The House had a busy third week ofthe session with 399 House bills introduced.The full House passed 100.

The following are highlights of someof the issues considered this week.

COASTAL PROTECTION* House Bill 339, pending House finalpassage, provides that the Coastal Protectionand Restoration Authority may use its ownresources for satisfying any mitigationrequirements.* House Bill 352, pending House finalpassage, changes the approval authority fromthe secretary of the Department of NaturalResources to the executive director of theCoastal Protection and Restoration Authorityto purchase land for integrated coastalprotection projects.

DISABLED ADULT CHILDREN* House Bill 204, pending House finalpassage, extends child support to adultchildren with disabilities.

The proposed law would provide forthe extension of child support to unmarriedchildren who are incapable of self-support andwho require substantial care and personalsupervision because of a mental or physicaldisability. HB204 provides that the disabilityshall not include substance abuse or addiction.

EDUCATION* House Bill 598, pending House final passage, establishes the Able Account Authority within the Department ofEducation, and provides the authority toadminister the ABLE Account SavingsProgram.

The "ABLE Account" is a specialsavings account for financing certain qualifiedexpenses of persons with disabilities.

ENTERPRISE ZONE TAX CREDITS* House Bill 466, pending House finalpassage, limits eligibility for Enterprise ZoneProgram sales tax rebates and income taxcredits to all retail and restaurants with 50 orfewer employees in parishes with populationsover 75,000. HB466 also lowers the employeethreshold from 101 to 51 for retail eligibilitylimited to groceries and pharmacies, anddisallows restaurants with more than 50employees.* House Bill 719, pending House finalpassage, adds retail businesses assigned aNorth American Industry Classification CodesCode of 722 to the list of retail businesseseligible for rebates and tax credits providedfor in the Enterprise Zone Program.

FILM TAX CREDITS* House Bill 276, pending House final

HOUSE NOTESLouisiana House of Representatives

Communications Office2015 Regular Session

Week Three, May 1, 2015

passage, caps the annual amount of motionpicture investor income tax credits the officeand the secretary may certify each calendaryear at $200 million beginning July 1, 2015.* House Bill 704, pending House finalpassage, establishes a $150 million annual capon motion picture investor income tax credits,beginning January 1, 2016.* House Bill 829, pending House finalpassage, would cap the motion picture incometax credits at $226 million per year, beginningJuly 1, 2015.

FOSTER CARE* House Bill 261, pending House finalpassage, adds the training topic called"reasonable and prudent parent standard" tothe foster care training program approved bythe Department of Children and FamilyServices (DCFS) and requires fostercaregivers to use the standard.

HB261 stipulates that a caregiver isnot liable for harm caused to a child whoparticipates in an activity, if the caregiveracted according with reasonable and prudentparent standard.

Finally, HB261 requires DCFS todevelop rules to implement the new law. FUEL STORAGE INSPECTIONS* House Bill 834, a substitute for HouseBill 750, pending House final passage,authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshalto inspect fuel tank installations that have acapacity of at least 275 gallons and are locatedwithin 100 feet of any one- or two-familydwelling, hunting or fishing camp.

HB834 additionally allows the statefire marshal to declare rules or regulations,enforce repair or removal of dangerous fueltank installations and to charge a plan andreview fee.

FUNDING* House Bill 250, pending House finalpassage, authorizes money from other sourcessuch as donations, appropriations ordedications to be deposited in and creditedinto the Workforce Training Rapid ResponseFund and requires public higher educationinstitutions to demonstrate a 25% privatematch before receiving these funds.* House Bill 386, pending House finalpassage, provides that interest earned on theinvestment of monies in the DeepwaterHorizon Economic Damages Collection Fundshall be credited to the fund and requires thatappropriations from the fund be made to theBoard of Regents to be distributed to highereducation.

HONEY* House Bill 79, which passedunanimously in the House, exempts raw honeyprepared in the home from a food labelingrequirement in present law.

HB79 additionally provides that noindividual who prepares low-risk foods in thehome shall sell such foods unless he isregistered to collect any local sales and usetaxes applicable to the sale of such foods, andhas a current sales tax certificate issued to theseller by the sales and use tax collector for theparish in which the sales occur.

INCOME TAX CREDITS* House Bill 402, pending House finalpassage, provides new eligibility requirementsfor individual income tax credits for taxespaid to another state.

Under this legislation, the credit forLouisiana incomes taxes shall be limited tothe lesser of the proportional credit limitationamount or the actual tax paid to the otherstate.

The "proportional credit limitation

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amount" means the amount of Louisianaincome tax that would have been imposed ifthe income earned in the other state had beenearned in Louisiana. The credit is not allowedfor taxes paid to another state that allows sucha credit for nonresident filers in that state whopaid tax to their own state of residence.

INTERNET TAX* House Bill 355, pending House finalpassage, expands the definition of "dealer" toinclude persons who have certain substantialrelationships and similarities with Louisianaretailers, transact business in a certain manner,or who engage in business in Louisiana.through the use of certain affiliated agents. HB355 also changes the distribution of taxcollections to local taxing authorities fromannually to quarterly.* House Bill 536, pending House finalpassage, provides for the definition of a dealerfor purposes of collection of sales and usetaxes due on sales made in Louisiana by aremote dealer to include internet sales.* For purposes of sales tax collection,House Bill 555, pending House final passage, expands the definition of a dealer to includeinternet sales.

