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Legislature passes SB217 with amendment dropping seniority-based approach and would remove Judge Rhonda Goode Douglas instead of Judge Leon Roche.

“There's this irrational desire from some people in this building to stick it to New Orleans,” said state Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans.

“The House was not remotely involved in these decisions,” said Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans. “I don’t know what’s going on here. We’ve been told ‘last in, first out’ this entire time. Somehow that was just thrown in the garbage. No one knows why.”

“It’s been such an assault on Orleans Parish this whole year. And reducing three judges in a very busy courthouse, where the governor and other people say we have such a crime problem, doesn’t make any sense,” Rep. Mandie Landry (D-New Orleans) said.

“The amount of calls and texts we've all received as to wondering why Judge Douglas is on the chopping block, considering that she's considered one of the best judges over there. I don't know what's going on here. We've been told last in, first out this entire time, which is fair," said Rep. Mandie Landry.

State Rep. Mandie Landry (no relation), a Democrat from New Orleans, said corrections department officials asked her to sponsor a bill that allows prisoners who earn an associate’s degree to shave 90 days off their sentences. And while that might not seem like much, she said, it’s a move in the right direction. “I think they’re realizing that what the legislature did a few years ago is going to explode into a nightmare in prison,” she said.

A New Orleans representative is trying again with a bill that would crack down on political messaging created with the use of artificial intelligence. Democrat Mandie Landry says a bill she’s filed requires any image on political material created with AI that could deceive the recipient be clearly disclosed as such.

“We’re doing something because powerful people don’t like him,” Rep. Mandie Landry, a New Orleans Democrat told lawmakers during a legislative committee hearing in April. Landry, who is not related to the governor, described the Republican efforts as “atrocious” and worries what it could mean for other elected positions in the state.

Rep. Mandie Landry, a New Orleans Democrat, said she believed that behind-the-scenes political infighting may have given the governor and other Republicans an opportunity that they would not otherwise have had if Lombard had won.

Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, described the effort to restructure New Orleans' judiciary as dangerous “government overreach” done “in bad faith.

In this exclusive interview, John Stanton chats with Louisiana State Rep. Mandie Landry about the first month of Louisiana's legislative session. They discuss the debate over New Orleans court system reform, culture-war bills, insurance policy proposals, AI in political campaigns and Landry’s own legislation on consumer protection and victims’ rights.

Incarcerated people in Louisiana could have their sentences reduced by earning an associate’s degree, under legislation that advanced out of a state legislative committee on Tuesday. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson reports on House Bill 111 by Rep. Mandie Landry and the broad bipartisan support it has garnered: 

House Bill 111 by Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, was advanced unanimously Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Judiciary C. The bill would add associate’s degrees to the list of degrees that incarcerated people can earn to receive 90 days toward the reduction of their sentence. 

The bill’s author, Rep. Mandie Landry, says this is to protect voters from deceptive messaging by slapping a $10,000 fine on candidates or campaigns if they do not put an AI disclaimer on their ads.

Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, said the bill’s intent was “to take rights from people or limit people.” She referenced Nazi Germany, South African apartheid and the Soviet Union as examples of the consequences of labeling select groups of people.

“From what I know of some of these situations, I have friends in the school system, these are generally kind of disturbed teens. And it might be something the parent is trying very hard,” Landry said.

A bill by Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, would allow incarcerated individuals to earn good time if they earn an associate’s degree while in prison. Landry said the bill, which passed 95-0, was filed at the request of the Department of Corrections.

“If this was done in good faith, we all would have been involved,” she said. “There are some changes that need to be made ... but doing this is purely political propaganda.”

“This bill was drafted with the input of the governor’s office, the attorney general’s office and clearly a bunch of Orleans attorneys. We were not there when this bill was constructed. It was filed and dumped on us. That alone shows how on bad faith,” said State Rep. Mandie Landry.

“This is just political propaganda,” Landry said. “There are a lot of things that could’ve been done and the fact that we were not involved just shows me that this was intended to drop a bomb and make some political media on this issue.”

• House Bill 795, filed by state Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, aims to resolve the city’s legal dispute with the School Board over the fee City Hall charges to collect its tax revenue.

Rep. Mandie Landry of New Orleans asked about the bill’s ultimate impact if it becomes law.

“If we do what a lot of people here want to do, what is it going to mean ultimately?” Landry asked.

A New Orleans representative is trying again with a bill that would crack down on political messaging created with the use of artificial intelligence. Democrat Mandie Landry says a bill she’s filed requires any image on political material created with AI that could deceive the recipient be clearly disclosed as such.

"It's probably for the judge to shave some judges here and there and streamline the system, but I don't think what they want to do is possible on the timeline they are submitting," said state Rep. Mandie Landry.

State Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, also expressed concern about sweeping changes to the court system. “They’re targeting the whole court system,” she said. “It’s where the clerks are, it’s the employees.”

Louisiana State Representative Mandie Landry discusses the upcoming Legislative Session, some of her legislation, and how people can be more involved.

“Allow localities to have stricter standards for new and repaired roofs, the fortified roof system, and allowing it by parish actually makes more sense,” Landry said. “And if the city could start doing that on all new construction and renovations, we would see a reduction parish wide in homeowners in just a couple of years.”

“She will reach out when she has questions or knows that I will oppose the legislation she is presenting,” Landry said in an email.

House Bill 76, authored by state Rep. Mandie Landry (D-New Orleans), would direct leadership at a sheriff’s office to immediately notify victims of the crime tied to the inmate’s imprisonment, any known witnesses and any person specified in writing by the prosecuting district attorney.