Louisiana Speech-Language-Hearing Association

 Text of the acts and bills listed below may be viewed at www.legis.state.la.us

2011 Legislative Session

HB 1-Provided for ordinary expenses of state government but did not include funding for salary supplement for ASHA Certified SLPs and AUDs in public schools. LSHA provided written testimony in support of salary supplements and funding for higher education.

Act 93- Modifies provisions in the La. Hearing Aid Licensing Act. Both hearing aid dealers and LSHA supported it. LSHA successfully lobbied to remove references to audiologists, as there was concern that the language in the bill could have led to the hearing aid dealer board having jurisdiction over certain audiologists.

Act 167- Extends the current exemption from the nepotism law that applies to teachers to related services personnel for certain school districts.  LSHA supported this bill.  Schools districts are prohibited from hiring immediate family members of school superintendents or school board members.  There is currently an exemption for teachers.  HB 103 extends that exemption to certain related services including speech-language pathology and audiology. Two amendments were added.  One limits the bill to school districts in parishes with a population less than 60,000.  The other requires there to be an advertised with no applicants before an immediate family member can be hired.

Act 368- Allows for DROP participation for active members of state and teachers retirement employed after January 1, 2011 and makes several other technical changes.

Bills that did not pass:

Some of the most contentious bills of the sessions dealt with retirement.  Four of these  (150, 151, 369, 417) were intended to amend the “return to work” provisions to allow retirees to return to work and continue to collect benefits under certain circumstances (adjunct professors, adult education, substitute teachers).  Three of the bills (150, 369, 417) were passed and signed by the Governor, but will NOT go into effect because in the last days of the session the conference committees added a provision that they would not go into effect unless another (SB 6) was enacted into law.  Governor Jindal vetoed SB 6 that nullified these three bills. 

HB 151 originally proposed that any retiree could “return to work”, but their earnings would be limited to 25% of their retirement benefits; however the bill was amended to allow anyone who retired between 5/1/2009 and 6/30/2010 to return to work keeping full retirement benefits.

In summary, the ONLY change enacted in regard to return to work is to allow those who retired between 5/1/2009 and 6/30/2010 to return to work with benefits.

There were two retirement bills that would have significantly reduced retirement benefits for all or some active employees who have not yet retired (SB12 and HB530).  HB 479 would have increased the employee contribution rate.  All three of these were defeated.

Several bills were filed to all increase tuition charges to provide for increased funding for universities (HB 25, HB 97, HB 448).  LSHA supported these bills in order to increase university funding; however, none of these bills passed.

HB134- Proposed amending R.S. 37:2444 relative to hearing aid dealers.  Would have required that any person who engaged in the selling of hearing aids shall provide each buyer of a hearing aid with a 30 calendar day money back guarantee; the guarantee must permit the buyer to cancel the purchase for any reason within 30 calendar days after receiving the hearing aid and receive a refund of the full amount of the purchase price within 30 days of return of the hearing aid to the seller if it is returned without damage caused by improper care or accident.

2010 Legislative Session

HB 1-Provides for the ordinary operating expenses of state government. Contains funding for the salary supplement for ASHA certified school SLP’s and Aud’s; however, the funding was line item vetoed by Governor Jindal.

2009 Legislative Session

HB 1-Provides for the ordinary operating expenses of state government. Contains funding for the salary supplement for ASHA certified school SLP’s and Aud’s although funding was not sufficient for the entire $5,000.  Each SLP/AUD received about a $3,000 supplement. 

2008 Legislative Session

HB 1-Provides for the ordinary operating expenses of state government. Contains funding for the salary supplement for ASHA certified school SLP’s and Aud’s although funding was not sufficient for the entire $5,000.  Each SLP/AUD received about a $3,000 supplement. 

SCR 1-Authorizes the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana to grant a cost of living increase from the employee experience account.

SCR 5-Designates October of each year as Cochlear Implant Awareness Month.                 

HCR 69-Requests the House Committee on Health and Welfare and the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare to function as a joint committee to study autism spectrum disorders.

HCR 77-Requests BESE to study the National Board Certification processes for teachers and school counselors; includes authorization for BESE to also look at school psychologists, social workers, and speech-language pathologists and audiologists who also have national certification. 

Act 714-Provides relative to the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) of the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) and the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL).  Allows DROP participants who become eligible on or after January 1, 2004 to elect to have their DROP accounts (after DROP participation) earn interest at the realized rate of return of the system’s portfolio instead of at the money market rate (TRSL) or instead of investing in self-directed accounts (LASERS).  Requires certain waivers and acknowledgements by the participant. 

Act 262-Relative to the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS) – increases the accrual rate for disability benefit calculation from 1.8% to 2.5% for disability retirees who became eligible for LASERS membership on or after July 1, 2006. 

Act 529-Authorizes an insurer to include coverage for speech and language pathology, physical therapy, rehabilitative services and occupational therapy as standard benefits.

