Louisiana Voice

The Louisiana Legislature will wait two weeks, until noon on April 14, to spring its April Fool’s joke on the citizens of Louisiana when it convenes for its odd-year 85-day session – 25 more days than in even years to inflict carnage with a gaggle of self-serving, sneaky or just plain silly bills and occasionally a few constitutional amendments for voters to defeat when put to a ballot.

Oh, there will be a state budget that won’t be adopted until the clock starts ticking toward adjournment and there will be the Capital Outlay budget to finance pet construction and maintenance in the districts of the more politically powerful members of the august body.

And, of course, both chambers, the rotunda and the various committee hearing rooms will be swarming with lobbyists, paid by big oil, big Pharma, nursing homes (can’t forget the nursing home industry) and other special interests to see that an adverse bill (i.e., an ethics or environmental protection bill with real punch) is killed either in committee or, should it somehow get reported out favorably, on the House or Senate floor.

There will be the usual trove of resolutions of congratulations to anyone who accomplished anything of note the previous year. So, if you, say, won a zipline competition (if there is such thing), won a pickle ball tournament or if you happened to live to 100 years, get in touch with your representative or senator.

And did I mention the bills? Oh, the bills.

A quick check of bills already pre-filed turned up a few interesting ones. HB 21, for instance, by Rep. Steven Jackson (D-Shreveport), was a bill providing for the broadcast and recordation of Board of Ethics meetings. It was pre-filed on Feb. 26 and withdrawn exactly a month later before it could be introduced. That could’ve sparked some interesting debate, seeing as how the Ethics Board operates in virtual secrecy and fully intends to keep it that way.

Here’s one that has not been pulled. Yet. Originating in the upper chamber, SB19 is a sweeping bill allowing that complies with requirements of the Department of Health that provides for the purchase of the controversial drug IVERMECTIN.

Ivermectin, if you don’t already know, came into vogue in the wake of the 2020 Covid pandemic.

Ivermectin is a treatment for parasites and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory warning physicians and the public of the risk of severe illness caused by the drug.

Yet Sen. Michael “Big Mike” Fesi (R-Houma) not only wants to allow pharmacists to dispense ivermectin to persons 18 and older, he wants to grant immunity to pharmacists doing so. That means if the drug causes significant harm to an individual, he will have no legal recourse.

And remember, it’s all in compliance with a regulation passed down by Jeff Landry’s Department of Health and veterinarian/Surgeon General Ralph Abraham.

And right along with his Ivermectin bill, Big Mike wants to repeal the state’s water fluoridation program and to prohibit the fluoridation of any public water system.

SB 2, also by Fesi, would repeal the present law that requires the Department of Health from establishing water fluoridation program, which it presently does under existing law.

Hawaii is the only state that currently prohibits water fluoridation. Each of the remaining 49 states, Louisiana included, have some amount of fluoridation value, ranging from 10 percent in Texas 99.7 percent in Kentucky. Louisiana’s fluoridation value level is 38 percent.

FLUORIDATION has been shown to prevent tooth decay by strengthening tooth enamel and improve oral health. Moreover, it is cost-effective and safe. Grand Rapids, Michigan, was the first city to implement community water fluoridation in 1945, a project that has since been named by the CDC as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20^th century.

Fluoridation has been a BONE OF CONTENTION since as far back as the 1960s when libertarians, the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan latched onto the contention that fluoridation was some sort of communist conspiracy. The latest to oppose fluoridation is none other than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services.

So, there you have two of the pre-filed bills. We will be featuring more as we continue to monitor the filings for even more exotic, imaginative and creative work of your legislators, so hang on tight for the non-stop joy ride to June 12.