RÉSUMÉ DIGEST
HB 269 2017 Regular Session Lance Harris
Proposed law would have provided for a state policy on free expression on public
postsecondary education institution campuses, including the following major components:
(1)Would have required each public postsecondary education management board to
develop and adopt policies on free expression, containing specific enumerated
statements and provisions.
(2)Would have required the Bd. of Regents to create a committee on free expression to
issue annual reports of the status of free expression on campuses, based on various
metrics.
(3)Would have authorized the management boards to adopt regulations to further the
purposes of the adopted policy.
(4)Would have required institutions to include in freshman orientation programs a
description of the free expression policies and regulations.
(5)Would have authorized institutions to restrict expressive conduct with certain
limitations.
(Proposed to add R.S. 17:3399.31-3399.35)
VETO MESSAGE:
Please be advised that I have vetoed House Bill 269 of the 2017 Regular Session. This bill
is a solution in search of a problem that creates a long, detailed structure for the evaluation
of the freedom of expression on college campuses. However, this bill is unnecessary and
overly burdensome to our colleges and universities as the freedoms this bill attempts to
protect are already well-established by the bedrock principles declared in the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 7 of the Louisiana
Constitution.
Just last week, the United States Supreme Court reminded us of the importance of protecting
free expression by reiterating that "the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited
merely because the ideas themselves are offensive to their hearers." Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S.
___, 22-23 (2017). This commitment to the freedom of speech is especially important for
students attending our public colleges and universities. However, House Bill 269, which
requires complex policies for the regulation of freedom of speech, sets up a detailed regime
for discipline involving freedom of speech, and establishes a "Committee on free expression"
under the Board of Regents, which is overly complicated and would only frustrate the goals
it purports to achieve. The protection of speech has survived and flourished in the 226 years
since the adoption of the First Amendment and it will continue to do so without House Bill
269 becoming the law of Louisiana. With this in mind, I have chosen to veto House Bill 269.