[StBernard] Weekly Update from Bobby - July 28, 2006

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Sat Jul 29 00:55:08 EDT 2006


July 28, 2006
Dear friends,

Ensuring the rights of law-abiding citizens

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to approve bipartisan legislation
that I introduced to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners in
Louisiana. The Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act (H.R. 5013) passed
the House with a vote of 322 to 99.

It was an important day for the people of Louisiana because my bill
reaffirms that in times of disaster, you cannot throw out the Constitutional
amendment that guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, our law enforcement officers, despite
their heroic efforts, could not be everywhere at once. Many residents were
sitting in their homes without power, without water, without communication.
It was literally impossible to pick up a phone and call 911. Residents
needed to protect their homes and families any way they could.

Unfortunately, some bureaucrats seized firearms from law-abiding citizens in
their homes, businesses, and cars and left residents unable to defend
themselves. My bill will prevent this from happening again.

More than 150 of my colleagues signed on to co-sponsor my bill, and the
Fraternal Order of Police endorsed my legislation that will prevent firearms
from being taken from law-abiding citizens without just cause by bureaucrats
in the wake of natural disasters. Nothing in my bill overrides state laws
concerning guns in schools,
<http://www.bobbyjindal.com/email_template/images/jindal_072806.jpg>
churches, etc.

Before the passage of my bill, I addressed the Louisiana Fraternal Order of
Police at their state conference and the Louisiana Association of Chiefs of
Police at a banquet, and discussed this and other important law enforcement
legislation in Congress. I am proud to be a vocal advocate for our first
responders and law enforcement officers in the House of Representatives.

Congressman Jindal meets with officials at the Louisiana Association of
Chiefs of Police meeting.

Encouraging the U.S. Senate to act

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill I introduced that
will finally give our state a fair share of energy royalties produced off
our coastline. My legislation, the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act of 2006,
will provide Louisiana with billions of dollars each year once fully
implemented that can be used to increase our flood and hurricane protection,
to restore our wetlands, and to improve infrastructure.

This week, leaders in the U.S. Senate moved one step closer to passing the
Senate version of my bill. I have encouraged my colleagues in the U.S.
Senate to consider this bill early next week. Once the U.S. Senate passes
this bill, negotiations can begin to work out the differences between the
two bills. Leaders in the House of Representatives have already announced
that they will use my bill as the basis for negotiations. This is great news
for our state because my bill provides billions of dollars more for our
state than the U.S. Senate version.

The President has finally come out in support of royalty sharing with energy
producing states, but he still disagrees with the vast amount of money that
my bill will bring to Louisiana. I will keep working to convince him of the
importance of this funding for our state, and I will continue to keep you
updated on this matter.

Protecting Louisiana children

My colleagues and I voted to increase protection of children in our country
when we passed the Child Protection and Safety Act (H.R. 4472) on Tuesday.
This is an important bill that will help shield our kids from sexual
predators who might seek to harm them.

As the father of two kids, with another one due any day now, I know that we
must do more to ensure that our children are safe. This bill will strengthen
sex offender registries and public notification requirements, adopt tough
mandatory minimum sentences for kidnapping or sexually assaulting a child,
and increase the ability of law enforcement officials to combat child
pornography and the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet. There
is no more vile or despicable act, and this legislation will help ensure
that convicted sex offenders never have another opportunity to harm a child.

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, convicted sex offenders
spread throughout our state. FEMA refused to provide local sheriffs with
information about where these criminals had evacuated to, and many of these
convicted sex offenders are still missing. It is imperative that the
government does a better job at tracking these people in order to protect
our children.

This President signed this bill into law on Thursday. You can view the
Louisiana State Sex Offender and Child Predator Registry here:
http://lasocpr1.lsp.org/.

Awaiting the arrival of number three!

As many of you may know, my wife is expecting our third child any day now.
This is a very exciting time for our family, and I will be sure to share a
photo of the new baby when he or she arrives.

Congress will break for August recess this weekend, and I am looking forward
to spending the month meeting with constituents all around the district to
talk about all of the issues in Congress that could impact our state. I hope
to see you, and as always, please feel free to contact my offices if we can
be of assistance to you.

Sincerely,

Bobby Jindal



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