Session Information

2008 Session Highlights

Information Technology

ADMINISTRATION DIVISION

Senate Bill 37 2008 1ES by Senator Chaisson (Act 20) requires the commissioner of administration to establish and maintain a website to post reports of state spending. The Act also requires that the reports include the nature and amount of appropriations for the executive branch of state government contained in the General Appropriation Act and other acts for each budget unit, annual salaries and total compensation of statewide elected officials and cabinet-level positions in the executive branch of state government, and the total number in the table of organization for each budget unit. It requires the commissioner to maintain on the website a monthly report of spending by each such budget unit. The commissioner of administration is required to consult with the joint Legislative Committee on the Budget in the development of specifications of the database used for the website.

House Bill 870 by Representative Peterson (pending Appropriations Committee) would have provided additional requirements to the website of reports of state spending required in Act 20 of the 2008 First Extraordinary Session. The bill would have required the website include midyear adjustments, tracking of the impact of proposed legislation on the state general fund throughout the legislative session; proposed midyear adjustments to be considered by the Joint Legislative Committee in the Budget; the continuation budget; and the official five-year base-line budget projection.

Senate Bill 106 by Senator Morrish (involuntarily deferred House Governmental Affairs Committee) would have required an entity which is neither a budget unit nor political subdivision of the state that receives state funding to submit information, including but not limited to, information concerning the entity, and the goals and objectives anticipated to be achieved through the use of state monies. The bill would have required information to be submitted on a form known as the "General Appropriation Bill Supplemental Information Form." The secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House of Representatives jointly would have prescribed the form for submitting the information. The information submitted would have been published electronically by the secretary and the clerk and made available to the public via the Internet. The secretary and the clerk would have maintained the information in an on-line, searchable database available to the public via the Internet.

House Bill 73 2008 1ES by Representative White (Act 17) requires each person and political committees required to file reports pursuant to Chapter 11 of Title 18 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes that receives contributions or loans in excess of $50,000 in a calendar year, other than a candidate or an authorized political committee of a candidate, or a political committee of a recognized political party to file all reports required by this Chapter electronically with the supervisory committee through the Board of Ethics Computerized Data Management System. The Act further provides in addition to any other applicable penalties, the failure of a person or a political committee required to file a report electronically, and subjects such person or political committee to penalties of $500 per day until the report is filed.

House Bill 78 2008 1ES by Representative Leger (Act 25) requires each candidate for a major or district office and each principal campaign committee of a candidate for a major or district office that receives contributions or loans in excess of $25,000 in the aggregate during the aggregating period or that makes expenditures in excess of $25,000 in the aggregate during the aggregating period to file electronically reports of contributions and expenditures with the supervisory committee through the Board of Ethics Computerized Data Management System.

Senate Bill 472 by Senator Jackson (pending Judiciary A) would have provided for the posting on the Internet of information about services and programs within the children’s budget.

House Bill 377 by Representative Leger (Act 273) requires the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information to provide the capability to allow a social networking website to compare its database of registered users to the State Sex Offender and Child Predator Registry.

House Bill 867 by Representative Baldone (Act 646) amends the elements of the crime of computer-aided solicitation to include a person seventeen or older who communicates through electronic textual communication with a person under the age of seventeen who is at least two years younger, or is reasonably believed to be at least two years younger, and provides that a person convicted of computer-aided solicitation shall not be eligible for "good time."

House Bill 1374 by Representative Norton (Act 660) provides that it shall be unlawful for a person who is either a principal or accessory to a crime to obtain an image of the commission of the crime using any camera, videotape, photo-optical, photo-electric, or any other image recording device and to transfer that image obtained during the commission of the crime by the use of a computer on-line service, Internet service, or any other means of electronic communication, including but not limited to a local bulletin board service, Internet chat room, electronic mail, or on-line messaging service for the purpose of gaining notoriety, publicity or the attention of the public.

House Bill 1189 by Representative Talbot (pending Municipal & Parochial Affairs) would have provided for free wireless Internet services at welcome centers throughout the state.

House Bill 1 2008 1ES by Representative Tucker (Act 1) requires financial disclosure for candidates, the governor, and certain public servants be filed with the Board of Ethics. The Act further requires the Board of Ethics to post on its website on the Internet a list of all persons who: (1) have failed to file, or failed to file timely, (2) have failed to provide omitted information and (3) failed to provide accurate disclosure information. No person shall be included on the list unless he fails to file, to provide omitted information, or to provide accurate information by the deadline included in a notice of delinquency, nor shall he be included on the list if he has filed an answer contesting the allegations included in the notice of delinquency. A person shall be removed from the list within two business days after filing the statement or accurately disclosing the required information.