Under the proposed law, any companywith an affiliated agent who sells the same orsimilar products under the same or similarname with a cumulative total of $50,000 insales of tangible personal property in one yearwould be considered dealers. Thesecompanies would be obligated to collect andremit sales tax on behalf of the state and localgovernments, including internet transactionsmailed to the state.

JUDGES* House Bill 76, pending House finalpassage, changes the composition of ElectionSection 1 and Election Section 2 for the City

Court of Baton Rouge, and provides that threejudges shall be elected from Election Section1 and two judges shall be elected fromElection Section 2.* House Bill 122, pending House finalpassage, provides that elections to filljudgeships for the City Court of Baton Rougeshall be held from the entire territorial area ofthe city rather than from election sections.

LABOR* The House Committee on Labor andIndustrial Relations approved House Bill 418,which seeks to ban the practice of collectingteacher and public employee union duesthrough automatic payroll deductions.

LITTER CITATIONS* House Bill 33, pending House finalpassage, doubles the amounts of all fines forintentional littering, simple littering, grosslittering and commercial littering.

Additionally, HB33 distributes theincrease in fines to the retirement system ofthe law enforcement agency that issued thelitter citation.

NATURAL RESOURCES* House Bill 303, pending House finalpassage, requires the Wildlife & FisheriesCommission to use management targets toensure a sustainable population of black drum,sheepshead and flounder.* House Bill 341, pending House finalpassage, creates additional penalties for theillegal taking of oysters from leased acreage. NON-STATE ENTITY PROJECTS* Under the provisions of House Bill212, pending House final passage, the JointLegislative Committee on Capital Outlay shallreceive the list of state and non-state entityrecommendations from the Division of

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Administration and shall have discretion toeither approve or make changes to the list.

Only projects which received approvalfrom the Joint Legislative Committee onCapital Outlay shall be submitted to the StateBond Commission for consideration of linesof credit.

RETIREMENT* House Bill 45, pending House finalpassage, changes the minimum age foroptional participation in the Louisiana StateEmployees' Retirement System from 60 to 62for new hires in state systems.

SEX EDUCATION* House Bill 359, pending House finalpassage, requires Orleans Parish publicschools to offer sex education instruction togrades 7 through 12, and may offer suchinstruction to all students in grades 3 through6.

SOLAR TAX CREDITS* House Bill 779, pending House finalpassage, repeals the solar energy systems taxcredit for leased systems and thermal systems,and lowers the maximum credit amount to$10,000 for eligible systems and limitsfinancing to 48 months. HB779 also limits asite to a single credit, specifies necessaryclaim documentation, including notarizedstatement of system size, and detailsequipment not eligible for the credit.* House Bill 817, pending House finalpassage, changes the amount of the solar taxcredit for a system purchased by a homeownerto a maximum of $10,000 per system.

Additionally, HB817 caps leasedcredits at $20 million per year in FY 15, FY16and FY 17, specifies necessary claimdocumentation and details equipment noteligible for the credit.

* House Bill 510, pending House finalpassage, would eliminate the solar tax creditprogram on July 1, 2015.

TAX/CORPORATE INCOME* House Bill 383, pending House finalpassage, removes the three-year carrybackprovisions for the net operating loss deductionwhen calculating corporate income taxes.* House Bill 628, pending House finalpassage, requires corporations to add-backotherwise deductible interest expenses andcosts incurred in connection with transactionswith one or more related members.* House Bill 775, pending House finalpassage, provides that the method fordetermination of income subject the tax shallbe the" unitary business principle" andprovides for various methods of determiningthe apportionable income of corporations andcertain groups of corporations.

TAXES* House Concurrent Resolution 8, pending House floor action, suspends 1percent of the 4 percent sales tax on steam,water, electric power or energy and naturalgas. This suspension shall become effectiveupon adoption of this resolution and shallextend through the sixtieth day after finaladjournment of the 2016 Regular Session.* House Concurrent Resolution 14,pending House floor action, suspends theexemptions for 1% of state sales and use taxthat shall become effective upon adoption ofthis resolution and shall extend through thesixtieth day after final adjournment of the2016 Regular Session.* House Concurrent Resolution 15,pending House floor action, suspends annualstate sales tax holidays until 60 days afteradjournment of the 2016 Regular Session.* House Bill 549, pending House floor

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action, suspensions and special rates forvarious types of mineral production activitysubject to severance taxes from July 1, 2015through June 30, 2017.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS/PUBLICSAFETY* House Bill 456, pending House finalpassage, requires commercial mobile serviceproviders and telecommunications carriers todisclose call location information to lawenforcement agencies during emergencysituations.

TOBACCO TAX* House Bill 119, pending HouseAppropriations, increases the cigarette taxfrom 36 per pack to 68 per pack. Taxes onall other tobacco products would remainunchanged. The increase is estimated to raise$67 million per year.

VETERANS* Under present law, a "qualifyingdisability" is defined to mean 100%permanent total disability rating or permanentand total unemployability disability rating asdetermined by the U.S. Dept. of VeteransAffairs and certified by the secretary for theLa. Dept. of Veterans Affairs in a finaladjudication of the initial rating decision.

House Bill 425 adds a prohibition thatthe initial rating decision cannot apply to afederal rating decision predating service in theLa. National Guard.

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