The super majority Republican House of Representatives voted to pass HB 1144 by Rep. Leger, III (D.) into law. The bill now heads to the Senate, which is also majority Republican...not that it makes a difference, apparently.
If passed, this law will require parents of children entering certain tax-funded kindergartens and 6th grades to provide wellness exam documentation to those schools. Parents will also be allowed to provide documentation stating that they do not wish to provide the aforementioned documentation; or, as Rep. Leger stated when defending his bill on the House floor today, "You shall do it unless you choose not to." In case you didn't catch that, Rep. Leger also stated, "It's required unless you choose not to participate." Either way, parents will be required to provide some sort of documentation to schools regarding wellness exams.
Problem? Parents should not have to report anything to schools. Parents are required to enroll their children in schools. The government cannot and should not use the compulsory attendance provision in law as a means to obtain data about, perform research on, study, or in any way manipulate the children in this state...period.
The following Reps. voted YES to HB 1144 (Leger):
Abramson, Adams, Anders, Armes, Bacala, Bagneris, Billiot, Bouie, Broadwater, Brown, C., Carmody, Carpenter, Carter, G,. Carter, R,. Carter, S., Chaney, Connick, Cox, Davis, Foil, Franklin, Gaines, Gisclair, Glover, Guinn, Hall, Harris, J. Havard, Hazel, Hilferty, Hill, Hoffmann, Hunter, Jackson, James, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, R., Jones, Landry, N., Landry, T., LeBas, Leger, Leopold, Lopinto, Lyons, Marcelle, Miller, D., Miller, G., Montoucet, Moreno, Morris, Jay, Norton, Pierre, Reynolds, Schexnayder, Smith, Stokes, White
We thank the Reps. who voted against forcing parents to answer to the state:
Mr. Speaker, Abraham, Amedee, Bagley, Berthelot, Brown, T., Coussan, Danahay, DeVillier, Dwight, Edmonds, Emerson, Falconer, Garofalo, Harris, L., Henry, Hensgens, Hodges, Hollis, Horton, Howard, Huval, Ivey, Johnson, M. Mack, Magee, McFarland, Pearson, Pope, Pugh, Pylant, Richard, Schroder, Talbot, Thibaut, Willmott, Zeringue