GET DAILY REPORT FREE
After besting three opponents with 53% of the vote in a special election, state Rep. Paul Sawyer of Baton Rouge was sworn into the House of Representatives this week and given his committee assignments.
With a little over two months remaining in the regular session, Sawyer will serve on three committees that oversee municipal affairs, natural resources and transportation.
“I have a lot of experience in infrastructure and flood control and coastal restoration,” Sawyer said on the latest episode of the “LaPolitics Report” podcast. “That’s just my core expertise.”
Sawyer was previously chief of staff for former U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, who shared the same policy cache, and he’s currently executive director of the Amite River Basin Commission. Sawyer has a few more days to try and get his first bill filed for the session and said on the podcast he has targeted a piece of legislation regarding flood control. But it probably won’t be Sawyer’s only bill as a freshman in his first session.
“I ran on crime and insurance and traffic, so I feel like I’m going to have to always file legislation or push policy in that direction,” he said.
—Campus gun bill dropped: Legislation that would have permitted firearms on college campuses in Louisiana has been withdrawn from consideration by state Rep. Danny McCormick. House Bill 99 would have paved the way for those 18 and older to carry while at any private or public university or college.
—The Senate debate drama: Leaders for a Better Louisiana and Louisiana Public Broadcasting want to host a U.S. Senate debate on April 16 in Baton Rouge and KTBS-TV in Shreveport has offered to do the same on a different date. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and Treasurer John Fleming both say they’ll debate anywhere at any time, whereas U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has so far said she can’t participate in the LPB debate due to the U.S. House floor schedule. However, radio show host Moon Griffon is in the mix as well with an April 28 debate in his Lafayette studio. As of this morning, Fleming and Letlow have agreed to that exchange.
