How JBE’s Vetoes of Key Conservative Bills Threaten Free Elections, Individual Liberty

The differences between Louisiana’s liberal Democratic governor and the conservative Republican legislature were on full display Tuesday when three Republican lawmakers examinedGov. John Bel Edwards’ vetoes at the Ronald Reagan Newsmaker Luncheon. Most of the vetoes concerned attacks on individual rights by Edwards since Covid and needed reform of Louisiana’s election law.

The major bills discussed were:

Bills to Stop Attacks on

Individual Liberty under Covid

• HB103 by Rep. Danny McCormick — To provide that any employer who terminates an employee for refusing to take a Covid vaccine would be liable in civil damages for death or injury caused by the vaccine.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Hodges quoted Thomas Jefferson on a government that could determine what medication you take is nothing but tyranny. She said, “The bill said if an employee mandates a vaccine, then the employer must be legally responsible for any injury.  Doctors across the state are opposed to this mandate.  If you have a vaccine injury, you may never be able to work again. If the governor had not vetoed this, it would have solved this entire problem.  This governor has shown how far left he is.  We will file this next year.  We’ll need 70 votes to override the veto.”  She said that yesterday a Democratic legislator spoke against vaccine mandates.  “There is movement on this.”  Rep. Frieman recalled that in 2020 Rep. McCormick tried legislation to prevent vaccination mandates.  Everyone said that will never happen.  He was called crazy and way out, but he was right and everyone should have listened. Rep. Edmonston said so many of our problems are in school K-12, where the governor placed illegal, unconstitutional mask mandates on our students.  Rep. Hodges said she has an atheist neighbor who is solidly behind her efforts to stop mandates of masks and vaccines. She said Republican opposition to mandates is broadening our appeal and reaching out to many new people.

• HB149 by Rep. Larry Frieman — To allow the legislature to terminate portions of a governor’s declaration of emergency without terminating the entire declaration.  For example, this would allow the termination of a mask mandate while keeping the remainder of the emergency.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Frieman said he introduced this legislation to balance out the power between the governor and the legislature. The bill would have given the legislature a veto over mandates that we believe are not necessary.  The bill would have been effective after  the current governor is out of office and yet Edwards still vetoed it. Rep. Frieman said the governor sued the legislature, but what the media has not told us is the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal threw out the governor’s suit.

• HB349 by Rep. Kathy Edmonston — To prohibit listing vaccination status on drivers license or other forms of government ID card, in order to prevent government officials from demanding to see your card, as is common in Communist countries.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

• HB498 by Rep. Kathy Edmonston — To prohibit government officials or agencies from discriminating against anyone based on their vaccine status.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Edmonston said that had Edwards signed the bill, the state would not be in the situation we are in with people being discriminated against at universities or their workplace because of vaccination status.  She said, “We will be coming back with this bill again. For the governor there is nothing but vaccine or death.  There is no treatment.  But we know that it is not true.  There are effective early treatments!” Rep. Edmonston said we are no longer in a pandemic, yet he continues with many of his mandates.

Bills to Reform Election Law

• HB704 by Rep. Valarie Hodges — To reform Louisiana election law. One of most important provision of this legislation was to allow the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to each appoint a watcher at every voting precinct and at each Early Voting Site.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Hodges said transparency solves many problems, and that’s what this bill was trying to provide.  She said, “Poll watchers were a very imporant part of this bill. This is not partisan becaused both parties get to have watchers.  The governor said he vetoed it because it was political.  That was nonsense.  Elections are by their nature political!” Another important part of the bill was to stop foreign ownership of voting machine companies.

• HB20 by Rep. Blake Miquez — To prohibit private entities from paying election-related expenses.  VETOED by Gov. Edwards.

COMMENTS: Besides the fraud, Mark Zuckerberg’s money, more than $430 million, was very important to Biden’s victory.  It was injected into the election in very unusual ways.  The money was used to hire partisan activists to help run the election at the local level. It was also used to fund drop boxes, mostly in Democratic areas.  Rep. Frieman said this bill would would have prohibited private funding of the election process. He said, “It was a great bill to protect us from outside influences.” He said that with regard to voting machines, we need to move to a system that combines machine counting with paper ballots.

• SB63 by Sen. Robert Mills — To provide that ballots must be delivered to an employee of the registrar of voters and to prohibit the use of unmanned drop boxes in Louisiana.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

• SB220 by Sen. Heather Clooud — To require that the election results be audited after every election.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

• SB224 by Sen. Heather Clooud — To provide that mail ballots must include the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

• HB138 by Rep. Farnum — To provide the voter rolls would be canvassed annually to be sure the voters are still at the address listed.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

Fairness in Women’s Sports

• HBSB156 by Sen. Beth Mizell — To provide that persons born as males cannot compete in girls sports.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Edmonston said it is unconscionable that this bill would be vetoed. The supposed reason is that it is not a problem in the state at this time.  “Of course, it can happen at any time, and our constituents do not want this.  This is about our daughters and granddaughters.  This bill will be back!” Rep. Frieman said liberal forces threatened to keep major events out of Louisiana if we pass this. However, at some point, you have to stand on principle.  We can’t do everything based on money.  We have to do what’s right.

Protecting Right to Bear Arms

• SB118 by Sen. Morris— To protect the right to carry weapons concealed on the person without a permit.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Frieman said in Louisiana we can openly carry a firearm. But if you put your coat on, it’s a crime! The data shows states that allow concealed carry without a permit have not had problems.  This is called constitutional carry.  We should not have to have a permit to exercise a constitutional right, he said.

• HB597 by Rep. Blake Miquez — A number of large corporations have begun to discriminate against gun manufacturers or ammo makers.  Some large banks refuse to allow them to have bank account. This bill provided that the State of Louisiana would not do business with any bank or other company that discriminates against gun manufacturers or ammo makers.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

COMMENTS: Rep. Larry Frieman said this is a very good bill. In addition, he said the State Bond Commission is holding up contracts with big banks who are discriminating against gun manufacturers and ammunition manufacturers. “This supposedly pro-gun governor vetoed this bill,” he said.

Transparency in Government

• HB38 by Rep. Rick Edmonds — To provide that school board information be available to the general public on the Louisiana Fiscal Transparency Website, known as Louisiana Checkbook.  VETOED by Gov. John Bel Edwards.

All three legislators said Louisiana is in the current situation largely due to the policies of Gov. John Bel Edwards and especially his vetoes, which have trampled on the views of most Louisianians, 58 percent of whom voted for Donald Trump for President just one year ago.

The Ronald Reagan Newsmaker Luncheon is held at 12 noon on the second Tuesday of each month at Café Américain, 7521 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge.  Lunch is $22 payable to the restaurant.  It is also broadcast live at Central City News on Facebook.