Louisiana is one of only two states – Oregon is the other – that do not require a unanimous jury verdict for felony convictions. It’s one of the reasons the Pelican State leads the nation, and the world, in incarceration. On Tuesday, a Senate committee decided that Louisiana voters should have right to change that in November. The Judiciary C Committee approved Sen. J.P. Morrell’s SB 243, which would put the matter before state voters if two-thirds of the House and Senate agree. Morrell expressed his concern that the U.S. Supreme Court could soon find non-unanimous jury verdicts unconstitutional, and may apply their ruling retroactively, which could cause chaos in Louisiana’s criminal justice system. Paul Braun of the LSU Manship News Service:

Ed Tarpley, a proponent of the bill and a former district attorney for Grant Parish, framed the issue as a constitutional one. The policy was last updated in the 1974 Constitutional Convention. State lawmakers adopted the current jury requirements requiring at least a 10-2 vote. That was a one vote increase over the 1898 standard, Tarpley said. “When you look at the system we have in Louisiana, it’s legal schizophrenia,” Tarpley said. “Because for a six-person jury, the verdict has to be unanimous. For a capital case, the verdict has to be unanimous. But in the middle, for any other felony, you can be convicted by a 10-out-of-12 vote.”

Medicaid work requirements ignore labor market realities

As some Louisiana lawmakers looks to add work requirements to the state’s Medicaid program, Adam Searing from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families outlines how this unprecedented change to Medicaid fails to consider the realities that many low-wage workers face on the job. Workers in retail, hotels, banking and grocery stores are not always guaranteed a minimum number of hours, and can see their schedule change at the last second, which affects the total number of hours they work in a given week or month. The lowest-income workers have the most irregular work schedules, and adding stringent work requirements to their health coverage could lead to serious complications:

As more states propose work hour requirements for Medicaid, policymakers must break out of the old paradigm that equates full or part-time employment with a steady schedule and constant work. Hourly Medicaid work requirements make little sense when confronted with the constantly shifting schedules and seasonal nature of many of the jobs filled by lower-income Americans. Instead, a focus on creating better jobs, improving worker protections, and providing better work and family supports – especially for parents dealing with child care expenses and school schedules – would be a smarter way to help people rise out of poverty.

Bills would chip away at criminal justice reform

Louisiana’s 2017 criminal justice reforms have been praised for their bipartisan nature and cost savings to the state. A recently released report from the Pew Charitable Trusts found estimates Louisiana would have saved $48.7 million if its imprisonment rate matched the second most imprisoned state of Oklahoma in 2014. The measures enacted in 2017 are moving Louisiana in that direction, but there are several pieces of legislation under consideration in the current legislative session that would chip away at these reforms. Julia O’Donoghue of Nola.com/Times Picayune shares a list of those bills and who is behind them:

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy and Attorney General Jeff Landry, both Republicans considering running against Edwards in 2019, have continued to criticize the package of new laws as dangerous. Some sheriffs also seem disgruntled, though the Louisiana Sheriffs Association, the statewide organization, has remained neutral on changes so far. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that some lawmakers — often on behalf of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association — are pushing to rollback some of the criminal justice measures passed in 2017. Most of the laws went into effect Nov. 1. Others they are targeting won’t even be implemented until Aug. 1.

Capital outlay remains a mystery for now

Louisiana lawmakers aren’t just wondering how they will solve the state’s fiscal cliff, but also what major construction projects will receive funding this year. The capital outlay budget, which is always House Bill 2, has yet to be released by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration, leaving members to speculate about whether the priority projects in their districts will be on the list. Capital outlay funding is critical to addressing the state’s backlog of deferred maintenance and funding new projects in local communities. Jeremy Alford of LAPoliticsNow reports:

Drafted by the Edwards administration, hopes for new brick-and-mortar projects are being kept in check. Still, lawmakers are tracking local projects that have been navigating the capital outlay process over the past few years. But as of this afternoon, most legislators had no idea what was going to be included in House Bill 2, the instrument traditionally used to carry construction efforts found across the state. Not that anyone is expecting a big bump in construction projects. Administration officials contend that the shortfall for the 2018-19 fiscal year—between $500 million and $1 billion, depending on who you ask—has played into their drafting of the proposal. “This is a very austere bill,” said Richard Carbo, the governor’s deputy chief of staff. “We are limited in what we can do.”

Number of the Day

32,814  – Projected number of prisoners in Louisiana in 2027 if all criminal justice reforms are left in place, a 10 percent decrease in the projected prison population absent reform.   (Source: The Pew Trusts)