NEW ORLEANS — It's troubling to walk outside and find your car window busted out, but it's something many in New Orleans have dealt with. A state representative from Metairie hopes to deter that with a new bill she's proposed.
"I saw glass on the sidewalk right here and I looked up like, 'Oh my window has been broken,'" said Rayna Nielsen.
Neilson woke up Thursday morning to her rear passenger window shattered outside her home in the Marigny. Two of her neighbors were victims too.
"We're all just like... this is the way it is and that’s not okay, that’s not okay," she said.
She's called five auto glass shops so far.
"I guess Kias and Hyundais have been broken into a lot recently so it’s going to be like two weeks before I can get my window fixed," Nielsen said.
It's a headache many in New Orleans have suffered.
"Whether it's when you're sleeping in the middle of the night, or at Pelicans games, or Saints games they are just hitting up dozens of cars at the same time," State Representative Laurie Schlegel from Metairie said during the House legislative session Thursday.
Schlegel hopes to deter car break-ins under House Bill 16. Under the bill, if someone commits multiple burglaries at one time like breaking into at least two cars on a block or in a parking lot, they would face at least 1 to 12 years in prison without probation for the first year.
She said currently sentencing guidelines are set at 0 to 12 years allowing probation.
"Really we have to send a message, it is epidemic proportions right now," Schlegel said.
Some lawmakers against it questioned taking away a judge’s discretion.
"A young person with no prior criminal record hanging with people he shouldn't, if they break three windows in a parking lot or driveway, ordinarily the judge may decide I'm going to give them a shot at probation, his record does not warrant it," Rep. Joseph Marino pushed. "I like the courts to be able to have discretion."
It would be up to the district attorney though to prosecute.
"The district attorney can choose to say, 'I'm not prosecuting anybody, give them a certificate of merit,' is that correct?" Rep. Gregory Miller clarified.
"That is correct, unfortunately," Schlegel said.
Nielsen believes the bill might help, but would only be a piece of the puzzle.
“Penalties sound great but if we don’t catch the people, if we don’t have faith in the system...There’s so much of it happening I don't have faith they will catch the people," Nielsen said.
The bill passed in the House with 70 yeas and 25 nays. It now heads to the Senate.
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