BATON ROUGE, La. — Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed well over a dozen bills passed by the legislature, including three concerning the LGBTQ community, but one veto, in particular, may bring lawmakers back into a special session.
That’s HB 648, which would have banned any gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Some Louisiana Republicans are calling for an override, including House Speaker Clay Schexnayder. Several others have committed to seeking a veto override session, including Rep. Larry Frieman of District 74 and Rep. Charles Owen of District 30.
The Louisiana GOP shared a fiery Instagram post with an ominous photo of Edwards, saying HB648 would be “defending our children from misguided leadership.”
And Representative Dodie Horton, who authored another LGBTQ bill that the governor vetoed, shared another photo of a man sharing the Bible with a small child, surrounded by flaming arrows, and a graphic reading, “protect children.”
Horton wrote in the caption, “It is a shame that our governor has yet again put his liberal policies ahead of protecting your rights as a parent and the innocence of your children!”
But Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has an issue issue with another bill. He’d like a veto override session to reconsider House Bill 646. That bill would create a new canvass of the voter rolls and possibly remove inactive voters.
Ardoin said in a statement, “No other election integrity measure is more critical to our state at this juncture.”
Veto overrides are very rare in our state. Last year’s was the first in decades.
The majority of members in either chamber must submit their intent for an override session in writing.
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