House Bill 313 by Representative Tucker (pending House Governmental Affairs Committee) would have required judges and judicial candidates to disclose certain financial information to the Board of Ethics. The bill would have required the Board of Ethics to post on its website on the Internet a list of all persons who: (1) have failed to file, or failed to file timely, (2) have failed to provide omitted information and (3) failed to provide accurate disclosure information. No person would have been included on the list unless he failed to file, to provide omitted information, or to provide accurate information by the deadline included in a notice of delinquency, nor would he have been included on the list if he had filed an answer contesting the allegations included in the notice of delinquency. A person would have been removed from the list within two business days after filing the statement or accurately disclosing the required information.

Senate Bill 505 by Senator Michot (pending Finance Committee) would have created the Information Technology Fund in the State Treasury and provided that monies in the fund would have been used solely to purchase information technology for state agencies.

House Bill 915 by Representative Fannin (pending Appropriations Committee) would have created the Information Technology Fund in the State Treasury and provided that monies in the fund would have been used solely to purchase information technology for state agencies.

House Bill 1173 by Representative Fannin (pending Appropriations Committee) would have established the Louisiana Trade and Industrial Education Fund and would have required each public school system to prepare and submit annually to the Department of Education for review and approval a proposal for the use of monies allocated to it from the fund. The bill would have also required that the department collect and publish on its website participation data on the activities conducted by the public school systems receiving allocations from the fund.

Senate Bill 154 by Senator Cravins (Act 442) creates the Louisiana Discount Medical Plan Act and requires the medical plan organization to: disclose that the plan is a discount plan and not insurance coverage, the range of discounts will vary, the plan member must pay for all discounted medical services, the toll-free telephone number and Internet website address for assistance and details of the plan. The bill requires each discount medical plan organization to provide the commissioner of insurance at least thirty days advance notice of any change in its plan or the organization’s name, address or Internet website.

Senate Bill 340 by Senator Thompson (pending Civil Law Committee) would have provided for the use of electronic signature authentication and identification with respect to individually identifiable health information.

House Bill 954 by Representative Ellington (Act 738) provides for the use of electronic signature authentication and identification with respect to individually identifiable health information. The bill defines electronic signature authentication and identification as a tamper-proof electric appliance that receives input of unique identification numbers, unique biometric identifiers, or location devices; a computerized authentication process for biometric identifiers that is linked to the appropriate identification numbers upon receipt of the identifiers; and transmission of verification of the identifiers to a securely maintained electronic repository.

Senate Bill 332 by Senator Thompson (Act 763) creates the Health Care Information Technology and Infrastructure Advisory Committee. The bill requires the committee to advise the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals on the following matters: assessing the use of health care information technology by the state; implementing a statewide interoperable health care information infrastructure; and encouraging the use of innovative health care applications using information technology and systems to improve patient care.

House Bill 972 by Representative Ellington (pending House Health & Welfare Committee) would have created the Health Care Information Technology and Infrastructure Advisory Committee. The bill would have required the committee to advise the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals on the following matters: assessing the use of health care information technology by the state; implementing a statewide interoperable health care information infrastructure; and encouraging the use of innovative health care applications using information technology and systems to improve patient care.

House Bill 653 by Representative LaBruzzo (Act 153) allows the use of telemedicine to conduct an actual examination to a psychiatrist so long as a licensed health care professional is in the examination room with the patient at the time of the video conference. The bill requires a patient examined by a psychiatrist via telemedicine to be medically cleared prior to admission to a mental health facility.

Senate Bill 337 by Senator Michot (Act 540) requires state and non-state hospitals to submit specific data on the amount and type of uncompensated care provided as a condition of payment of uncompensated care costs. The bill requires the Department of Health and Hospitals to include data from rural hospitals to be reported to the governor and the legislature and to make such data available on the department’s website.

House Resolution 1 2008 1ES by Representative Tucker (enrolled) provides that audio and video of each meeting of a committee or of the House be recorded and maintained for viewing on the Internet. The resolution further provides that audio and video of the entirety of all legislative proceedings occurring in House committee rooms and the House chamber shall be broadcast live via the Internet and maintained for three years. The archived legislative proceedings are to be available to the public for viewing though a link clearly identified on the Internet home page of the House of Representatives. These requirements are only for proceedings that occur in the State Capitol; the recordings shall not be construed as the official record of a legislative proceeding. If the Speaker of the House of Representatives is precluded from fulfilling these requirements due to a technical problem or difficulty beyond his control, the failure to broadcast or record a legislative proceeding shall not be construed in any manner to be a violation of these requirements.

House Resolution 2 2008 1ES by Representative Tucker (enrolled) requires any appropriation bill which upon introduction contains funding for an entity which is neither a budget unit nor a political subdivision of the state to submit information required by House Rule 11.6 on an "Appropriation Bill Supplemental Information Form." The information submitted pursuant to this rule shall be published by the clerk of the House of Representatives and shall be made available to the public via the Internet. The clerk is required to maintain the information submitted in an on-line, searchable database available to the public via the Internet.

