Three interesting bills offered by Livingston legislator

Three interesting bills offered by Livingston legislator

March 26, 2024 by tomaswell

I suppose you could say it’s official: State Rep. Kelee Hennessy Dickerson, who represents House District 64, which comprises part of Livingston Parish, is an official member of the bedbug crazy MAGAmites.

The freshman legislator has introduced three bills which appear to put her on the same moral equivalence level as one Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Cro-Magnon congresswoman from Georgia.

Here’s what Dickerson has offered thus far in her brief tenure:

• HB644 (authorizes students enrolled in home study programs to participate in public school activities)
• HB737 (prohibits a person from engaging in picketing at the residence or dwelling of an individual)
• HB777 (provides criminal penalties for certain use of public library funds)

Now, let’s look at each one individually.

HB644 would allow home study students to participate in public school activities. Sounds pretty self-explanatory. But taking a deeper dive, one of the driving forces behind home schooling is to avoid having to learn unpleasant topics like global warming, certain American history, i.e. slavery and the Civil War, and evolution. But this bill, while shielding home schoolers from such unpleasantries, nevertheless wants them to be able to participate in sports and, I suppose, certain club activities). So, Dickerson apparently wants it both ways.

HB737 would prohibit picketing of residences or dwellings (and all this time, thought the terms residences and dwellings were interchangeable) of an individual. Never mind the fact that Dickerson regurgitates the familiar Trumpian banalities and that Trump supporters had no problem disclosing the names and addresses of prosecutors and grand juror members in his Georgia criminal case. There’s something about this bill that just doesn’t smell right. Maybe it’s that thing called the First Amendment and something about freedom of assembly (on public property such as sidewalks and easements).

HB777 would subject a public employee (read: librarian) to up to two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $1000 for membership in the American Library Association or for attending any of its continuing education functions. Are you kidding me? Jail time for a librarian attending a continuing education course sponsored by ALA? Has Dickerson gone completely batshit crazy? The entire legislative process, state legislature to congress, has devolved into a sorry one-upmanship game of who-flung-dung.

Bear in mind that literally dozens of legislators annually attend American Legislative Exchange Council (an arm of the radical-right Repugnantcan Party) on the state dime. Moreover, a large plurality, if not a majority, of legislators attend legislative conferences, all expenses paid by the Louisiana taxpayers. Several even fine creative ways to claim “official state business” as a means of having travel, lodging and meals provided by taxpayers so they can attend Washington Mardi Gras balls (I almost typed Mardi Bras, which might have been a Freudian slip).

There’s more. Several legislators get the nice little perk they don’t want you to know about in the form of fully furnished Pentagon Apartments across the street from the Capitol at year-round rental agreements the average tenant can only dream about (think 1950s rent rates). Here’s another perk. For the 85- and 60-day legislative sessions, lawmakers receive (in addition to their salaries, office expenses and travel) per diem payments. Per diem, of course, means daily and that’s just what they get. Daily payments for all 85 days in even-numbered years and 60 days in odd-numbered years – even though the House doesn’t meet on Saturdays and Sundays and the Senate takes Fridays off. Oh, and for those Fridays that 39 senators take off, add another $58,500 for 85-day sessions, a tad less for 60-day sessions.

That’s 20 extra days this year that they get paid but don’t work. Let’s see, at $175 per day times 20 days times 144 legislators, that’s a cool $504,000 per year for not working – or an extra $3,500 per legislator. And that doesn’t include special sessions.

And Dickerson has her britches in a wad over librarians? Get real, lady. The former TV newsperson (a-la Arizona’s Kari Lake) campaigned against a tax to finance teacher pay raises in Livingston Parish last year (though she now apparently wants public school teachers to take on the additional responsibility of monitoring home-schooled kids at public school functions) and before that, when she served on the Livingston Parish School Board, she was penalized by the State Board of Ethics for improper assistance in getting a buddy a contract job at Live Oak High School.

So, let me understand; in Louisiana, we have abysmal health, equally inadequate general health and mental healthcare, poverty, pollution, floods, shoreline erosion, cities with high crime rates and myriad other problems but we’re going to go after the librarians.

Got it.