House rejects tuition control for campuses
by Mike Hasten - The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE — State lawmakers made it clear that they're not ready to give up the power to control tuition at Louisiana's colleges and universities.

The House voted 56-36 to kill HB299 by Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Houma, which sought to return control to campuses how much they charge for students to attend classes. The bill, which received just more than half of the 70 votes needed to pass, sought to amend the state constitution. It said a provision adopted several years ago requiring a two-thirds vote to increase state fees would not apply to college tuition.

"I'm not asking you to make the decision" on whether colleges and universities should be able to set tuition, Harrison told the House. "Allow the people to make the decision" by voting on a constitutional amendment.