House Resolution 16 2008 1ES by Representative LaBruzzo (enrolled) allows the clerk of the House of Representatives to provide the order of the day electronically to members, and provides no hard copies of the order of the day shall be distributed to a member unless the member specifically requests a hard copy. The resolution further amends House rules to provide the house journal shall only be made available electronically to the members and no hard copies of the house journal shall be distributed to a member unless the member specifically requests a hard copy.

Senate Bill 405 by Senator Broome (Act 766) requires the Louisiana Financial Literacy and Education Commission establish and maintain a website that serves as a clearinghouse concerning financial and educational programs in order to access information about federal, state, nonprofit, and for-profit financial literacy and educational programs.

Senate Bill 500 by Senator Crowe (Act 672) provides for child Internet safety by allowing the court to limit or restrict access to the Internet when the Internet was used in the commission of a crime and requires the Department of Corrections to notify the Internet provider with whom the sex offender has an account. The bill mandates that the state shall make the electronic mail addresses and instant message names or names collected for the sex offender registry available to any commercial or nonprofit entity who makes a request and which promotes child safety. The bill clarifies liability of an interactive computer service provider for identifying, removing, disabling, blocking or otherwise affecting a user on a good faith belief that such user’s electronic mail address or other identifier appeared in the national Sex Offender Registry or any analogous state registry.

Senate Bill 508 by Senator Michot (pending Senate Commerce Committee) would have allowed for the resale or offering for resale via the Internet of an admission ticket to an athletic contest, dance, theater, concert, circus, or other amusement. The bill would have limited the resale amount of the admission ticket to a maximum of two times the face value plus any applicable processing and delivery charges, and any other associated costs.

House Concurrent Resolution 6 2008 1ES by Representative Tucker (enrolled) requires no later than the first day of November each year any nongovernmental entity which is neither a budget unit nor a political subdivision of the state that is requesting funding from the state through the General Appropriation Bill, capital outlay bill, or any supplemental appropriation bill shall complete and transmit on a "Nongovernmental Entity Funding Request Form" certain information relative to such proposed funding to the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Ways and Means, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs. The Act requires that each completed form be published by the clerk of the House and secretary of the Senate and shall be made available to the public via the Internet. The clerk and the secretary are required to maintain the information contained in the completed forms in an on-line, searchable database available to the public via the Internet.

House Bill 1103 by Representative Williams (ending House Labor & Industrial Relations) would have prohibited an employer from knowingly and intentionally hiring an unauthorized alien and would have established procedures to investigate and sanction an employer who failed to comply with this requirement. The bill would have provided that the Attorney General maintain copies of court orders of employers in violation of this proposed law in a database available of the Attorney General’s website.

Senate Bill 665 by Senator Cassidy (pending Senate Local & Municipal Affairs Committee) would have required local governmental subdivisions with populations in excess of 100,000 to transmit to the division of administration local governmental expenditures for inclusion on the website of the division of administration.

Senate Bill 11 2008 1ES by Senator Chaisson (Act 13) requires lobbyists to register electronically with the Board of Ethics and complete forms that provide, but are not limited to, information about the lobbyist, his employers, his clients, and amount paid to the lobbyist. The forms are to be published by the board on the Internet. The act further provides that expenditure reports are filed electronically monthly. The board is required to establish and maintain a searchable database of the expenditure reports, which is to be available on the Internet.

House Bill 1264 by Representative Marchand-Stiaes (pending Appropriations Committee) would have required the Department of Health and Hospitals to file a Medicaid state plan amendment to allow for the reimbursement of all telemedicine services to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) prior to September 1, 2008. The bill defined telemedicine as the practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, transfer of medical data, and education using interactive audio, video, or data communications. The definition specifically excluded telephone conversations and electronic mail.

Senate Bill 159 by Senator Cravins (Act 666) prohibits any person seventeen years old or younger from using any wireless telecommunications device while operating a motor vehicle. The bill provides exceptions for emergencies and excludes vehicles legally parked. The bill further provides for fines, that are doubled if a crash indicates the person was using a wireless device, and requires the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission to collect and compile statistical information on the number of crashes which involve the use of a wireless telecommunications device. The bill also provides that the violation is a non-moving violation.

Senate Bill 137 by Senator Quinn (Act 665) prohibits any person holding a Class E license from operating a motor vehicle while using a wireless telecommunications device to write, send or read a text message, instant message, or e-mail. The bill allows the use of hands-free wireless telephones. The bill provides exceptions for emergencies and physicians, provides for fines, that are doubled if a crash indicates the person was using a wireless device, and requires the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission to collect and compile statistical information on the number of crashes which involve the use of a wireless telecommunications device. The bill further provides the violation shall constitute a moving violation.

