LANA). This legislation would have updated more than 60 nondiscrimination laws to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, as well as 40 existing laws to include age, sex, and disability. This omnibus approach to passing LGBT protections has not been attempted in Louisiana before this year. Representative Austin Badon authored HB 199 and Senator Edwin Murray authored SB 164. Rep. Badon did not bring his bill up for a vote in front of the the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee. Sen. Murray did attempt to advance SB 164. SarahJane Brady from Forum for Equality and Stephanie Patrick from The Advocacy Center spoke in support of the bill along with a community advocate from the Shreveport area. Senators asked questions about the scope of the bill and specifics of some of the language. The bill failed to move out of committee receiving one vote in favor with the chair of the committee, Senator Ben Nevers, not voting but filing a card in support of the legislation. Unconstitutional Crimes Against Nature Statute In 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that laws criminalizing consensual, uncompensated, private sexual acts between adults are unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. Two years later, a state appeals court ruled in Louisiana Electorate of Gays and Lesbians v. Connick that the Lawrence ruling applied to R.S. 14:89, Louisiana s crimes against nature statute, but the Legislature never took action to remove the law from the books. In 2013, it came to light that the East Baton Rouge Sheriff s Office had been for the last decade arresting men using this unconstitutional law as justification. In sting operations, undercover deputies would proposition men in public, invite them to a private location to have sex, then arrest them after they left the public place. None of these cases involved even the mention of having sex in public or for money. No prosecutions ever resulted because the district attorney s office recognized that the law is unenforceable. HB 12 by Representative Patricia Haynes Smith would have repealed the unconstitutional crimes against nature statute to remove the justification for this discriminatory policing. However, despite pledges of support from the Louisiana Sheriffs Association and the Louisiana A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 25

27 District Attorneys Association prior to the legislative session, neither organization endorsed the bill, lobbied for it, offered favorable committee testimony, or offered any public support during the session. After a deluge of Louisiana Family Forum propaganda insisting that the repeal of this unconstitutional law would legalize prostitution, public sex, and pederasty, the bill advanced out of committee with bipartisan support but died on a vote of on the House floor. Broad Cleanup of Unconstitutional Statutes SB 180 by Senator Rick Gallot requires the Louisiana State Law Institute a body of legal experts that has the general mission of studying the law code and recommending improvements to the Legislature to make biennial recommendations to the Legislature regarding the repeal or revision of laws that have been declared unconstitutional by final and definitive court judgment. The Law Institute s recommendation is not sufficient to actually revise or repeal laws a legislator would have to agree to carry a bill, and it would have to be passed through the normal legislative process but its opinion is usually given some deference. This would provide a mechanism for the regular study of the statutes to ensure that unconstitutional laws do not linger on the books unnoticed until they are wrongly enforced, although this alone does not guarantee their repeal. This bill passed both chambers of the Legislature unanimously and was signed as Act 598 by the Governor. Improving Access to Child Care for Homeless Families The Improving Access to Child Care for Homeless Louisiana Families Act of 2014, HB 249 by Representative Edward J. Price, was drafted to address the challenges faced by homeless families in accessing child care and ultimately in gaining employment and housing. Seeking employment can be difficult or even impossible without reliable child care. Shelters often allow care workers to supervise the young children of their clients, but they can only do that while the parents are in the building. Without other resources to call on for child care, parents cannot take job interviews, participate in job training programs, or continue their education. Homeless families often face challenges in accessing the documents required for child care, such as birth certificates and immunization records. Louisiana is one of only ten states that requires documentation of a child s immunization records to be submitted with a family s application for subsidized child care. HB 249 addresses this by clarifying that homeless families in need of child care can enroll their children while they work on acquiring the required documentation. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 26

28 HB 249 allows Louisiana s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to meet the challenges faced by homeless families head on by ensuring that homeless families that are either job searching or participating in transitional living programs are able to access child care through CCAP for a period of at least 90 days. The Improving Access to Child Care for Homeless Louisiana Families Act of 2014 passed both House and Senate without a single vote in opposition. It was then signed as Act 787 by Gov. Jindal. It also picked up four coauthors as it moved through the legislature: Representative Edward Ted James, Rep. Smith, Representative Walt Leger III, and Representative Vincent J. Pierre. We look forward to continuing the work of improving Louisiana s social safety nets to ensure that our state s neediest families get the help they need to support themselves. A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 27

29 WHO WE ARE Equality Louisiana Tim S. West, President Mary Catherine Roberts, Treasurer Tucker Barry, Managing Director Bruce Parker, Coalition Manager Louisiana Progress Bruce Parker, Executive Director Carrie Wooten, Director of Research & Policy Dylan Waguespack Advocacy & Outreach Cooordinator Coordinators: Micah Caswell, Communications Frances Kelley, Field Donna Jean Loy, Trans Outreach Matthew Patterson, Research & Policy Melissa Flournoy, Board Chair Frances Kelley, Director of Organizing Michael Beyer Research & Communications Assistant A Report on the 2014 Legislative Session Page 28