Act 802-Removes tracheotomy and oral pharyngeal suctioning from the definition of “non-complex health procedures” that are performed by certain school employees under certain circumstances.

Act 457-Provides for extended sick leave for employees who are not teachers.

Act 151-Provides that including benefits for rehabilitative services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language pathology therapy as standard benefits in health insurance policies and programs shall be sufficient to serve as an alternative to offering optional coverage for these benefits.

HB 584-Constitutional amendment authorizing the contribution of public funds to post-employment benefit programs for public employees.

                Submitted to voters on November 4, 2008.

Act 361-Prohibits requiring school employees to complete paperwork if the information provided for in such paperwork is available from another source.

Act 154-Provides relative to autism services provided by the Department of Health and Hospitals.

Act 155-Changes the name of listed teachers rights from “Educators’ Right to Teach” to “Teacher Bill of Rights”; adds that teachers have the right to certain immunity and to a legal defense and requires school boards to post copies of rights in school buildings and provide copies to parents.

Act 776-Dyslexia screening program in grades Pre-K through 3. 

Act 295-Enhances penalties for assault and battery of school teacher.

Act 648-Requires health insurance coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders in individuals under 17 years of age.

Act 376-Provides for comprehensive revision of the educational opportunities for children with exceptionalities.

Act 312-Provides with respect to the computation of benefits for non-qualified participants in the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System (LASERS).

Act 742-Creates the Louisiana High School Dropout Prevention Act of 2008 and provides for the circumstances under which certain students may withdraw from school.

2005 Special Legislative Session

            Several bills were passed which created exceptions to certain laws for individuals affected by hurricane Katrina.  These included Act 45, Act 22, Act 50, Act 57, and Act 61.

2005 Legislative Session

HB 1-Provided for ordinary expenses of state government but did not include funding for salary supplement for ASHA Certified SLPs and AUDs in public schools.

HR 90-Requests the Louisiana Student Financial Assistance Commission to study the feasibility of establishing a student loan repayment program for AUDs and SLPs employed in Louisiana public schools.

Act 75-LASERS-State employee retirement changes for those hired on or after 7/1/2006:

          Increase final average compensation from 3 years to 5 years

          Increased employee contribution rate from 7.5% to 8%

          Reduced anti-spiking threshold

          Change retirement eligibility to age of 60 with 10 years service credit

          Also changed purchase of service credit and disability rules

Act 261-Amended the Louisiana Hearing Aid Licensing Act

Act 138-Provided for supplemental appropriations for fiscal 2004-2005.  An amendment was added to provide a bonus for teachers and support personnel during this fiscal year.

2004 Legislative Session

HB 1-Provided for ordinary expenses of state government but did not include funding for salary supplement for ASHA Certified SLPs and AUDs in public schools.

HCR 13, HCR 20- Urge Congress to provide full funding for NCLB

Act 243-Specifies June 30^th as the date by which school social workers, SLPS, AUDS, psychologists must receive national certification in order to receive the salary supplement in the immediately following school year and permits BESE to determine the date by which school boards must submit verification.

Act 799-Authorizes health plans to offer mandate-free coverage on an optional basis; requires health insurers to also continue to offer coverage that includes all mandates. Requires health insurers offering mandate-free coverage to disclose at the time of application the benefits that are not included.  (LSHA opposed this bill)

2003 Legislative Session

Act 816-Insurance Mandate for Children’s Hearing Aids Legislation. Provides for hearing aids for children in the amount of $1400 per ear every thirty-six months.  The hearing aid must be fitted and dispensed by a licensed audiologist or licensed hearing aid specialist following the medical clearance of a physician and an audiological evaluation medically appropriate to the age of the child.

There are two exceptions to coverage that should be noted.  If a resident of Louisiana is an employee of an out-of-state company where the group health insurance is issued out-of-state, the insurance mandate specified in Act 816 does not apply. 

Although there are few of these in Louisiana, another exception has to do with self-funded health plans.  A self-funded health plan is one in which the employer pays claims out of company funds, rather than an insurance company funding claims based on premiums.  State departments of insurance and state insurance commissioners do not have legal authority to regulate self-funded ERISA (Employee Retirement and Income Security Act) plans.  Therefore, if a Louisiana employer/company chooses to implement a self-funded health plan, the 20+ insurance mandates in the state of Louisiana would not be required as a component of the health plan because ERISA plans are exempt.

Louisiana became the sixth state in the country to enact legislation requiring insurance coverage for children's hearing aids.

Act 952-Provided for salary supplements for ASHA Certified SLPs and AUDs employed in public schools if funds are appropriated.

2002 Legislative Session

Act 157-Created the Louisiana Health Works Commission

Contact US: LSHA; 8550 United Plaza Blvd.; Suite 1001; Baton Rouge, LA 70809; (225) 922-4512; Fax: (225) 408-4422; Email: lsha@pncpa.com