Now is the time for persons to contact Louisiana legislators regarding key moral and social issues, Ken Ward said.
Now is the time for persons to contact Louisiana
legislators regarding key moral and social issues, Ken Ward said.
“Bills on several key issues are being heard in
upcoming days,” noted Ward, executive director of the Louisiana Moral
and Civic Foundation.
“Those concerned about these matters would do well to contact their legislators now and express their views.”
Human cloning is one issue that has drawn considerable attention and currently is being debated.
Last week, the House of Representatives voted 54-45
against a measure that would have banned human cloning except for
approved research purposes.
Instead, the House voted 75-23 in favor of House
Bill 492, which calls for a blanket ban on human cloning. That measure
now heads to the Senate, where it first must be considered in committee.
In addition to that measure, several bills remain in
committee, awaiting action. Votes on the measures could come within
days, Ward noted.
The measures include:
• House Bill 242. The bill would require women seeking abortions to receive professional counseling.
• House Bill 410. The measure would exempt churches from paying state sales and use taxes.
• House Bill 144. The measure would allow domestic
cruiseship gambling in the state and sets forth specific criteria for
that activity.
• Senate Bill 267. The measure would prohibit any
new video poker licenses to be issued truck stop facilities after July
1, 2005. However, the measure would permit renewal of existing licenses
and allow licenses to be issued on applications filed prior to July 1,
2005.
• House Bill 338. Current law prohibits licensed
liquor establishments within 300 feet of a public playground, church,
library, school or fulltime daycare center. It stipulates how the 300
feet will be measured based on sidewalks. The proposed measure would
alter the way the measurement is calculated as simply a straight line
from the nearest point of one property to the nearest point of the
other.
• Senate Bill 308. The measure would authorize the
municipality of Richwood in Ouachita Parish to call a referendum
election to determine if video poker will be allowed or not.
• House Bill 675 and Senate Bill 40. The companion
measures would create the Human Dignity Act, a direct response to the
recent case involving the death of Terry Schiavo in Florida.
Schiavo died after a long court battle about whether life-sustaining
measures would be withdrawn. In Louisiana, residents currently can
draft a living will to make their wishes clear in the event they are
unable to communicate those wishes at a later time.
The proposed measures would stipulate that it will
be presumed every person incapable of making health care decisions has
directed medical personnel to provide him or her with sufficient
nutrition and hydration measures. The proposed bills would allow
withdrawal of the life-sustaining measures only with the written
consent of a patient.
House Bill 675 has been passed out of committee and awaits action by the full House.
Senate Bill 40 also was passed out of committee but
not before it was amended in a way that some observers say doom the
proposal as too costly.
In Senate committee, the measure was amended to
address the situation in which family members wish to have
life-sustaining measures withdrawn from a patient, only to have the
state require the measures continue.
The amendment states that in such cases, if family
members are unable to pay for the continuing care, the state would be
required to assume the costs.
Even though the amended bill gained committee
approval, it was sent to the Senate finance committee where the
potential costs of such a stipulation could be considered. It now
awaits action in that committee before it can be considered by the full
Senate.
“Movement on any of these issues could take place
soon,” Ward reminded persons. “It would be timely to communicate with
legislators as soon as possible.”
Ward also reminded persons they may use the Internet
to monitor legislation or may call the foundation for information on
specific issues and bills.
Governor Kathleen Blanco
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004
Call: (225) 342-7015
Fax: (225) 342-7099
To contact state senators
Senator John or Jane Doe
Senate Office
P.O. Box 94183
Baton Rouge, LA 70804
Call: (225) 342-2040
Fax: (225) 342-4399
To contact state representatives
Representative John or Jane Doe
Speaker’s Office
P.O. Box 44486
Baton Rouge, LA 70804
Call: (225) 342-6945
Fax: (225) 342-8336
The La. Moral and Civic Foundation
P.O. Box 2951, Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Call: (225) 767-1908
Fax: (225) 767-1913
E-mail: lamoral@aol.com
Visit the Internet: www.lmcf.org
To monitor bills
Go to Web site at www.lmcf.org
Click on … Legislative
Click on … Legislative Program Resources
Click on … La. Legislature Home Page
Click on … Session Info
Click on … 2005 Regular Session
Click on … means of tracking bills