Louisiana Bill Could Send Money to Critical Workers

Democrats in the Louisiana House on Thursday reached a deal with Republican lawmakers on a proposal to send $250 checks to potentially hundreds of thousands of front-line workers, using $50 million in federal aid to fund the program.

State Rep. Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport and the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, is sponsoring the legislation, House Bill 70, The measure would make a host of workers who interacted with the public at the height of the pandemic – including nurses, cops, grocery store workers, bus drivers and others – eligible for $250 checks from the state government.

In explaining the legislation, Jenkins says, "We're going to use CARE Act money that come to the state from the federal government. This money that we've initiated will actually give money to critical care workers, people who exposed themselves and take a risk when they went to work., (including) workers in healthcare, nursing homes, as well as grocery store and convenience store workers, those who worked in public works and all the critical services who had to continue during the stay-at-home order. That's the object of it."

The District 2 Representative continues, telling listeners about the money on the way. "We're going to be sending $250 checks, if this passes the Senate and becomes law, to those critical workers. There will be an application process that's going to handled by the Department of Revenue. We're very happy that it has bipartisan support. All of us want to something for the critical workers who helped us."

Jenkins adds that if the bill, as expected, passes the Senate, the application process could begin as early as late July.