As Scott wrote this morning conservatism is in full retreat this legislative session. As expected, State Rep. Stuart Bishop pulled his paycheck protection bill in the House. Meanwhile over in the Senate, an “equal pay” bill passed the allegedly Republican-controlled chamber.

Senator Ed Murray’s SB 219 passed 21-16. The bill claims to provide for “equal pay” for similiar work regardless of gender, but what it really does is create yet another way for greedy trial lawyers to enrich themselves at the expense of Louisiana businesses.

Here are the RINOs who bought the Democrat Party talking points and voted for the bill:

Joey Amedee
Norby Chabert
Dan Claitor
Page Cortez
Ronnie Johns
Bob Kostelka
Fred Mills
Jonathan Perry
Rick Ward

I realize that members of the State Senate are pressed for time, after all they have a busy session. But here’s a video for you to get educated on this issue and it’s only 3 minutes or so long. The presenter, Julie Borowski, even brings the information down to the intelligence level of the average Louisiana legislator.

The equal pay bill heads to the House where it will likely be killed. If it somehow makes it out of the House, Governor Jindal will veto it.

What’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Tomorrow, Speaker Chuck Kleckley is set to bring up HCR 75 which is a backdoor way to expand Medicaid. State Rep. Karen St. Germain’s HB 777 is also set to be heard tomorrow. That bill raises the gas tax by 10 cents, but there is talk that they do not have the votes for it so it may be postponed.

Also being considered is HB 758 by State Rep. Jay Morris and it appears to be backed by most of the so-called “fiscal hawks.” If I’m reading this right, it would impose a cap in the state budget on all tax credits issued by the state and convert every credit into a “first come, first serve” program. This is the strangest backdoor tax increase being considered this session. It also fails to take into account whether or not the tax credits are actually good for Louisiana’s economy.

This fall, we conservatives have a lot of work to do, in both chambers of the legislature. But this session is providing a service in which we’re learning which state reps need to be disposed of.