3 Terrible bills from the 2025 Legislative sesion
Musings on the Legislature #16
Hello all,
It’s been a while since I’ve written about the Louisiana Legislature. Now that the 2025 LA legislative session is now underway, I thought now would be a proper time to restart the “Musings on the Legislature” article series here on the Louisiana First Standard.
For this evening’s article, I thought it would be appropriate to share information about three highly concerning, “Louisiana Last” bills coming from the Legislature this year.
We here at the Louisiana First Standard do not exist as an uncritical cheerleader of the Republican party in Louisiana. There are many terrible bills that come from both major political parties in Louisiana. Consequently, our goal here at the Louisiana First Standard is to solely support the “Louisiana First” agenda in Louisiana, not to be an unpaid cheerleader.
Without further ado, let’s look at three terrible bills from Louisiana’s 2025 legislative session.
#1 HB 200 by Rep. Dixon McMakin (Repub - District 68)
Fortunately, this bill will not likely pass in the State Legislature since it did not pass the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs last week. However, I still think it’s important for the readers of the Louisiana First Standard to learn about this terrible legislation proposed by Rep. Dixon McMakin.
Rep. McMakin’s bill (HB 200) is a blatant attack on grassroots conservatives in East Baton Rouge Parish. His bill would make politicians in the legislature and the Public Service Commission AUTOMATIC members of the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Executive Committee (RPEC). For those who don’t know, this move would greatly benefit politicians and punish the elected, grassroots members of the East Baton Rouge Parish RPEC.
For a long time, Louisiana has suffered from politicians “serving” on local Republican parties (RPECs) and the state Republican party (RSCC). Politicians like McMakin want to fill the local RPECs with their politician friends so that they have full control of the local Republican parties.
The Jefferson Parish RPEC is a perfect example of a completely dysfunctional, closed-door political group looks like. The Jefferson Parish RPEC has been taken over by local RINO politicians who control the endorsement process and decision-making of Republican politics in Jefferson Parish.
In effect, McMakin’s “Louisiana Last” bill would make the EBR Republican Executive Committee (RPEC) look more like Jefferson Parish rather than a group of grassroots conservatives who are locally elected.
Here is how Rep. Woody Jenkins described this bill in an article in the St. George Leader:
“This bill is undemocratic. It attempts to take away control of the local Republican Party from rank-and-file, grass- roots Republicans and turn it over to the politicians. Rep. McMakin can’t just name himself and his hand-picked cronies as officers of the Republican Party.”
What’s more, the Advocate recently published an article detailing how Governor Landry is potentially supporting this bill behind-the-scenes as an attack on the current chair of the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Party— Woody Jenkins.
This bill is certainly one of the worst bills in the 2025 legislative session, and we here at the Louisiana First Standard strongly oppose Rep. McMakin’s bill.
If Rep. McMakin doesn’t like what’s going on in the EBR RPEC, then just RUN FOR OFFICE. RPEC elections are slated for March 2028, so he can run for office instead of looking to get an automatic appointment to the RPEC.
#2 SB 80 by Sen. Greg Miller (Repub - District 19)
Our friends at the Louisiana Citizens Advocacy Group (LACAG) wrote a lengthy discussion on the issues of SB 80 by state Senator Greg Miller on the Twitter/X platform— which I posted below:
Simply put, Senator Miller’s bill is a shot-across-the-bow by the “Louisiana Last” Secretary of State Nancy Landry against independent journalists. Secretary Landry (not related to the Governor) has remained a longtime foe of grassroots conservatives in Louisiana and actively supports electronic voting machines against President Donald Trump’s clear support for paper ballot voting.
In this bill, Senator Miller is restricting independent journalists and grassroots conservatives from conducting exit polling during Louisiana elections.
Here is the exact language from SB 80:
"Exit poll" as used in this Section shall mean a poll by a bona fide 10 journalist or news media organization of voters leaving a polling place to gather 11 basic demographic information and determine how voters voted on candidates 12 and propositions in an election. The poll shall be conducted in a nondisruptive 13 manner.
This bill is completely unnecessary and does nothing but support the corrupt “Louisiana Last” media establishment in Louisiana. The Louisiana government should have no say on who IS and who IS NOT a “bona fide journalist”— in effect picking winners and losers in the media landscape.
Sadly, the RINOS on the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs supported this bill last week, and it is now on its way to be heard on the Senate floor.
Make sure to contact your state senator and ask him/her to oppose this unnecessary legislation!
#3 SB 214 by Sen. Royce Duplessis (Dem - District 5)
This bill is a slam-dunk, easy bill to oppose. According the Louisiana legislature’s website, this bill will make the Insurance Commissioner a position appointed by the Governor— instead of a position elected BY THE PEOPLE.
To be completely honest, Governor Jeff Landry holds some highly concerning ties to some of the top trial lawyers in Louisiana— specifically Gordon McKernan and John Carmouche. Do we really want Governor Landry to appoint the next Insurance Commissioner instead of letting the people of Louisiana elect this position? The “Louisiana First” is an easy NO!
Not to mention, Louisiana’s previous Governor (John Bel Edwards) was a trial attorney by trade. Insurance premiums in Louisiana skyrocketed under Edwards’s tenure, and I highly doubt that Governor Edwards would have appointed a fair, impartial person as Insurance Commissioner during his tenure.
Senator Royce Duplessis’s bill (SB 214) is thinly-veiled power grab by the powerfully trial attorney lobby in Louisiana to make the Insurance Commissioner a friendly voice to their economic interests.
Louisiana’s current Insurance commissioner Tim Temple is publicly opposed to the many trial lawyers who have looted Louisiana’s economy and its people for many years. The people of Louisiana need a duly-elected reformer like Tim Temple at the helm of Louisiana’s insurance instead of a crony of the trial lawyer lobby.
This piece of legislation is currently pending in the Senate & Governmental affairs committee. So, let’s hope that the Republicans on this committee grow a backbone and shoot down this awful legislation from one of Louisiana’s most notorious “Louisiana Last” legislators Royce Duplessis.
Please email the following members of the Senate & Governmental affairs committee to tell them to OPPOSE SB 214:
-Sen. Kleinpeter: sen17@legis.la.gov
-Sen. Miguez: sen22@legis.la.gov
-Sen. Womack: sen32@legis.la.gov
-Sen. Fesi: sen20@legis.la.gov
-Sen. Womack: sen32@legis.la.gov
-Sen. Miller: sen19@legis.la.gov
-Sen. Reese: sen30@legis.la.gov
Thank you all for reading, and may Christ Jesus bless the state of Louisiana! Only Louisiana First!