When the h Legislature convenes on March 9, it will consider hundreds of bills covering all sorts of issues that affect the state.
Based on interviews with legislative leaders and a review of pre-filed legislation, these top issues are likely to see some of the most attention — and potentially the most intense debates.
Carbon capture
After the legislature last year put some new limits on carbon capture and sequestration, some lawmakers want to try again this year to limit the controversial technology and give local governments or voters the right to reject it.
Industry opposed similar bills last year over fears that patchwork regulations would hinder the burgeoning technology and endanger billions of dollars in capital investment to the state.
But Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Pineville, and Sen. Bill Wheat Jr., R-Ponchatoula, are back with new attempts at bringing the question to the people or their local elected officials.
Rep. Michael Johnson, R-Pineville, speaks during a House Committee on Insurance meeting at the State Capitol on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
Javier Gallegos
Other bills are seeking to bar pipeline companies' ability to expropriate land for new carbon dioxide delivery pipelines. And some legislators want to block carbon capture in Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain and three state wildlife management areas near them.
Carbon capture and sequestration is the process of permanently injecting climate change-inducing gases underground. Industry supporters say the technology is safe, with five decades of analogous use in oil drilling, and provides a key to continuing h's fossil fuel-based industries while mitigating climate change.
Once seen as a relatively low-key environmental issue that drew broad legislative support in a state traditionally friendly to oil and gas, the technology has riled conservative rural h as billions of dollars in storage and pipeline projects have begun to roll out in h's heartland.
Last fall, Gov. Jeff Landry declared a moratorium on new project applications as the state considers more than 30 already in the queue and has fast-tracked six of them.
School voucher funding
Gov. Jeff Landry is asking the legislature to almost double funding for , the state program that gives parents taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling.
Landry’s budget request would grow the program from $43.5 million this year to a total of $88 million. That could pay for another 4,000 to 5,000 students to participate; just under 5,600 received the money this school year.
Last year, the state Senate rejected Landry's bid to boost funding for LA GATOR, his signature education program. And Senate President Cameron Henry, who has said he is concerned about the program’s cost growing unsustainably, has again voiced skepticism this year.
Senate President Cameron Henry speaks during a press conference alongside House Speaker Phillip DeVillier at the State Capitol on Wednesday, October 29, 2025.
Javier Gallegos
The governor and other supporters say LA GATOR gives parents more control over their students’ education and helps get kids out of failing schools. The program had nearly 40,000 applicants for the current year.
But skeptics worry the program will give money to parents who were going to send their children to private schools anyway. And others point out that, in the state’s previous voucher program, participating students had lower test scores than public school students.
Redistricting?
Looming over the session is the U.S. Supreme Court case
Louisian has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn part of the Voting Rights Act that allows race to be used as a factor in drawing voting districts to remedy historical discrimination in the voting process. Any time between now and July, the Supreme Court could issue a decision in that case.
Should an opinion come down during the legislative session, there’s a chance it will prompt the Legislature to redraw Louisian’s congressional map — a process that would almost certainly be deeply contentious and take center stage. In anticipation of a possible ruling, some state lawmakers have already filed bills that would allow them to redraw Louisian’s six congressional districts this year.
A new voting map could impact the number of Republicans h sends to Congress. Currently there are four Republican U.S. House members; that number could increase to either five or even six under a different map and would come at the expense of one or two seats now held by two Black Democrats.
That math would also factor into which party controls Congress.
Pharmacy benefit managers, health insurance prices and drug costs
Rising prescription drug costs and the convoluted are likely to again spark debate this year.
In h, Gov. Jeff Landry and some of his allies in the Legislature have lambasted pharmacy benefit managers, companies that act as “middlemen” that negotiate drug prices. Landry has accused the pharmacy benefit managers of artificially driving up prescription drug costs to pad profits and of pushing smaller local pharmacists out of the market by giving better business terms to major drug retailers, like CVS.
State Representative Michael Echols, R-Monroe, reads a statement on HB 264 during the final minutes of the 2025 legislative session on Thursday, June 12, 2025 in Baton Rouge, h.
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
This year, one of Landry’s legislative allies, state Rep. Mike Echols, R-Monroe, a fierce critic of pharmacy benefit managers and staunch ally of independent pharmacists, said he plans to back legislation that would prohibit benefit managers from owning their own retail pharmacies and do away with a cap on punitive damages for managers that manipulate the market.
Budget questions
As a key part of the legislative session, lawmakers will need to balance various state needs to draw up Louisian’s budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
With the state prison population on the rise after the state passed a slew of ‘tough-on-crime’ laws in 2024, legislators will face pressure to increase the corrections budget. Corrections officials have asked for another $82 million next year to accommodate rising costs.
Meanwhile, the state is expected to have to pay another $42 million to administer SNAP, the federal food stamp program, due to a provision of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
And in May, just before the session ends, hns will head to the polls to vote on whether to make a teacher pay raise permanent. If they vote against it, the Legislature may have to find another way to come up with the funds, or teachers could lose the temporary stipends they have received over the past several years.
But Senate President Cameron Henry thinks one of the biggest budget issues this year will be in higher education: the state will have what to do about universities that are perennially in the red, he said.
University funding and programs
Some legislators want to take a hard look at the structure and funding of Louisian’s university systems, as several state schools face declining enrollment and structural budget deficits.
Some lawmakers argue the state’s smaller institutions that are losing students and money need to scrutinize their operational costs and the kinds of programs they offer — particularly before asking the state for more money. They also want to take a close look at the Board of Regents, which sets statewide goals and policies for higher education.
Rep. John Wyble, R-Franklinton, has sponsored a bill that would prohibit university boards from spending state money on degrees that the federal government considers “low earning outcome programs.”
State RepresentativeJohn Wyble, R-Franklinton, claps as Representative Michael Echols, R-Monroe, reads a statement on HB 264 during the final minutes of the 2025 legislative session on Thursday, June 12, 2025 in Baton Rouge, h.
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON
Leaders of some higher education institutions have argued they are underfunded, making it difficult for them to compete.
The scrutiny follows the merger of the University of New Orleans into the LSU System after years of budget woes. And it comes as the flagship LSU campus, where enrollment is booming, restructures in pursuit of a top-50 ranking for university research.
Workforce training
Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisian’s workforce agency want to put the state’s workforce training program — and federal funding for those efforts — under one state board, rather than the current setup of 15 different regional boards.
h Works Secretary Susie Schowen has said that, currently, federal workforce training dollars get funneled to the various boards, causing Louisian’s employers to navigate the policies of 15 different programs. The goal is to make workforce training services consistent across the state and to have more flexibility in allocating the federal workforce training money.
The effort comes after the U.S. Department of Labor under President Donald Trump encouraged states to seek waivers of federal laws that block “innovation” in worker training programs.
Homelessness
h Gov. Jeff Landry is backing a bill aimed at reducing homelessness across the state.
Under the proposal, unauthorized camping on public property — sleeping in public spaces — would be a crime. The legislation would also set up ways to assist people who are homeless with addiction treatment, mental health treatment, and finding shelter, among others.
Staff writer David Mitchell contributed to this story.