State Rep. Lance Harris says he will file legislation in the special session that begins Monday to thwart any municipality or public university from defunding or systematically dismantling their police departments in the midst of an anti-law enforcement movement nationwide.
Harris named his legislation the Louisiana Police Funding Protection Act.
The first of its kind legislation calls for any municipality or university that fully or partially defunds its police department to forfeit funding from the state on a dollar for dollar basis.
“Across America we are seeing ill-conceived proposals to abolish, dismantle or defund local police departments and law enforcements,” said Harris, R-Alexandria. “That is insane. Our police officers are the line between order and chaos. Protecting the public is a fundamental purpose of government.”
“If a city or university votes to defund their police department, they should understand that they will lose state dollars by doing so,” Harris added.
In 2016, Harris authored and passed the nation’s first Blue Lives Matter Law. The legislation made it a hate crime to target police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel.
Harris is one of a multitude of candidates for Congress in the 5th District. He’s vying to succeed Congressman Ralph Abraham.
