The Office of the Governor has been announcing a steady stream of measures being signed into law by Gov. Edwards.
Included in the recent list is the Zero Suicide bill, which authorizes the Louisiana Department of Health to create a program that helps healthcare professionals to prevent suicide. He also signed Act 43, which expands the substance abuse probation program to include treatment for mental health and Act 251 which creates a pretrial diversion program for veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Act 352 provides for oral and telephonic orders of protections under exceptional circumstances and Act 480 prohibits state agencies from contracting with lobbyists.
Following are some of the measures the Governor signed into law in May:
ACT 38 – SB 275 Authorizes individuals to indicate that part of their refund go to the La. Coalition Against Domestic Violence for education of women who are victims of domestic violence.
ACT 103 – HB 711 Moves the Louisiana Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, to the office of the governor, and changes the name to the La. Council on the Success of Black Men and Boys, which is to be the leading entity that provides and promotes an environment that is conducive to prosperity, success, and excellence for all black men and boys in the state.
ACT 152 – SB 284 Amends the present law regarding Disaster and Emergency Medical Services Committee of the Louisiana State Medical Society, by removing some references to the Medical Society and the Society’s approval of Rules.
ACT 193 – HB 145 Provides limitations on diagnosing of the disorder commonly known as “Munchausen syndrome by proxy”, and on initiation of child welfare proceedings.
ACT 227 – SB 24 Provides relative to social work practice. New law provides that a faculty member who has obtained a master’s degree or license in a field other than social work and who teaches a course in a social work program other than a clinical course, a clinical practicum, or any other course involving the scope of practice of social work at an accredited Louisiana institution of higher education shall not be construed as practicing social work or subject to the licensing of a social worker.
ACT 236 – SB 199 Creates the Advisory Council on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
ACT 251 – SB 548 Creates a pretrial diversion program for veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. In addition to any existing pretrial diversion program, the district attorney for each judicial district, alone or in conjunction with the district attorney of an adjacent judicial district, may create and administer a special pretrial diversion program for defendants who meet requirements.
ACT 263 – HB 79 Creates the crime of abuse of persons with infirmities through electronic means and provides for criminal penalties and exceptions. The crime is where a person transfers an image that was obtained by any camera, videotape, or other device, of any person with an infirmity. “Person with an infirmity” means a person who suffers from a mental or physical disability, including those associated with advanced age, which renders the person incapable of adequately providing for his personal care.
ACT 270 – HB 524 Requires policies prohibiting sexual harassment and annual training on preventing sexual harassment for public officers and employees.
ACT 271 – HB 735 Establishes a workforce training pilot initiative to serve public assistance recipients in certain regions. Proposed law requires the executive director
of the La. Workforce Commission, the secretary of the Dept. of Children and Family Services, the secretary of the La. Dept. of Health, the state superintendent of education, and the president of
the La. Community and Technical College System, referred to collectively in proposed law as the “state partners”, to collaborate to design and implement a workforce training and education pilot initiative for public assistance recipients.
ACT 273 – HB 394 Establishes the Post-Conviction Veterans Mentor Program and the
procedures by which a veteran is determined to be eligible for the program and the procedures for the veteran’s participation in the program.
ACT 281 – HB 775 Provides relative to the reimbursement of healthcare providers. Provides for payment to a new provider in a contracted network of healthcare providers and authorizes recovery of certain amounts upon denial of an application for credentialing.
ACT 290 – HB 875 Provides relative to health insurance network provider directories. Requires the posting and regular updating of a directory of a health insurance issuer’s network of providers. Requires the directory to be both electronically searchable by
name, specialty, and location and publicly accessible without necessity of providing a password, a user name, or personally identifiable information.
ACT 320 – HB 466 Provides relative to court-appointed special advocates. Grants authority to court appointed special advocate program (CASA) volunteers to access a child’s home and to attend all administrative review hearings and family team meetings related to the case, and provides for the screening of CASA staff members or members of the board of directors.
ACT 324 – HB 539 Provides for an expedited licensing process and associated fees for facilities and providers licensed by the La. Department of Health, including Adult day health care facility; home health agency; hospice; hospital; intermediate care facility for people with developmental disabilities; psychiatric residential treatment facility; therapeutic group home; crisis receiving center; home- and community based service provider; adult residential care provider.
ACT 352 – SB 72 Provides relative to the execution of an order for protective custody and examination. New law provides that a coroner or his staff may apply to the court for an order of protective custody that allows law enforcement to use forced entry to gain access into premises when executing an order of protective custody. New law provides for accompanying documents for an order for protective custody and provides for both oral and telephonic orders of protections under exceptional circumstances.
