Louisiana lawmakers set out on a clear path for conservative priorities

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Under new Republican leadership, Louisiana’s GOP-dominated Legislature gathered at the Capitol Monday to convene their three-month regular session, pushing conservative priorities that could reshape education policies, toughen certain criminal penalties, reduce regulations on the property insurance industry and perhaps even rewrite the state Constitution.

For the first time in eight years, there will be no Democratic governor to backstop his party’s lawmakers, as former Gov. John Bel Edwards did by vetoing multiple conservative bills. Republicans hold a two-thirds supermajority in both the House and Senate and conservative Gov. Jeff Landry provides a clear path to advance their priorities.

“We’re working hard to make this state better,” Landry said in an opening address to the Legislature. “Let’s have a government that works for and not against the people of our great state.”

Landry, who assumed office in January, addressed lawmakers Monday afternoon and urged them to “bring meaningful and everlasting improvements” in a state that regularly scores poorly in key categories. One-fifth of Louisiana residents live in poverty. The state routinely reports the most dismal education rankings in the country. It covers an area with a historic property insurance crisis due to hurricanes and has some of the highest incarceration rates and homicide rates per capita.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signs tough-on-crime legislation