Kean Miller has contributed $20,000 to The Baton Rouge Area Foundation and its Hurricane Katrina Displaced Residents Fund. “Baton Rouge is our home. We work here, we live here, and we have been fortunate to work in partnership with The Baton Rouge Area Foundation for over 20 years,” said Gary A. Bezet, Managing…

The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee has reported to the full Senate HB 148 (Rep. Arnold), which appears to be a compromise between the assessors and local government on the revaluation of property due to damage or destruction because of the hurricanes.

HB 148 (Rep. Arnold) must now be voted on by the full…

HB90, dealing with Governor Blanco’s emergency orders suspending prescription, peremption, and legal deadlines, awaits final Senate passage. The Senate Judiciary A Committee adopted amendments which have not yet been incorporated into the latest version of the bill, but which should ultimately be included.

You can (and should) read the bill in its entirety here,…

Three different bills dealing with revaluations because of hurricane damage are working their way through the Legislature.

Existing law, La. R.S. 47:1978 requires the revaluation of flooded property in the year of the flood even if the assessment rolls have been certified.

HB 148 (Rep. Arnold)

Revaluations

Creates a new La. R.S. 47:1978.1 that complements…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) posted the final 2006 Physician Fee Schedule on November 1, 2005, thereby adopting the August 8, 2005 proposal to include diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine services in two categories of designated health services that are subject to the federal physician self-referral statute (a.k.a., the “Stark Law”). This…

A recent case out of Louisiana could be big news for general contractors, owners, and insurers. Louisiana’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court’s opinion that an upstream contractor was entitled to insurance coverage for the cost of repairing defective work performed by a subcontractor (Broadmoor Anderson v. National Union Fire Insurance…

The Senate versions of the Sales Tax on Machinery and Equipment and Corporate Franchise Tax bills are better than the House versions:

SB 39 (Sen. Mount) – Providing for a full state sales tax exclusion for equipment purchased to replace or repair equipment damaged in connection with the hurricanes, including damage from water, wind, fire,…