RELEASE: Louisiana Progress Introduces Broad 2024 Legislative Agenda to Support Working People
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE–March 25, 2024
Louisiana Progress continues to work toward a safer, cleaner, more prosperous Louisiana by supporting policies to reform public transit, decriminalize poverty, lower auto insurance rates, and more in the 2024 legislative session.
BATON ROUGE, LA | March 25, 2024—The 2024 Louisiana legislative session is already in full swing, but none of the 10 bills on Louisiana Progress’s policy agenda have had hearings yet. As is the case every year, our agenda is built around improving quality-of-life for the people in Louisiana who often get forgotten about in our state’s political process.
“We advocate on behalf of Louisiana’s lower income and working-class residents who don’t have the resources to hire people to represent their interests in the halls of power,” according to Peter Robins-Brown, executive director of Louisiana Progress. “This year we’re working to reform public transit in New Orleans, reduce gender and economic discrimination in auto insurance rates, keep people from going to jail for low level drug offenses, and protect the public from deceptive political ads.”
We’ve worked with our partners at the Louisiana AFL-CIO, the Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana, Invest in Louisiana, Step Up Louisiana, Real Reform Louisiana, and the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center to put together the following pieces of legislation:
Good Government Reforms
Reform the Orleans & Jefferson Regional Transit Authority based on recommendations from RTA union workers--HB544 by Rep. Delisha Boyd
Require transparency/disclosure when AI is used in political ads–HB154 by Rep. Mandie Landry
Improve Public Safety
Partially decriminalize marijuana paraphernalia (no jail, $100 fine)--HB165 by Rep. Delisha Boyd
Fair Chance Housing Act--HB333 by Rep. Matthew Willard
Provide incarcerated people with $1000 for every day they are incarcerated beyond the end of their sentence--HB590 by Rep. Edmond Jordan
Insurance Reform
Prohibit gender bias in auto insurance base rates--HB199 by Rep. Vanessa LaFleur
Prohibit the inclusion of advertising costs in auto insurance premiums--HB387 by Rep. Robby Carter
Require insurance companies to disclose when they are applying for rate changes that would result in a profit of more than 10%, and explain why they need that much profit--HB513 by Rep. Joseph Stagni
Prohibit the use of certain rating factors in insurance underwriting--HB671 by Rep. Edmond Jordan
Prohibits insurers' use of external consumer data and information sources if usage results in unfair discrimination--HB673 by Rep. Edmond Jordan
We’re also supporting HB683 by Rep. Chuck Owen. It accomplishes many of the goals we and our partners at the Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana have been working toward for years, including debt collection reform, making it easier for people to get their drivers’ licenses reinstated (600,00+ Louisianans currently have them suspended), and undertaking several other long overdue reforms at the Office of Motor Vehicle.
We are incredibly excited about what Rep. Owen and new OMV Commissioner Dan Casey are attempting to accomplish with this bill, and are optimistic about its prospects after it unanimously passed the House Transportation committee earlier this week.
Who: Louisiana Progress, Louisiana AFL-CIO, Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana, Invest in Louisiana, Step Up Louisiana, Real Reform Louisiana, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center
What: Louisiana Progress policy agenda for the 2024 legislative session
When: March 25, 2023
Contact:
Peter Robins-Brown, Executive Director, Louisiana Progress, (504) 256-8196, peter@louisianaprogress.org
