Session Information

2005 Regular Session Highlights

Information Technology

by: Gary Schaefer
(225) 342-1001

APPROPRIATIONS

House Bill 1 by Representative Alario (Act 16) provides appropriations for:

Louisiana Optical Network Initiative–an initiative of U.S. research universities and private-sector technology companies to provide a nationwide infrastructure in networking technologies and applications–$4,000,000 (HB 2 an additional $6,500,000 for Library and Scientific Acquisitions including LONI).

Governor’s Biotechnology Initiative–an initiative to provide research dollars for biotechnology projects (e.g., neurobiotechnology activities)–$3,750,000.

Governor’s Information Technology Initiative–an initiative to conduct research and develop new technologies to advance information technology–$18,500,000, plus $2,000,000 for LSU Center for Computation and Technology.

Louisiana Technology Park–a nonprofit, public-private organization that serves as a high-tech incubator–$2,800,000

Virtual School/Title 3–The Louisiana Virtual School and Title 3 Technology Challenge activities are designed to increase the use of technology and computers in the Louisiana public school systems–$16,422,730

Senate Bill 316 by Senator Mount (Act 310) requires effective January 1, 2006, all parishes which have participated in a current Internet posting program to submit proposed assessment lists to the Louisiana Tax Commission in electronic form to be published on the commission website for public inspection. Allows those parishes that have never participated in the program to apply yearly for relief from this requirement.

House Bill 237 by Representative Burns (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided that participation in the ad valorem tax assessment database was required in every parish on January 1, 2007, and provided that the assessor shall allow for the inspection of the assessment lists for a period of 30 days, beginning no earlier than July 1 and ending no later than September 15.

BANKS/BANKING

Senate Bill 222 by Senator Hollis (Act 132) authorizes the imposition of an additional charge in a consumer credit transaction if the consumer makes an electronic payment.

House Concurrent Resolution 118 by Representative Crowe (enrolled) urges and requests the clerks of court and recorders of mortgages to employ the use of computer software to redact the first five digits of social security numbers appearing on filed or recorded documents to be scanned and made available, after August 1, 2005, to the public over the Internet.

House Bill 547 by Representative Greene (Act 246) creates the crime of computer-aided solicitation for sexual purposes, defines the crime, and requires a person convicted of this offense to register and provide notification in accordance with the sex offender registration and notification requirements.

Senate Bill 156 by Senator Chaisson (Act 297) creates the Anti-Skimming Act, which criminalizes the use of a scanning device and/or re-encoder to capture encoded information from a magnetic strip of a credit, debit, or other payment card and then places the encoded information on a different card with the intent to defraud the authorized user, the issuer of the user's card, or a merchant.

Senate Bill 166 by Senator Amedee (pending senate final passage, subject to call) would have increased the penalties for the crime of threatening a public official including electronic communications, which threatened a public official, with the intent to influence his conduct in relation to his official duty. Exempted the transference of voice, data, or video images by any cable company, telephone company, Internet provider, commercial on-line service provider, or any of its affiliates.

Senate Bill 205 by Senator Duplessis (Act 499) provides for the Database Security Breach Notification Law, which requires any person that conducts business in the state or that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information, or any agency that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information to notify any resident of the state whose personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been acquired by an unauthorized person. Defines personal information as certain information when the name or data element is not encrypted or redacted and is in combination with certain other data elements.

ELECTIONS

House Bill 152 by Representative Guillory (failed, senate final passage) would have prohibited the use of electronic communication devices while a voter was in a voting machine, unless such voter was using the device for voting assistance as outlined in existing law.

House Concurrent Resolution 17 by Representative Schneider (enrolled) urges and requests the Governor's Office of Elderly Affairs to develop a comprehensive Internet site with information and resources focused on enhancing and improving the lives of Louisiana's elderly population.

House Bill 99 by Representative Jackson (withdrawn from files of the house) would have created the Health-Care Consumer's Right to Know Act to assist consumers with receiving high-quality and cost-efficient health-care services by: requiring hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to submit electronically patient billing data, defining core data elements to be reported, providing electronic access to patient billing data, determining reasonable fees to be charged to and collected from the requesting entity for providing electronic access to such data, and providing information on an interactive statewide website for use by consumers in making health care decisions.

Senate Bill 22 by Senator B. Gautreaux (pending Senate Health and Welfare) would have required all licensed hospitals to report on an annual basis all incidents of hospital-acquired infections to the Department of Health and Hospitals, and to publish the annual report on its website.

House Bill 290 by Representative Townsend (Act 209) corrects the time period within which an electronic pharmacy claim is required to be paid, by requiring the claim shall be paid not later than the 15^th day after the date on which the claim was electronically adjudicated. Provides for interruption of the 15-day period for payment of electronic pharmacy claims during a declared state of emergency.

