Louisiana governor Jeff Landry and state lawmakers have made an exception within a more sweeping ban on political signs on government property to allow campaign signage to be displayed at public school athletic fields and gymnasiums.
As reported by Louisiana Illuminator, Act 89, sponsored by Republican state senator Eddie Lambert, allows the signage so long as it complies with local school board policies. The law, which passed the Legislature with a 38-0 vote in the Senate and 92-1 in the House of Representatives. went into effect Friday.
Per the reporting of Julie O'Donoghue, Lambert offered the proposal in response to a letter attorney general Liz Murrill’s office sent to high schools in his district last year telling them to take down political signs on display. Schools then had to issue refunds when the signs came down, he said.
James LeBlanc, president of the St. Amant High School athletic boosters, said his school lost $20,000. The boosters had been selling advertising space to politicians for 25 years, LeBlanc testified during a hearing on the bill earlier this year, O'Donoghue reported.
Lambert said he spends between $3,000 and $5,000 in campaign funds on high school signage every year. “It came as a shock to me and the school systems in Ascension Parish” when the political signs were taken down," Lambert said, as reported by Louisiana Illuminator.
There is an exception to the new law, according to O'Donoghue's report. If the school is used as a voting site, rules against political advertising during an election still apply. Any area within 600 feet of where votes are cast becomes a campaign-free zone.“In that case, a sign would have to be taken down during a political election,” Lambert said.
