Lawmakers Facing Busy Week
by Mike Hasten - The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE — State lawmakers wasted no time getting to work in this legislative session and have steadily been sending bills through the legislative process — even though working just four days a week.

The House of Representatives has sent 158 bills to the Senate for consideration and the Senate sent 92 to the House in 11 days of hearings. Committees have killed several bills, and a few have died in floor debates after getting committee approval. Several major bills are on tap for floor action this week, including setting term limits for all statewide elected officials and eliminating retirement benefits for elected officials convicted of certain crimes.

So far, the biggest bills to make their way across the aisle from the House are HB292 by Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, which would eliminate the system of having closed political party primaries for congressional elections, and HB410 by Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, which calls for local option elections on whether to set term limits on school board members.