LEGISLATIVE POWERS/FUNCTIONS

Senate Bill 20 by Senator Michot (Act 276) revises the provisions for distribution of reports to the legislature and provides it shall be sufficient to provide one copy of the report to the presiding officer of each house of the legislature and an e-mail notification, which contains a link to an electronic copy of the report to each member of the legislature.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 13 by Senator Lentini (enrolled) requests the Senate Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on House and Governmental Affairs to study the use of videoconferencing for interim and standing committee meetings.

House Bill 121 by Representative Odinet (senate final passage, subject to call) would have provided for mandatory criminal background checks for residents in nursing homes or long-term care facilities by submitting the applicant's name and any other necessary identifying information to an Internet company that provides public records searches for criminal background.

House Bill 493 by Representative Farrar (deferred House Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs) would have provided that the official website of the governing authority of Rapides Parish would have been the official journal for the parish and any other political subdivision within the parish.

House Bill 652 by Representative Wright (pending House Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs) would have authorized the governing authority of any parish with a population below 16,000 and any political subdivision within such parish to establish and maintain an official website as the official journal of the parish or political subdivision.

House Bill 412 by Representative Crowe (pending House Appropriations) would have provided a 10% preference of information technology software or hardware, which was assembled, manufactured, or produced in Louisiana that was equal in quality to similar information technology assembled, manufactured or produced outside this state.

PUBLIC PROPERTY

Senate Bill 218 by Senator Dupre (Act 152) provides that political subdivisions of the state shall establish procedures for the acquisition of surplus computer equipment by public elementary and secondary schools in the state, and community and technical colleges.

House Bill 70 by Representative Toomy (pending House and Government Affairs) would have allowed the custodian of public records to charge a fee for making copies of public records, including copies of records made accessible by an electronic network.

House Bill 531 by Representative Thompson (Act 372) creates the Broadband Infrastructure and Information Technology Fund in the state treasury, provides that the fund shall be administered by the Governor's Office of Rural Development and monies in the fund shall be made available for the purpose of carrying out the duties and goals of the Louisiana Broadband Advisory Council.

House Bill 413 by Representative Crowe (deferred House Ways and Means) would have provided for tax credits against state income tax ranging from 10% to 15% of the actual investment for software development companies domiciled in the state of Louisiana.

Senate Bill 341 by Senator Duplessis (Act 346) provides for a digital interactive media producer tax credit against state income tax, ranging from 10% to 15%, to encourage development in Louisiana of digital interactive media technologies.

House Bill 603 by Representative Scalise (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided for a digital interactive media production investor credit to attract private investment for the production of digital interactive media with certain substantial Louisiana content.

House Bill 604 by Representative Scalise (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided for a digital interactive media employment tax credit ranging from 10% to 20% of the total aggregate payroll for the employment of residents of Louisiana in connection with the production of a digital interactive media.

House Bill 684 by Representative Hammett (Act 402) provides for a tax credit against corporation franchise taxes for increasing research and development, including research and development by small technology businesses.

TAX EXEMPTIONS

Senate Bill 335 by Senator Mount (pending Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs) would have excluded from the computation of individual income, for a period of three years, income received by an individual or high technology business as royalties derived from any patent, copyright, or trade secrets owned by the individual or high technology business or which was developed and arose out of a high technology business.

House Bill 632 by Representative Scalise (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided for exemptions from corporate income, corporate franchise and other taxes for electronics manufacturing companies (e.g., robotics, smart homes, digital imaging, public alert technology).

House Bill 854 by Representative Arnold (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided tax incentives for electronic manufacturing companies, and would have defined electronic manufacturing companies as any manufacturing, research, and development business entity whose primary activity was related to the manufacture of electronics for the purpose of building robotics, components for robotics, smart homes, digital imaging, public alert technology, or electronic gaming.

House Bill 491 by Representative Richmond (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided for an individual income tax deduction from taxable income for purchase of computers for use in the home.

House Bill 641 by Representative Gallot (pending House Ways and Means) would have provided for a credit against state income tax, ranging from 10% to 15%, for taxpayers domiciled in Louisiana who invested in state-certified software development.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 39 by Senator Ellington (enrolled) requests the Louisiana Broadband Advisory Council to conduct public hearings in various locations across the state to ascertain supply and demand issues relative to broadband deployment.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 46 by Senator Ellington (enrolled) requests the Louisiana Broadband Advisory Council to convene a task force to develop a statewide E-Rate strategy to capture all possible E-Rate funds available to the state. The federal E-Rate program was created as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and ensures that all eligible schools, libraries, and rural healthcare providers in the US have affordable access to modern telecommunications and Internet services.

WILLS/TESTAMENTS

House Bill 260 by Representative Hunter (Act 79) authorizes the introduction into evidence of a videotape of the execution and reading of the testament by the testator, and defines videotape as the visual recording on a magnetic tape, film, videotape, compact disc, digital video disc, or by other electronic means.