House votes to eliminate 30th minority district
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- The House late Monday adopted a change in the chamber's redistricting plan, reducing the number of minority districts from 30 to 29, the same number included when House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, introduced his bill a week ago. With the reduction, there would still be two more minority districts than the 27 that now exist, but short of the 32 or more that members of the Legislative Black Caucus contend can be carved out of the 105 House seats. The minority district eliminated in the floor amendment approved Monday would have been added in the Shreveport area. The amendment was offered by Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, who took office last week. The change was backed by the governor's office. Seabaugh and veteran Rep. Richard Burford, R-Stonewall, would have been thrown in the same district in the fall elections under the proposal that emerged from committee. Seabaugh's amendment passed 57-46.