With new month comes new laws

Not buckling up now carries heftier fines, sex offenders aren’t allowed careers in door-to-door sales and children’s lemonade stands are shielded from ticketing as more than 400 new Louisiana laws went into effect with the start of August.
Hunters looking to vary their wardrobe are now able to wear fluorescent “blaze pink” as an alternative to the traditional orange. Dancers in strip clubs have to be at least 21 years old. Underage drinkers won’t face jail time. And Louisiana becomes the first state in the nation to protect police, firefighters and emergency medical crews under its hate-crime laws.
The Louisiana Legislature passed the new regulations earlier this year.
However, one batch of laws approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards — aimed at adding new restrictions to abortion — didn’t kick in Aug. 1 as planned, amid a pending federal lawsuit.
Lawmakers exempted minors engaging in sales of less than $500 a year from having to pay an occupational license tax, after saying they heard that municipal officials in other states had written tickets to children for selling lemonade without a license.
While the threat of those tickets went away, fines for not wearing a seatbelt grew. Refusing to buckle up now carries a penalty for a first offense of $50, up from $25. Violators will pay $75 each additional time, up from $50.
A fine is now the only thing underage drinkers will face, as a new law does away with the threat of jail time when someone under the age of 21 is caught with alcohol. Underage drinkers can still be cited by law enforcement and face a fine up to $100, but the citation won’t appear on a person’s criminal history record.
Sex Offenders
Convicted sex offenders in Louisiana are no longer able to solicit door to door for any kind of business, adding to a long list of restrictions that prohibit registered sex offenders from driving a bus or taxi or working in an industry that requires going into someone’s home.
Violators of the door-to-door sales ban face prison sentences from five to 10 years.
In addition, the public now has limited access to email addresses and online screen names of registered sex offenders, a law aimed at helping parents keep their children away from possible predators when they play video games or participate in other online activities.
Education Changes
Students no longer need permission from a doctor or their school to use sunscreen on campus, on a school bus or at a school function. If a student can’t apply the sunblock, a school employee can do it, if a parent gives written consent.
While 38 of the state’s 69 school districts allow schools to use corporal punishment, paddling will be outlawed for students with disabilities. Estimates are as many as one-fifth of students fit the law’s description, including students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
At Louisiana’s colleges, a “ban the box” law restricts the questions that can be asked about criminal history to determine admission. Schools can ask about convictions for stalking, rape and sexual battery. After granting admission, they also can ask about convictions to decide if they’ll limit participation in campus programs, financial aid and housing.
Other New Laws
Louisiana’s “Blue Lives Matter” law is now in effect, expanding its hate-crime statute to protect police and other first responders. Prosecutors will be able to seek stronger penalties when people in those professions are intentionally targeted because of their jobs.
In other areas, Louisiana motorists will know the locations of area red light cameras as they approach intersections because municipalities have to post clear signs within 500 feet of each camera.
State agencies are banned from asking about job applicants’ criminal histories before interviews, a so-called “ban the box” law.
New limits have been placed on drone use around schools and correctional facilities.
Hospitals now have to make greater efforts to give people information about how to properly care for patients who are discharged.
Louisiana also now has regulations setting out the legal rights of parents, child and surrogate mother when a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for someone else.
Drivers-in-training can expect lessons on how to respond to police during a traffic stop, a law aimed at decreasing tensions between officers and motorists amid violent encounters around the country. In the driver education curriculum, Louisiana’s public safety department has to add instruction on police procedures for traffic stops, demonstrations of “appropriate interactions with law enforcement” and training on “maintaining integrity and respect.”
Terminally ill patients with permission from their doctors have expanded access to experimental treatments, under a broadening of Louisiana’s Right to Try Act to include robotic devices that help people unable to talk or write. Insurers don’t have to cover the costs.
In response to domestic violence incidents involving a former state senator, Louisiana’s domestic abuse laws have been widened to cover dating partners. New crimes include battery of a dating partner and aggravated assault upon a dating partner, with varying penalties.
Abortion Restrictions
Louisiana officials agreed not to enforce a package of new abortion restrictions slated to take effect as a judge weighs whether to block the laws permanently.
The regulations would triple a woman’s waiting period for an abortion to 72 hours, except for women who live 150 miles or more from the nearest provider; ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure called dilation and extraction, except in limited situations; toughen criteria for doctors who perform abortions; and require abortion providers to bury or cremate fetal remains, among other things.
Two abortion clinics and three doctors are seeking to have the restrictions thrown out. A decision is months away.