BATON ROUGE, La.—Lawmakers in the Louisiana House don’t want to restrict how they can dole out $6.8 million in Tulane University scholarships each year.
The House on Wednesday rejected a proposal by Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, that would have prohibited lawmakers from giving scholarships to their immediate family members and to students whose family members have contributed to their campaigns.
His bill also would have required publication of information listing the scholarship recipients and saying whether they are related to any elected officials.
Only 44 House members voted for the proposal. It needed 53 to pass.
Ritchie was seeking to address concerns that the awards can go to the politically connected and campaign contributors. He said the bill would help preserve a program that he described as valuable for helping students who couldn’t otherwise afford the private university.
“I wanted to make sure we have a fair process,” Ritchie said.
Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Bossier City, said although the bill was well-intentioned, he saw no need to tweak the program because of public and media criticism of its current structure.
