House votes to nullify federal health insurance mandate in Louisiana
By Bill Barrow, The Times-Picayune
May 13, 2010, 6:16PM
The House of Representatives voted 59-15 today to declare that Louisiana residents should not be subject to the looming mandate to buy health insurance, an anchor provision of President Barack Obama's recently enacted health care overhaul.
Both the debate and the vote fell along party lines, with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans to forge a majority. Several other Democrats chose not to vote, a tacit admission of the political difficulty, particularly for white Democrats, of associating with a president who is overwhelmingly unpopular among white Louisiana voters.
House Bill 1474 states that every Louisiana resident "is and shall be free from governmental intrusion in choosing or declining to choose any mode of securing health insurance coverage without penalty or threat of penalty."
Sponsor Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, said Read more...
House budget chairman endorses use of rainy-day fund to solve budget deficit
By Jan Moller, The Times-Picayune
May 12, 2010, 12:49PM
BATON ROUGE -- A deal on solving the state's $319 million mid-year budget shortfall appears to be close, as the chairman of the House budget committee said this morning that he agrees with the Senate on tapping the state's rainy-day fund. Read more...{jcomments on}
