LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: June 18, 2025

By: Anna Puleo (LSU Manship School News Service)

BATON ROUGE–Just a few days after a regular session ended, Louisiana lawmakers are bracing for up to a $4 billion loss in federal Medicaid funding that could force them back into a special session later this year, state Senate President Cameron Henry said Tuesday.

The threat stems from President Donald Trump’s proposed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and proposals in the U.S. Senate this week to cut more from Medicaid than a House version of the bill.

“If this bill passes, we will absolutely call a special session,” Henry said to try to offset some of the cuts with additional state funding.

Read more at WRKF.

Published: June 12, 2025

By: Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The 2025 legislative session ended Thursday with lawmakers passing a bill to tighten the rules on companies that work as middlemen managing pharmacy benefits. But the Senate let a more aggressive measure die despite vociferous support for it on social media from Gov. Jeff Landry and Donald Trump Jr. 

Now, Gov. Jeff Landry is threatening to call a special session to try to pass the tougher bill, which CVS says could force it to close some of its 120 drug stores in Louisiana. 

At the center of the dispute are outfits called pharmacy benefit managers, which manage prescription drug benefits for insurers, employers, and government programs like Medicaid. 

Read more at Shreveport Times.

Published: June 12, 2025

By: Anna Puleo, LSU MANSHIP SCHOOL NEWS SERVICE

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana House voted 98-1 Thursday to give final legislative approval to $53.5 billion budget package for the upcoming fiscal year without objecting to any of the major changes that the Senate had made earlier this week.
With three hours to go in the session, lawmakers also agreed to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment in a new attempt to fund permanent salary raises for K-12 public school teachers and support staff.

Read more at St. Mary Now.

Published: June 11, 2025

By: Anna Puleo LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–Lawmakers passed two bills this week aimed at expanding the state’s role in immigration enforcement, joining states like Texas and Florida in helping the Trump administration crack down on undocumented immigrants.

One bill would require agencies to track the legal status of people using public services, and the other would criminalize interference with federal immigration operations.

The Legislature last year empowered local and state law-enforcement to arrest people on suspicion that they were undocumented immigrants. Gov. Jeff Landry signed that bill into law, and the two bills passed this week will now go to him for his signature.

Read more at KATC.

Published: June 10, 2025

By: Anna Puleo LSU Manship School News Service

With the end of the legislative session approaching, the Louisiana Senate approved a revised state budget Monday, adding at least $1.2 billion that was not in the House version of the bill.

The money would come from the $3.9 billion in state’s Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, which holds some of the funds collected through corporate and severance taxes.

The Senate would spend that money on one-time projects to improve infrastructure, higher education facilities and economic development.

Read more at KATC.

Published: June 10, 2025

By:  Anna Puleo LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–A proposal to expand Louisiana’s Medicaid coverage for mental health to include partial hospitalization services is moving forward in the Legislature, but only after lawmakers removed a key component to cut costs.

Senate Bill 96, authored by Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, would require the Louisiana Department of Health to reimburse providers for partial hospitalization services–an outpatient level of psychiatric care–for adult and geriatric patients treated at licensed inpatient psychiatric hospitals.

An amendment by the House Health and Welfare Committee had earlier added more-intensive outpatient program services to the bill. That change raised the projected cost to $13.3 million in the first year.

Read more at KATC.

Published: June 4, 2025

By: Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Senate is reining in several major proposals pushed by Gov. Jeff Landry and House conservatives, rejecting additional tax cuts and scaling back spending on private school vouchers amid caution over the state’s longer-term financial outlook.

Despite clearing the House with little resistance, two key tax bills were effectively shelved by the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee earlier this week.

The committee declined to take up a plan to further phase down personal income taxes, and it slashed funding for a Landry plan to expand state funding for parents to send their children to private schools.

Read more at The Daily Advertiser.

Published: June 4, 2025

By:  Anna Puleo

BATON ROUGE–A bill aimed at increasing transparency in how pharmacy benefit managers operate advanced out of the Senate Insurance Committee Wednesday, signaling a push to regulate an industry that critics say drives up drug prices and puts local pharmacies at risk.

House Bill 264, authored by Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, cleared the committee with amendments that would ban pricing schemes, strengthen oversight and increase transparency in the often-confusing world of drug benefits.

PBMs are third-party companies that manage prescription drug benefits for health insurers, large employers and government programs like Medicaid. They negotiate with drugmakers and reimburse pharmacies, all while claiming to lower costs for patients. In practice, critics say they frequently do the opposite.

Read more at WBRZ.

Published: June 3, 2025

By: By Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The Louisiana Senate is reining in several major proposals pushed by Gov. Jeff Landry and House conservatives, rejecting additional tax cuts and scaling back spending on private school vouchers amid caution over the state’s longer-term financial outlook.

Despite clearing the House with little resistance, two key tax bills were effectively shelved by the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee earlier this week.

The committee declined to take up a plan to further phase down personal income taxes, and it slashed funding for a Landry plan to expand state funding for parents to send their children to private schools.

Read more at Bossier Press-Tribune.

Published May 29, 2025

By:Anna Puleo, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a sweeping package of auto insurance reform bills Wednesday, promising to lower the cost of coverage in Louisiana by cracking down on what he calls “frivolous lawsuits” and strengthening oversight of the insurance industry.

Landry called the new auto insurance laws “the largest tort reform package, and effort made in the history of the state.” He said the goal was to take a measured approach by holding both insurers and litigants accountable for rising costs.

The signing came a week after Landry flexed his political muscle and forced one of the key bills through the Senate in a late-night vote.

Read more at Shreveport Times.