ACT 353 – SB 99 Extends legislative authority for the Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board. New law changes the year of termination from 2018 to 2028.
ACT 354 – SB 101 Creates the Louisiana Sexual Assault Oversight Commission. New law replaces the current task force with the La. Sexual Assault Oversight Commission (the commission) within the office of the attorney general to develop recommendations for a standardized sexual assault collection kit and protocols for forensic medical examinations to be used statewide.
ACT 359 – SB 147 Provides relative to a defamation claim brought by an alleged
perpetrator of sexual misconduct against the alleged victim. New law provides that a court shall stay proceedings in cases of defamation of character, libel, slander, or damage to reputation brought by an alleged perpetrator of sexual misconduct against the alleged victim. Further provides that the stay shall remain until the completion of all investigations, hearings, or proceedings relating to the allegations of sexual misconduct.
ACT 361 – SB 166 Requires the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline information to be posted in additional locations.
ACT 375 – SB 306 Provides relative to Assistive Outpatient Treatment. New laws outlines matters for involuntary outpatient treatment, including: The court shall not order involuntary outpatient treatment unless an examining physician, psychiatric mental health nurse
practitioner, or psychologist develops and provides to the court a proposed written treatment plan, which specifies a provider that has agreed to provide services.
ACT 392 – SB 558 Provides relative to incarcerated women. Requires wardens or sheriffs of a correctional facility to make certain healthcare products available, in housing units and in the medical area, to all women incarcerated in a correctional facility at no cost and in a quantity that is appropriate to the needs of the woman without a medical permit.
ACT 402 – SB 66 Provides relative to admission to treatment facility for mental
illness pursuant to emergency certificate. New law retains prior law but requires physicians executing an emergency certificate to be licensed or permitted by the La. State Board of Medical Examiners.
ACT 409 – SB 207 Extends and provides for the Louisiana Obesity Prevention and
Management Commission.
ACT 412 – SB 291 Provides relative to family violence and domestic abuse as factors to consider in determining visitation and custody. New law retains prior law and provides relative to restriction on visitations for a parent who has subjected a child, stepchild or other household member to a history of family violence or has willingly permitted abuse to his or her children or stepchildren despite the ability to prevent it.
ACT 424 – HB 198 Provides relative to distribution of funding from the Traumatic Head and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund. Requires that the Traumatic Head and Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund is used as a fund of last resort following the exhaustion of Medicare and Medicaid funding.
ACT 431 – HB 440 Expands DPS&C’s substance abuse probation program to include treatment for mental health issues. The program shall provide substance abuse counseling and treatment for defendants, and develop contracts with local governmental entities or the office of behavioral health, training facilities, and service providers.
ACT 450 – HB 148 Provides for implementation of the zero suicide initiative and a state suicide prevention plan. The initiative requires the office of behavioral health to ensure that administrators of all healthcare facilities licensed by LDH and that all healthcare professionals licensed by any Louisiana board or commission have ready access to informational resources and technical assistance necessary for implementation of the zero suicide initiative.
ACT 454 – HB 189 Provides for processes, including public comment, to identify agency rules that may be contrary to law, outdated, unnecessary, overly complex, or burdensome.
Prior law allows any interested person to petition an agency regarding a rule. New law requires the agency to conduct a public hearing for the purpose of comments and to consider fully all submissions.
ACT 458 – HB 488 The mandatory reporting of crimes of sexual abuse of a minor will include female genital mutilation.
ACT 475 – SB 528 Provides relative to physician assistants. New law increases
number of physicians’ assistants that a supervising MD may supervise from four to eight. Physician assistants may apply for prescriptive authority if he/she has 500 hours of clinical training and meets other requirements.
ACT 480 – SB 25 Provides relative to prohibited conduct by state employees and agencies. New law prohibits state government employees from contracting with lobbyists or for lobbying services by use of a contract, memorandum of understanding, cooperative endeavor agreement, or other similar agreement.
ACT 489 – SB 507 In Medicaid managed care organizations, among other requirements, each MCO is to be responsible for ensuring that any provider it contracts with has attained and satisfies all Medicaid provider accreditation requirements and all other applicable state or federal requirements in order to receive reimbursement for providing services to
Medicaid recipients.
ACT 495 – HB 474 Requires additional training for peace officers in domestic violence awareness, including Dynamics of domestic violence, Predominant aggressor determination, communication with hearing impaired, and other topics.