Senate Bill 373 by Senator Duplessis (Act 689) requires the office of Motor Vehicles to provide for electronic lien recordation and title information of motor vehicles. The Department of Public Safety shall develop and implement a computer system that permits electronic recording of information concerning the perfection and release of vehicle security interest without submitting or receiving paper title documents. It shall provide for the submission of vehicle title information for new, transferred, and corrected certificates of title, including the perfection and release of security interest, through electronic media in a cost-effective manner in lieu of the submission and maintenance of paper documents.

House Bill 80 2008 1ES by Representative Morrell (Act 18) allows a municipality that is authorized by its home rule charter to create local ethics entities with all investigative powers and privileges appurtenant to a law enforcement agency under state law. The Act allows access to computer systems and information maintained for the use of law enforcement personnel, and any information contained in the criminal history record and identification file of the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information. Allows a local ethics entity to examine, review, audit, inspect, and investigate the records, books, reports, documents, papers, correspondence, accounts, audits, inspections, reviews, recommendations, plans, films, tapes, pictures, computer hard drives, software data, hardware data, e-mails, instant messages, text messages, and any other data and material relevant to any matter under audit, investigation, inspection, or performance review of all entities of municipal government or entities receiving funds through or for the benefit of a municipal government.

House Bill 971 by Representative Richard (pending Municipal, Parochial, & Cultural Affairs Committee) would have authorized the governing authority of a parish to provide, by ordinance, that its official website would be its official journal.

House Bill 822 by Representative Patricia Smith (pending Appropriations Committee) would have authorized procurement of data processing equipment, computer software and maintenance services for public colleges and universities without prior approval of the division of administration or the office of information technology.

House Bill 610 by Representative White (Act 590) provides an option for contractors to submit bids electronically for public contracts including purchases of materials and supplies. The bill updates the wording that would have allowed public entities to accept bids electronically by requiring the subdivisions to develop the necessary provisions for electronic bids with the updated standards promulgated and adopted in LAC 4:XV.701. The bill also provides an exception for public entities that do not have available Internet access, parishes with a police jury form of government and populations less than 50,000, and municipalities with populations less than 25,000.

Senate Bill 204 by Senator Walsworth (pending House Final Passage Subject to Call) would have revised the law regarding public printing by providing that the newspaper selected as the official journal of the state or a political subdivision would also publish documents on the Internet for no extra charge to the state or political subdivision.

House Bill 1256 by Representative Downs (Act 380) provides relative to training and instruction for public school board members and requires the Louisiana School Boards Association to post on its website regularly updated information relative to the number and subject matter of training hours completed by each school board member.

House Bill 446 by Representative Greene (pending Senate & Governmental Affairs) would have removed the requirement that Acts of the legislature be published in the official journal of the state. The bill would have removed the duties of the state printer of the official journal of the state, the secretary of state, and clerks of court regarding publication of Acts of the legislature in the official journal of the state. The bill would have also provided specific authority to make Acts of the legislature accessible on the website of the legislature.

House Bill 1373 by Representative Baldone (Act 816) provides for revisions to the sex offender registration and notification provision that includes registering every e-mail address, on-line screen name or other on-line identity used by the offender to communicate on the Internet.

House Bill 1036 by Representative Harrison (pending Appropriations Committee) would have required each state department and each agency in the executive branch of state government having independent budget authority to submit to the commissioner of administration an itemized monthly report of spending. The bill would have required the commissioner to maintain such information on a website.

House Bill 75 by Representative Austin Badon (Withdrawn from the files of the House of Representatives) would have provided for ballistic fingerprinting of handguns and establishment of a ballistic fingerprint database and databank administered by state police. The state ballistic fingerprint database would have had the capability of providing the imaging, analysis, and comparison of bullets or projectiles and shell casings and was to store and maintain ballistic fingerprinting records related to the investigation of criminal offenses.

Senate Bill 612 by Senator Chaisson (pending House Final Passage - subject to call) would have created and provided for the Louisiana Workforce Commission which would have included an automated job-matching information system that was accessible to employers, job seekers, and other users via the Internet, and that included at a minimum the following: skill match information, including skill gap analysis; résumé creation; job order creation; skill tests; job search by area, employer type, and employer name; and training provider linkage.

House Bill 1104 by Representative Tucker (Act 743) creates and provides for the Louisiana Workforce Commission which includes an automated job-matching information system that is accessible to employers, job seekers, and other users via the Internet, and that includes at a minimum the following: skill match information, including skill gap analysis; résumé creation; job order creation; skill tests; job search by area, employer type, and employer name; and training provider linkage.