(Bloomberg) -- The Louisiana House of Representatives advanced a bill that would prohibit some government contracts with companies that “discriminate” against the gun industry, marking Republicans’ latest attempt to enact the legislation in the state.
The bill, introduced by GOP Representative Blake Miguez, passed the House on May 10 and now heads to the state Senate. While both chambers are controlled by Republicans, the bill could get blocked by Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, who vetoed similar legislation in 2021.
Several bills are working their way through statehouses across the country that seek to target Wall Street banks and other companies for enacting new restrictive gun policies in the wake of mass shootings in the US. Louisiana Republicans are following Texas, which enacted a law in 2021 that’s forced some Wall Street banks to pull back from the municipal-bond industry there.
The bill could have a similar impact in Louisiana, a much smaller source of state and local-debt sales than Texas. Municipal-bond issuers in Louisiana sold $4.8 billion of long-term debt in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The bill would require public entities to receive a written verification from companies that they don’t have a practice or policy that “discriminates” against a firearm entity or firearm trade association.
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An analysis of the bill by the Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office found it may result in increased costs for state and local governments and taxpayers. If a company is considered to discriminate against the firearms or ammunition industry and submits a bid for a service, then governments would have to select the next-lowest bid instead.
Louisiana’s Office of State Procurement analyzed $44 million worth of equipment purchases between August 2019 and December 2021, which had a lifetime interest cost of $1.5 million. It found that if it had to choose the next-lowest bidder, it would increase the lifetime interest cost by $312,325.
“Removal of targeted industries providing goods and services to the government sector from future bids may result in a dynamic economic response from lowered competition among remaining bidders, which may result in a marginal but indeterminable increase in overall costs if the remaining bidders marginally increase bid rates with the knowledge of excluded competitors,” the analysis said.
The governor’s veto message in 2021 noted the risk of state and local governments incurring higher costs on borrowings as a result of the legislation.
Related: JPMorgan Risks Losing Louisiana Muni Business Over Gun Stance
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