BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - House lawmakers have agreed to lower Louisiana’s litter fines.
Rep. Johnny Berthelot, a Gonzales Republican, says a doubling of penalties he sponsored in 2015 caused unintended consequences, triggering jury trial provisions. The Louisiana Municipal Association says that made enforcement less likely.
Under the proposed changes, fines for simple littering and intentional littering on second offenses would drop from $1,000 to $900. Community service requirements would grow from 16 hours to 20 hours.
People were interested in these podcasts
The fine for a first offense of dumping larger items like furniture, appliances and tires would shrink from as much as $2,000 to $900, but the community service penalty would increase from 8 hours to 16 hours.
The House backed the changes in a 97-0 vote Wednesday, sending Berthelot’s bill to the Senate.
___
House Bill 77: www.legis.la.gov
___
This story has been corrected to change the day of passage to Wednesday.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.